Nadine Gordimer Retrospective:
Review of Life and Works
Lecture 1
https://nadinegordimer2015.wordpress.com/
Course code: 140359
Derek Barker
www.derekbarker.info
Dr.Derek.Barker@gmail.com
Course Description I
The proposed course will trace an arc
from the birth of apartheid through
to the advent of democracy in South
Africa and up to the present via the
life and works of the South African
writer and 1991 Nobel Laureate for
Literature, Nadine Gordimer (19232014).
Course Description II
Students will undertake close readings of
three of Gordimer’s novels, namely: The
Lying Days (1953), July’s People (1981)
and her last novel No Time Like the
Present (2012); these three novels mark
important milestones in an extraordinary
writing career spanning more than 60
years.
Course Description III
Nadine Gordimer was an implacable opponent
of apartheid, which she opposed through her
imaginative writing as well as through essays
and polemics. The start of apartheid is marked
by the coming to power of the Nationalist
Party in 1948 the the end of apartheid was
heralded by the release of Nelson Mandela in
1990, and officially ended with the first
democratic elections that were held in April of
1994.
Course Description IV
Gordimer produced fifteen novels before
passing away in 2014 aged 90 years. Ten
novels fall clearly within the apartheid
period, and five that can be classified as
falling within the post-apartheid period.
There is evidence of several general and
interrelated shifts in her novels since the
demise of apartheid.
Novels by Nadine Gordimer
The Lying Days (1953)
A World of Strangers (1958)
Occasion for Loving (1963)
The Late Bourgeois World (1966)
A Guest of Honour (1970)
The Conservationist (1974) – joint winner of the Booker prize in 1974
Burger's Daughter (1979)
July's People (1981)
A Sport of Nature (1987)
My Son's Story (1990)
None to Accompany Me (1994)
The House Gun (1998)
The Pickup (2001)
Get a Life (2005)
No Time Like the Present (2012)
Course Description V
The previous emphasis on the community
and communal responsibility has to some
extent been replaced by a relatively
greater emphasis on the individual, that
is, a move from a stress on public identity
to private identity. Local, South African
concerns are succeeded by more global
concerns.
Course Description V
Nevertheless, the final novel No Time
Like the Present sees veteran
Gordimer turn her keen eye on local
trajectories and current South African
concerns fully loaded, so to speak,
with history.
Lecture Venue
Lecture venue: Seminar Room 1,
Department of African Studies,
University of Vienna, Austria
Time: 13h00 - 15h00
Mandatory Reading
The Lying Days (1953)
July’s People (1981)
No Time Like the Present (2012)
+
Ten articles to be posted on the
blog
Lecture Dates
1. March 5: Introduction
2. March 19: Lying Days Chapter 1-14
3. March 26: Lying Days Chapter 15-28
4. April 16: Lying Days Chapter 29-38
5. April 23: July’s People Page 1-49
6. April 30: July’s People Page 50-101
Lecture Dates
7. May 7: July’s People Page 102-160
8. May 21: No Time Like the Present Page 1-148
9. May 28: No Time Like the Present Page 149295
10. June 11: No Time Like the Present: 295-421
11. June 18: Consolidation
12. June 25 (EXAM)
Aims of the Course
• To gain a broad overview of the
oeuvre of Nadine Gordimer
• To obtain a broad understanding
of theoretical approaches to her
work
Aims of the Course
• To understand ideological shifts
in her work in changing
historical contexts
• To obtain an in-depth
understanding of three works
by the author
And…
Aims of the Course
• To have fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOZ8AX0L
nSk
Question
What is Apartheid?
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism centers on the thought in
political philosophy about the way to
respond to cultural and religious
differences. It is closely associated with
“identity politics,” “the politics of
difference,” and “the politics of
recognition.” It is also a matter of
economic interests and political power.
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Apartheid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=vPCln9czoys&list=PLR0PSzGsziw
KQk7sYKjAIjdgNul2_NrF7&index=3
Interviews with Nadine Gordimer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=JOZ8AX0LnSk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=aUK4VMppbLc