New Releases by Nadine Gordimer

Den hvide sydafrikanske forretningsmand Mehrings liv hænger i laser på trods af hans enorme formue. Hans ekskone er flyttet til USA, hans liberale søn kritiserer hans konservative og kapitalistiske holdninger, og både hans kolleger og hans elskerinder lader til at være ligeglade med ham. For at undslippe sit tomme liv køber han en farm uden for byen, selvom han ikke ved noget som helst om landbrug. De sorte arbejdere driver landbruget for ham, og her føler han sig omtrent lige så overflødig som i det liv, han forsøgte at flygte fra. Da liget af en fremmed sort mand på mystisk vis dukker op på gården, føler Mehring sig hjemsøgt af noget, han ikke kan identificere. Den sydafrikanske forfatter Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) debuterede i 1938 med en novelle, der blev udgivet i Johannesburg Magazine. Sidenhen udgav hun en lang række romaner, hvoraf mange handlede om social og politisk uretfærdighed i Sydafrika under apartheidstyret. Nadine Gordimer var kendt for sin aktive deltagelse i bekæmpelsen af apartheid og vandt i 1991 Nobelprisen i litteratur. "Midt i diskussionen om kunstens politisering hilser man Nadine Gordimers forfatterskab som et af de fornemste eksempler på sammensmeltningen af personlig lidenskab, nuanceret kunstnerisk overblik og kompromisløst engagement." – Klaus Rifbjerg

Den hvide sydafrikanske kvinde Hillela beslutter sig i en tidlig alder for at vie sit liv til kampen mod apartheid og for indførslen af demokrati i Sydafrika. Hendes liv bliver lige så turbulent som den verden, hun lever i: Hendes mor stikker af fra hende med sin elsker, da hun kun er to år, og Hillela bor nu skiftevis hos sine to mostre. Som syttenårig bliver hun smidt ud hjemmefra efter at have forført sin fætter, og hendes forhold til det modsatte køn kommer i det hele taget til at spille en stor rolle i hendes liv. Hendes engagement i den afrikanske frihedskamp fører hende rundt på hele kontinentet og op og ned i samfundslagene - fra ambassader til improviserede flygtningelejre på en østafrikansk strand, fra guerillakrig i bushen til afrikanske regeringskredse. "Et naturens lune" er en storslået roman om et spektakulært liv midt i en brydningstid. Den sydafrikanske forfatter Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) debuterede i 1938 med en novelle, der blev udgivet i Johannesburg Magazine. Sidenhen udgav hun en lang række romaner, hvoraf mange handlede om social og politisk uretfærdighed i Sydafrika under apartheidstyret. Nadine Gordimer var kendt for sin aktive deltagelse i bekæmpelsen af apartheid og vandt i 1991 Nobelprisen i litteratur.

Lionel Burger har viet sit liv til at bekæmpe apartheidstyret i Sydafrika; hans kone er død i fængslet efter at have modsat sig styret, og da hans datter Rosa er 26, dør han selv efter at have afsonet tre år af en livstidsdom for landsforræderi. Nu kæmper Rosa for at finde sin egen identitet i skyggen af sine forældre. I Sydafrika er hendes efternavn omstridt og farligt, men da hun tager til Europa, finder hun ud af, at det her er forbundet med ære og mod, og hun kan frit og stolt kalde sig Lionel Burgers datter. Men Sydafrika har ikke løsnet sit greb om hende, og efterhånden begynder spøgelser fra hendes fortid at dukke op i levende live. Den sydafrikanske forfatter Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) debuterede i 1938 med en novelle, der blev udgivet i Johannesburg Magazine. Sidenhen udgav hun en lang række romaner, hvoraf mange handlede om social og politisk uretfærdighed i Sydafrika under apartheidstyret. Nadine Gordimer var kendt for sin aktive deltagelse i bekæmpelsen af apartheid og vandt i 1991 Nobelprisen i litteratur. "Jeg har en fornemmelse af, at man til tider kan lære mere om f.eks. et fjerntliggende lands problemer igennem en god politisk roman, hvor konflikterne ses ud fra et enkelt menneskes synsvinkel, end gennem politiske artikler og lærebøger, der betragter tingene med teoretisk distancerende overblik. Sådan en god politisk roman er Nadine Gordimers seneste store bog fra Sydafrika, "Burgers datter". - Politiken "...Nadine Gordimer skriver som den der har myndighed, og hun placerer sig med denne bog blandt tidens litterære genier." - Berlingske Tidende

