Narrative techniques in Doris Lessing's stories and sketches

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the themes of Doris Lessing's short stories and sketches, with particular reference to the narrative techniques developed mainly by the French Structuralists Roland Barthes and Gerard Genette. Following the introduction where these narrative strategies are discussed, the three developmental chapters of this research - the first dealing with a child or an adolescent's development, the second concerning an adult's experience and the third involving the observation of an outsider - try to prove how "form " clarifies "meaning". This study also tries to demonstrate how Lessing's style has changed from referential stories which have well-organized plot structures and developed characters to sketches having no story line or central characters to disclose the uncertainties of modern societies.