An Unusual Creation Story from a Contemporary Perspective: Reading Doris Lessing's The Cleft within the Ecofeminist Frame

In this paper, it is aimed to analyze The Cleft as an ecofeminist novel by applying the necessary practices. It would be suitable to start by giving the definition of the term ecofeminism as “a movement or theory that applies feminist principles and ideas to ecological issues.” Peter Hay defines the term like this: “ecofeminism is a radical ecophilosophy; but it merits separate treatment, for it is both that and more. Its ethics are subordinate to a theory of power, and the perceived lack of an adequate account of social structure and political power in radical ecophilosophies has attracted sustained ecofeminist criticism.” Doris Lessing’s The Cleft is an unusual creation story. I call it unusual because it tells that the first comers on Earth were females, later men came out of female’s body; just in the opposite direction of the ordinary story told for ages. Applying the ecofeminist theory on such a strange creation story would be really fruitful for ecofeminist branch. Firstly, an outline of the novel will be shared and then ecofeminist points will be discussed in the frame of the relationship between the clefts and nature. Keywords: Ecofeminism, Power, Social Structure, Nature, Destruction of nature