Nadine Gordimer

BY: JOE SCHURER

Nadine Gordimers Life

Nadine Gordimer was born November 20, 1923 in a small gold mining
town near Springs, Gauteng, South Africa to an immigrant family and
died in her Johannesburg home on July 13, 2014 (Nadine Gordimer).

Although her family was not wealthy, Gordimer still lived on the
privileged side of apartheid as a white woman in South Africa.

Gordimer was a voracious reader and used books as a window to view

the rest of the world.

Gordimer learned how to write books by reading the works of other

notable authors. She started writing at the age of 9, and had her first
story published at 15 in a local magazine. Gordimer attended the
University of the Witwatersrand, but was not a good scholar and she
only stayed for one year ("Nadine Gordimer).

Nadine Gordimers Home Town of Gauteng

Political Activism
Nadine Gordimer for a long time had held views that opposed
apartheid, but she had not been too involved in politics.
She was motivated to become an activist after the massacre of
protestors at a Sharpeville police station and the arrest of her
best friend, Betitie Du Toit (Wstberg).
Gordimer joined the African National Congress despite it being
illegal to do so.
As many white South Africans fled the country in the chaos, she
stayed behind to continue the fight for equality (Wstberg).
Gordimer fought back against apartheid through her literature.
She exposed life in South Africa to the rest of the world and put
a great deal of pressure on the South African government with
her books.

The Sharpeville Massacre

Fighting Back With Books

Nadine Gordimer wrote fiction to tell the world about apartheid.

She believed fiction was better at communicating history than other methods (Clingman 32).
She wrote 13 novels, 200 short stories, and countless essays (Wstberg).
Her major themes were love and politics.
Her most notable books were The Lying Days (1953), A World of Strangers (1959), and The Late
Bourgeois World (1966).
She tried to make the issues of apartheid personal to people outside South Africa.
Her novel won awards outside of South Africa and she was recognized for her works.
Nadine Gordimer was the first South African, third African, and the first woman in 25 years to win
the Nobel Prize for Literature (Clingman 1).
The South African government suppressed her novels, and banned many of them for varying amounts of
time.

Nadine Gordimer Talks about

Her Childhood
http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=2025&view=2

The Lying Days (1953)

Gordimers first book on the anti-apartheid movement.

Her third published book of all time.

Some parts of the book mirror Nadine Gordimer's own life.

In the novel, Gordimer points out many of the problems that were plaguing South Africa.

It follows the story of a young white woman as she become more aware of the political situation in South
Africa ("Gordimer, Nadine").

A World of Strangers (1953)

A World of Strangers follows the story of a young English boy who freely moves between the social
classes of South Africa.

At the time, this intermingling was all but unheard of in South Africa.

The novel depicts the division with South African society that were formed by apartheid.

The novel also discusses social liberalism in South Africa and in the international community.

The novel was banned by the South African government for 12 years ("Gordimer, Nadine").

The Late Bourgeois World

(1953)

The Late Bourgeois World is a story about a white woman whose husband is a part of a militant
resistance group.

The novel describes the choice between passive resistance and active sabotage.
It mirrors Nelson Mandelas decision to begin a militant resistance.

The novel again brought apartheid to the attention of the outside world.

The novel was banned in South Africa for a decade ("Gordimer, Nadine").

The African National Congress

The South African government made joining the African National Congress (ANC) illegal.

Gordimer joined the group despite the risks.

She criticized the ANC on some of its flaws, but told people to join to help reform it.
Gordimer still saw the ANC as South Africa's best hope.

She also hid resistance fighters in her home when the government put out a warrant for
their arrest.

Gordimer testified in court on behalf of 22 ANC members and she was a close friend of Nelson
Mandela.

She participated in protests and spoke internationally about conditions in South Africa for the ANC
(Wstberg).

Post-Apartheid Activism

Nadine Gordimer was very active in the anti-censorship and HIV/AIDS movements.
She lobbied for greater public health spending to fight HIV/AIDS.
She organized a group of writers to create a collection of short stories for a fundraiser for
HIV/AIDS lobbying groups in South Africa.

She resisted the state control of information and the arts.

She spoke out about it in South Africa and abroad.

Works Cited
Clingman, Stephen. The Novels of Nadine Gordimer: History from the Inside. London: Allen &
Unwin, 1986. Print.
"Gordimer, Nadine." UNHCR News. The UN Refugee Agency, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.
Luden, Jennifer. "'Telling Tales': Writers Unite to Fight AIDS." NPR Books. National Public Radio, 4 Dec. 2004. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
"Nadine Gordimer." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 May 2015. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.
Sharpeville Massacre. Photograph. Apartheid South Africa. South African Civil Rights, 21 March 1960. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Stanford, Simon. "Nadine Gordimer Talks about Her Childhood." Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize, 2005. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.
View in Downtown Spring. Photograph Panoramio. Google Maps, Web. 2 Feb. 2016.
Wstberg, Per. "Nadine Gordimer and the South African Experience." Nadine Gordimer and the
South African Experience. The Nobel Prize, 26 Apr. 2001. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.