Neste romance esclarecedor, a prêmio Nobel de literatura Nadine Gordimer retrata um casal "misto" que resistiu ao preconceito do apartheid, mas hoje se vê decepcionado com a África do Sul livre. Amantes clandestinos no passado, devido às leis raciais que proibiam relações entre negros e brancos, hoje Jabulile Gumede e Steve Reed vivem numa África do Sul democrática. Ambos foram ativistas que lutaram com todas as forças pelo fim do apartheid, e seus filhos, felizmente, já nasceram em um tempo e em um lugar de liberdade. Mas à medida que os ideais de uma vida melhor para todos são ameaçados por tensões políticas e raciais, pela ressaca das ambiguidades morais e pelo enorme abismo entre os privilegiados e a grande massa pobre que só aumenta a cada dia, o casal pensa em abandonar o país pelo qual tanto lutou. O assunto de O melhor tempo é o presente não poderia ser mais contemporâneo, porém a escritora Nadine Gordimer o trata, como é característico em sua tremenda obra, de modo atemporal. Aqui, ela mais uma vez dá mostras da grande romancista que é, ao capturar a essência da nação sul-africana no século XXI por meio da história de um casal em conflito.

Un couple métissé, Steve, blanc, mi- juif mi-chrétien, et Jabulile, femme zoulou, vétérans de l’ANC, mariés à une époque où les lois raciales le leur interdisaient, se retrouvent en 1994 à Johannesburg dans l’Afrique du Sud post apartheid. Ils rencontrent d’anciens camarades et des voisins gays sortis eux aussi de l’illégalité. Les uns comme les autres n’avaient aucun mal à savoir qui ils étaient à cette époque, mais comment mener une vie normale dans cette société intégrée, après tant d’années de combat et clandestinité ? Depuis 1991, la promesse d’une vie meilleure pour tous tarde à se concrétiser et les inégalités sociales remplacent l’ancienne ségrégation raciale. Un roman passionnant sur ce que signifie être de nos jours sud-africain, avoir des racines et aider à façonner l’avenir de son pays.

An astounding collection of personal and political stories set in varied locales and cultures. In this collection of sixteen stories, Gordimer brings unforgettable characters from every corner of society to life: a child refugee fleeing civil war in Mozambique; a black activist''s deserted wife longing for better times; a rich safari party indulging themselves while lionesses circle their lodge. Chhalang is a vivid, disturbing and rewarding portrait of life in South Africa under apartheid.

A bold, sweeping story of one girl''s rise from obscurity to an unpredictable kind of political powerAbandoned by her mother, Hillela is left to be raised by her two aunts in South Africa. At Olga''s she might have acquired a taste for antiques and a style of dress to please a suitable husband. At Pauline''s she might have developed a social conscience. But Hillela''s betrayal of her position as a surrogate daughter so shocks both families that at seventeen she is cast adrift.Swiftly and perilously, her life opens out. She lives as a footloose girl among political exiles on a beach in East Africa, drifting between jobs and lovers, and finally becomes the wife of a black revolutionary. Personal tragedy is ultimately the catalyst for her political development, leading her into a heroic role in the overthrow of apartheid.

Jessie and Tom Stilwell keep open house. Their code is one of people determined to maintain the integrity of personal relations against the distortions of law and society.The impact on their home of Boaz Davis and his wife Ann, arrived from England, and Gideon Shibalo, the Stilwells'' black friend, with whom Ann starts a love affair as her adventure with Africa, is dramatically concurrent with events involving Jessie''s strange relationship with her mother and stepfather and her son from a previous marriage.Telling their story against the background of South Africa in the sixties, Nadine Gordimer speaks with unsurpassed subtlety and poignancy of individuals and the society in which they live.

