THE SUMMER OF EXPLORATION BEFORE RETURNING TO THE DARK

Abstract

Doris Lessing, a Persian born British woman writer, regarded as one of the most important post-war writers in English literature. In her novel The Summer Before The Dark (1973), hailed as a modern feminist novel, she dealt with the pressures of social conformity, pain of aging and mental breakdown that a woman undergoes while searching for freedom, self awareness and questioning her domestic responsibilities. Kate Brown aged 45, the central character of the novel, sets on a psychological and imaginative journey, revealing the dilemma between fact and fiction, conscious and unconscious because of the alternation of her dreams with her experiences. Each experience, turning into an exploration, brings excitement into her life, helps her understand herself and confront with her past during the experience in summer before the dark in which Kate rejects the stereotypes of femininity believing that her conventional clothes do not fit her anymore. However, what Kate finds out about herself, in parallel with her dreams in which she sees “a wounded seal,” appalls her and brings her face to face with herself and her fears of aging, loneliness and death in the summer of exploration. Thus, this study aims to present, within the framework of a psychoanalytic criticism, the psychological journey of a woman who questions her experiences and explores her self-awareness in parallel with the dreams she has seen during the summer of exploration before returning to the dark.