Doris Lessing’s Ethical Narrative in The Diary of a Good Neighbor

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the “Ethical Turn” from the end of the last century, ethical narratology has become an inspiring guide in narrative studies. This essay examines how Doris Lessing carries out her ethical exploration on elderly care through the narrative forms in The Diary of a Good Neighbor. With a double-seeing narrative, Lessing shows her sympathy toward the elderly group and reveals the pervasive ageism among the middle-aged and the young generations. By adopting a listening narrative which records various dialogs, oral narratives, and daily accounts of the elders, Lessing calls on respect for the aged individuals and expresses her desire to break the inter-generation isolation in modern society. The diary style of the novel provides space for a reflective narrative, and the recurrent questioning-pondering-answering mode from the character narrator in the diary corresponds with Lessing’s exploration of new inter-generation ethics in the post-modern era.