Liz Van Den Sandt''s ex-husband, Max, an ineffectual rebel, has drowned himself. In prison for a failed act of violence against the government, he had betrayed his colleagues.Now Liz has been asked to perform a direct service for the Black Nationalist movement, at considerable danger to herself. Can she take such a risk in the face of Max''s example of the uselessness of such actions? Yet ... how can she not?

A sharply observed new novel about post-apartheid South Africa from the Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer is one of our most telling contemporary writers. With each new work, she attacks—with a clear-eyed fierceness, a lack of sentimentality, and a deep understanding of the darkest depths of the human soul—her eternal themes: the inextricable link between personal and communal history; the inescapable moral ambiguities of daily life; the political and racial tensions that persist in her homeland, South Africa. And in each new work is fresh evidence of her literary genius: in the sharpness of her psychological insights, the stark beauty of her language, the complexity of her characters, and the difficult choices with which they are faced. In No Time Like the Present, Gordimer trains her keen eye on Steve and Jabulile, an interracial couple living in a newly, tentatively, free South Africa. They have a daughter, Sindiswa; they move to the suburbs; Steve becomes a lecturer at a university; Jabulile trains to become a lawyer; there is another child, a boy this time. There is nothing so extraordinary about their lives, and yet, in telling their story and the stories of their friends and families, Gordimer manages to capture the tortured, fragmented essence of a nation struggling to define itself post-apartheid. The subject is contemporary, but Gordimer''s treatment is, as ever, timeless. In No Time Like the Present, she shows herself once again a master novelist, at the height of her prodigious powers.

When Paul Bannerman, an ecologist in Africa, is diagnosed with cancer and prescribed treatment that makes him radioactive, his suddenly fragile existence makes him question his life for the first time. He is especially struck by the contradiction in values between his work as a conservationist and that of his wife, an advertising agency executive. Then when Paul moves in with his parents to protect his wife and young son from radiation, the strange nature of his condition leads his mother to face her own past.

Toby Hood, a young Englishman, shuns the politics and the causes his liberal parents passionately support. Living in Johannesburg as a representative of his family''s publishing company, Toby moves easily, carelessly, between the complacent wealthy white suburbs and the seething, vibrantly alive black townships. His friends include a wide variety of people, from mining directors to black journalists and musicians, and Toby''s colonial-style weekends are often interspersed with clandestine evenings spent in black shanty towns. Toby''s friendship with Steven Sithole, a dashing, embittered young African, touches him in ways he never thought possible, and when Steven''s own sense of independence from the rules of society leads to tragedy, Toby''s life is changed forever.

Nadine Gordimer''s first novel, published in 1953, tells the story of Helen Shaw, daughter of white middle-class parents in a small gold-mining town in South Africa. As Helen comes of age, so does her awareness grow of the African life around her. Her involvement, as a bohemian student, with young blacks leads her into complex relationships of emotion and action in a culture of dissension.

Nadine Gordimer''s life reflects the true spirit of the writer as moral activist, political visionary and literary icon. Telling Times collects together all her non-fiction for the first time, spanning more than half a century, from the twilight of colonial rule in South Africa, to the long, brutal fight to overthrow South Africa''s apartheid regime and to her leadership role over the last 20 years in confronting the dangers of AIDS, globalisation, and ethnic violence. The range of this book is staggering, from Gordimer''s first piece in The New Yorker in 1954, in which she autobiographically traces her emergence as a brilliant, young writer in a racist country, to her pioneering role in recognising the greatest African and European writers of her generation, to her truly, courageous stance in supporting Nelson Mandela and other members of the ANC during their years of imprisonment. Given that Gordimer will never write an autobiography, Telling Times is an important document of twentieth-century social and political history, told through the voice of one of its greatest literary figures.

"Superb...a series of masterly drawn glimpses into the storymaking art of one of Africa''s great modern literary geniuses." -Alan Cheuse, NPR A selection of short stories written to date by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer, Life Times reveals her acute understanding of human nature and paints a fascinatingly original portrait of South Africa. Whether focusing on politics, sexuality, race, love, or loss, Gordimer maps out the terrain of human relationships with razor-sharp psychological insight and a stunning lack of sentimentality. Complex and multifaceted, her stories challenge us, time and again, to examine the conflict between our actions and our unspoken desires. This powerful collection, which includes two new stories, is a testament to Gordimer''s literary genius and the ongoing power and relevance of her vision.

