The novels of Nadine Gordimer: History from the inside - Stephen R. Clingman

Nadine Gordimer is one of South Africa's most renowned and acclaimed writers. Yet few are aware of how deeply her work has responded to its immediate historical environment over the last forty years. Her novels provide a "history from the inside" of her world in this period. In the most informed study on Gordimer available, Stephen Clingman traces that history. Drawing out the central themes of her work, the book follows a developing consciousness of history through Gordimer’s novels, contributing toward a history of consciousness in South Africa.

In a fascinating exposition, each of Gordimer's novels is related to the moment from which it emerges, and which it in turn illuminates from the inside. Major periods and events are covered, from the political triumph of the National Party in 1948 to the vibrant social and political world of the 1950s, to the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960, the Soweto Revolt of 1976, and beyond. Through all this, the larger historical, social, and ideological codes embedded in the novels are revealed in their wider significance.

Form is as important as content in telling this story, with the limits of Gordimer’s consciousness as significant as its range. Finally, a "deep history" is investigated: the possibility that there is a historical unconscious in Gordimer’s fiction, and the split position from which of necessity she writes.

The appeal of this book will be to teachers and students in both literary and historical fields, as well as readers wishing to explore part of the history they have lived through. For those who wish to see the work of Nadine Gordimer in relation to the world in which it has been produced, this book will be the definitive study.