Nadine Gordimer Retrospective: Review of Life and Works Lecture 1 Course code: Derek Barker

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 ( ).

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Course Description V The previous emphasis on the community and communal responsibility has to some extent been replaced by a relatively greater emphasis on the individual, that is, a move from a stress on public identity to private identity.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: 13h h00

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 March 26: Lying Days Chapter April 16: Lying Days Chapter April 23: July’s People Page April 30: July’s People Page

Lecture Dates 7. May 7: July’s People Page May 21: No Time Like the Present Page May 28: No Time Like the Present Page June 11: No Time Like the Present: 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!

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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 v=vPCln9czoys&list=PLR0PSzGsziw KQk7sYKjAIjdgNul2_NrF7&index=3

Interviews with Nadine Gordimer v=JOZ8AX0LnSk v=aUK4VMppbLc