Fairy stories
Sir: Both Patrick Kavanagh and Wendy Cope have said in The Spectator that I be- leive in goblins and 'the little people'. When have I said so? Certainly not on the South Bank Show. I think it is possible that in the past smaller races than ourselves have lived and these are remembered by us in legends and fairy stories. We talk about fairies, goblins, and so on, but have no idea what the originals may have been like, if they existed.
I did not say I was afraid young people were returning to the conventions, but that I hoped today's more conforming climate was not going to prevent people trying out
different patterns of living. I said nothing about writers not describing good people. It seems to me David and Harriet in The Fifth Child are good people. When I said that being reasonable has nothing to do with being a writer, I meant that people should not look for blueprints and simple messages in novels. If I had been asked about religion I would have been happy to talk about it. I was asked about politics, but all that was cut out. Patrick has ascribed all kinds of views to me I do not hold and have never held. Perhaps it was the effect of jet-lag.
Doris Lessing
c/o Jonathan Clowes Ltd, 22 Prince Albert Road, London NWI
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