SUPERVISOR EXAMINER 1 EXAMINER 2 Preface

This dissertation, unless specifically indicated to the contrary in the text, is my original work.. The reference system I have used is a modified version of the Harvard system. A comprehensive list of references is found at the end of this dissertation and includes both works cited and those that represent extended reading undertaken for this study. All references to the primary texts, the two volumes of Doris Lessing's African Stories, are taken from the editions listed in the bibliography. I would like to express appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor Professor M.J. Hooper for her patience, perseverance and unrelenting thoroughness; to Professor N. Meihuizen for his guidance when Professor Hooper was away; to the University of Natal, Durban and Pietermaritzburg libraries for letting me use their facilities; to Mrs L.Ochollo at the University of Zululand library for her willing assistance in finding research material; to my friends and colleagues for thei