The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels
Encyclopedia
The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels is collection of four short stories published in 2003 by 2007 Nobel laureate
Doris Lessing
.
, Victoria, a Black girl, stays over in a white liberal household one night. Over the years, her aunt gives in to cancer, and she looks back on her night at the Staveney's with longing. Much later, she has a little girl, Mary, with one of the Staveneys's sons, Edward. Mary ends up relinquishing her mother's house for the whites's upbringing.
, tells of the history of his civilisation. Subsequent to Destra's death, her son DeRod takes up her role after The Twelve pick him. The civilisation is slowly destroyed; after much reflection, the narrator realises DeRod cannot be blamed for it: he was an idiot and did not know what he was doing.
and India
. In SA, he has an affair with a British girl who lives there, Daphne. She becomes pregnant and he never forgets her. Both of them get married, and when the child is twenty he flies to SA and attempts to meet him. He only receives a picture; his life goes on but his marriage seems a sham.
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
.
The Grandmothers
Rozeanne and Liliane, two British schoolgirls, end up as neighbours after they get married. The marriages crumble but their friendship keeps on. Both are infatuated with one another's son, to the boys' wives dismay.Victoria and the Staveneys
In LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Victoria, a Black girl, stays over in a white liberal household one night. Over the years, her aunt gives in to cancer, and she looks back on her night at the Staveney's with longing. Much later, she has a little girl, Mary, with one of the Staveneys's sons, Edward. Mary ends up relinquishing her mother's house for the whites's upbringing.
The Reason for It
In an extant paper, a member of The Twelve, an oligarchyOligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
, tells of the history of his civilisation. Subsequent to Destra's death, her son DeRod takes up her role after The Twelve pick him. The civilisation is slowly destroyed; after much reflection, the narrator realises DeRod cannot be blamed for it: he was an idiot and did not know what he was doing.
A Love Child
During the Second World War, James, a British young man, is dispatched to South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. In SA, he has an affair with a British girl who lives there, Daphne. She becomes pregnant and he never forgets her. Both of them get married, and when the child is twenty he flies to SA and attempts to meet him. He only receives a picture; his life goes on but his marriage seems a sham.