"You''re not responsible for your ancestry, are you . . . But if that''s so, why have marched under banned slogans, got yourself beaten up by the police, arrested a couple of times; plastered walls with subversive posters . . . The past is valid only in relation to whether the present recognizes it." In this collection of new stories, Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black, Nadine Gordimer crosses the frontiers of politics, memory, sexuality, and love with the fearless insight that is the hallmark of her writing. In the title story a middle-aged academic who had been an anti-apartheid activist embarks on an unadmitted pursuit of the possibilities for his own racial identity in his great-grandfather''s fortune-hunting interlude of living rough on diamond diggings in South Africa, his young wife far away in London. "Dreaming of the Dead" conjures up a lunch in a New York Chinese restaurant where Susan Sontag and Edward Said return in surprising new avatars as guests in the dream of a loving friend. The historian in "History" is a parrot who confronts people with the scandalizing voice reproduction of quarrels and clandestine love-talk on which it has eavesdropped. "Alternative Endings" considers the way writers make arbitrary choices in how to end stories—and offers three, each relating the same situation, but with a different resolution, arrived at by the three senses: sight, sound, and smell.

Fifteen thematically and geographically wide-ranging stories from the Nobel Prize Winner, with settings ranging from suburban London to Mozambique.

Paul Bannerman, an ecologist in South Africa, believes he understands the trajectory of his life, with the usual markers of vocation and marriage. But when he''s diagnosed with thyroid cancer and, after surgery, prescribed treatment that will leave him radioactive, he is isolated from other people and he begins to question his work and the politics of South Africa.

The new collection of stories from the South African Nobel laureate

None to Accompany Me is arresting and reverbant - perhaps the most powerful novel to date by one of the world''s most commanding writers. In an extraordinary period immediately before the first non-racial election and the beginning of majority rule in South Africa, Vera Stark, the protagonist of Nadine Gordimer''s passionate novel, weaves a ruthless interpretation of her own past into her participation into the present as a lawyer representing blacks in the struggle to reclaim the land.

Brilliant and shocking novel set in South Africa by the Nobel Prize-winner

Nadine Gordimer''s novel is a passionate narrative of the complex manifestations of that final test of human relations we call love. It moves with the restless pace of living itself; if it is a parable of present violence, it is also an affirmation of the will to reconciliation that starts where it must, between individual men and women.

A relationship forms between an Arab mechanic desperate to avoid deportation and a rich young woman desperate to escape her family''s control.

" Plus terrible qu''un krach boursier, que la guerre en Bosnie, le vendredi noir de ce couple bon chic bon teint, blanc, riche, politiquement très sûr de lui dans une Afrique du Sud pas encore débarrassée de la peine de mort. Claudia et Harald viennent d''apprendre que Duncan, leur fils, a assassiné son ex-amant qu''il a surpris avec sa propre petite amie. [...] Tout leur vie, patiemment construire à l''ombre ou à la lumière de Dieu, faite de pensées libérales et d''idées novatrices, est entre les mains d''un avocat brillant et noir. Nadine Gordimer dissèque une nature humaine prisonnière d''un monde devenu plus gris que franchement noir et blanc. Cette étude psychologique raffinée et fouillée fait monter notre adrénaline jusqu''à la plaidoirie étourdissante d''Hamilton et le jugement qu''on lit d''une traite. On reste sonné et désorienté, la tête pleine de questions sur le monde, la famille, l''éducation, la haine ou la politique, que l''auteur trop rusée soulève sans nous donner toutes les réponses. Libres à nous de devenir l''avocat de nos propres démons. "

Nadine Gordimer began her writing life at a relatively young age. In 1991, that life received the ultimate recognition when she was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. In this volume, Gordimer, who has been described by her peers as a formidable visitor from the future, the leviathan of South African letters and almost always as a gifted writer with extraordinary powers of observation, is paid homage by fellow writers from South Africa and other parts of the world. The book comprises readings, tributes, fiction, poetry, interviews and photographs which engage directly and indirectly with Gordimer''s work and her still unfolding legacy.