A rich and penetrating portrait of Doris Lessings homeland, African Laughter recounts the visits she made to Zimbabwe in 1982, 1988, 1989 and 1992, after being banned from the old Southern Rhodesia for 25 years for her political beliefs and opposition to the minority White Government. The visits constitute an unforgettable journey to the heart of a country whose history, landscape, people and spirit are evoked by the author in a dazzling narrative of vivid detail and poignant scenes. She embraces every facet of life in Zimbabwe from the disappearing wildlife of the bush to political corruption, from the menace of AIDS to the many successful communal enterprises created by local black rural communities. And she reveals the extent of the current problems caused by three years of crippling drought. This passionate, profound and highly original book interlaces memory and reminiscence with recent experiences to form an impressionistic picture of a country and its people - black and white - emerging from its colonial past and a bloody civil war into a modern African state.

© http://lessing.redmood.com/africanlaughterfour.html

© Nuria Soler Pérez, 2001