13. At the end of “The Antheap,” Tommy and Dirk are described as victorious with a caveat: “Now they had to begin again, in the long and difficult struggle to understand what they had won and how they would use it.” Describe the nature of their victory. What hurdles will the two boys face as a result? When Mr. Macintosh acquiesces to the boys, he is described as being “defeated by something he did not begin to understand.” Explain this statement. Mr. Macintosh relates to Tommy and Dirk very differently. Why?
14. Newsweek praised Lessing saying, “Her sense of setting is so immediate, the touch and taste of her continent is so strong, that Africa seems to become the universe.” How does Lessing make Africa seem so vivid in her writing? Were there any stories that you found particularly compelling? Which ones and why?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Lessing writes that “Africa gives you the knowledge that man is a small creature, among other creatures, in a larger landscape.” Did you have any impressions about Africa before reading this book? If so, did Lessing’s stories change your thoughts about the continent? Discuss how with your book club.
2. Throughout her career, Doris Lessing received many awards, including the David Cohen Prize for Literature, the Prix Médicis étranger, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. Read her Nobel Prize acceptance speech at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2007/lessing -lecture_en.html.
3. To hear more of Doris Lessing’s thoughts on winning the Nobel Prize, watch an interview with her from The New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/video/books/100000002556650/doris-lessing-on-the-nobel-prize.html. Then, watch her speak about her early career at http://www.webofstories.com/play/doris.lessing/1.
DORIS MAY LESSING (1919–2013) was a British novelist, poet, playwright, biographer, and short story writer. She won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. Her works include: The Grass Is Singing; a five-novel sequence collectively entitled Children of Violence; The Golden Notebook; The Good Terrorist; and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos: Archives.
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“Spies I Have Known” and “The Story of a Non-marrying Man” were originally published in The Temptation of Jack Orkney and Other Stories, and are reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1951, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1972, 1981 by Doris Lessing
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First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition June 2014
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Interior design by Cecile Cutler
Cover design by Christopher Lin
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Touchstone edition as follows:
Lessing, Doris May, date.
African stories.
(A Touchstone book)
I. Title.
PR6023.E833A69 1981 823'.914 81-8915
AACR2
ISBN 978-1-4767-6715-4
ISBN 978-1-4767-9291-0 (ebook)
African Stories Page 86