8/3/2019 Nadine Gordimer - Interview on 12-02-22

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Opinion & Analysis

PAGE 19Wednesday, 22 February 2012

NadiNe Gormr turns 89 ltr ths yr butshs s shrp s tck. i stll foun myslf fum-

blng my wors n rcng to kp up wth hranswers or spinning to fnd the next question tokp th ntrvw gong. Shs formbl, wth mountnous rputton, n ntllct to bootn n ctvsts stnc tht s rspct frbyon th borrs of ths country, on sh hsfought so hr to lbrt through th shrpnss

of hr pn. Sh ws wr th Nobl Prz forltrtur 20 yrs go n such rcognton. Shsnpp t m mor thn onc for nccurtlydescribing her most recent novel or questioningwhthr sh stll consrs hrslf n ctvst,but sh ws lwys polt. Just lk hr wrtng;consr, lbrt n strong. Tht s, ithnk sh took lkng to m.

a fn of Gormr snc i ws chl, iknew of her since I rst knew writing. She,among others, exposed me to what Southafrc rlly ws t tht tm. Tht wscs go but hr wrtng toy stll rso-nts wth th truth s sh knows t. Sh stllwrts wth rv n convcton.

Any doubts to the contrary are quickly dis-

pll n th ntrvw. Sttng n hr brk-fst room wth bowl of brownng bnnsn rp mngos just skp from th oltrnsstor ro wth mnul tun ng knob,she explained the relevance of her latestnovl, hr 15th, No Tm Lk Th Prsnt.

it snt bout rc, sh sys. its boutwht thos who wr n th struggl nthv th pc of mn to thnk bout. itsbout th problms tht cm ftr from.W just nt thnk bout wht t woul blk ftrwrs. Toy, th pst stll ns tob lt wth.

Of cours, i ws n stll m n ctvst,she says, slightly jarred at my question. Iwoulnt compr myslf to som frns ththv bn n prson but i took my prt.

an t s tru, unr prth, Gormrh thr of hr novls bnn for sr-ous lngth of tm. although sh rjcts thnoton of bng poltcl wrtr, sh nos ply promnnt rol n th structur ofour socty, most rcntly n th opposton

of th M Trbunl n propos Protc-ton of Stt informton Bll. Sh cn vnb sn surroun by gggl of trnns tgnr rghts mrchs.

From to b wht w r s stll rl-vnt, n hs bcom vry mportnt prtof our rcognton of th bronss of lf.

And that is where her ction comes in.Fiction explores, it is a voyage of discoveryinto the realities of human existence, shesys. i mgn hr stckng to hr mornngroutn of wrtng for four hours, hbt shgot into after she was divorced from her rsthusbn, Grl Gvron, n rsng thrughtr on hr own. Th tm btwn tk-ng hr to nursry school n pckng hr upws th tm i wrot.

Sh os confss, howvr, tht sh sgong through trrbl stt of chng.Hr two wonrful ol lctronc Olvtttypwrtrs r no longr usful s th mnu-fcturr osnt mk th rbbons for thmanymore. She says in the room next door sits

nwly unwrpp computr tht sh hsnot yt mstr. a forbng-lookng thnglk tlvson scrn. an appl, i thnk.Somthng sh fls sh my b too ol tolrn. For somon who s on hr wy to eng-ln to lunch nw book n hs lryscribbled out some new ction after that, Ind that dicult to believe.

Hr fvourt South afrcn uthor s Mon-gn Wlly Srot whos work sh grtlymrs. H wrot brllnt work tht noon hs com clos to, Scttr Th ashsan Go, publsh n 2002, work wthwhch h h th courg n knowlg towrt. Whn sk wht tht mnt, shsaid: Life is very complex and interestingn whn i r somon, i m rng bouthow thy l wth th worl.

Hr hom s mmcult n tstful. Thfurntur s of stury n rk woo. Thoors are a kind that creak and groan andclump under your feet, which made exploringhr hom mpossbl whl sh ws busy nth othr room. But i gt som glmpss th strcs, th hllwy, th pntry, brfwlk through th ktchn. Mny wll kpt,nely placed ornaments, collected artefactstht r cly afrcn. Chrs plc nth room or hllwy whr no on woulpossibly sit. The brick replace even has acst-ron frm, th kn of structur tht

ByScott SmithTHE BIG INTERVIEW NADINE GORDIMER

Writing to understand about life

Im blessed to

have earned a

living doing what

I knew I could do

and really enjoyed

Biography

NADINEGORDIMER

Her life

NadiNe Gormr ws born nrSprngs, n est Rn mnng town bout50km st of Johnnsburg, on Novmbr20, 1923. although both prnts wr Jw-sh, sh ws rs n lrgly sculrnvronmnt n uct n prt t Ctholc grls school.

Sh bgn wrtng t n rly g npublished her rst stories in 1937 at theg of 15, lthough sh sys sh hs bnwrtng snc sh ws nn.

Gormr h n rly ntrst n rcland economic inequality in South Africa,hlp on lrgly by hr mothr whosconcrn bout th povrty n scrm-nton of blck popl n South afrc lhr to foun crch n Sprngs.

Gormr stu for yr t thUnvrsty of th Wtwtrsrn butdid not nish her degree. She schooledhrslf by stuyng th mstrs ofEuropean ction, Proust, Chekhov anddostoyvsky, who wr powrful rolmols.

Gormr mov to Johnnsburg n1948 whr sh hs lv vr snc.

Sh mrr hr scon husbn,Rnhol Cssrr, n 1954, rspctrt lr who stblsh th Southafrcn Sothbys n ltr rn hs owngallery. Their 47year marriage lasteduntl hs th n 2001. Gormr hs son and a daughter from her rst mar -rg, both of whom lv ovrss.

Her activism

Gordimer took it upon herself to ghtth govrnmnt polcs of rcl sgr-gton t th tm. But t ws th rrstof hr frn, Btt u Tot, n 1960 nth Shrpvll msscr tht s blvto hv spurr hr nto th nt-prt-h movmnt.

Gormr oftn trvll ovrss tolctur t unvrsts urng th 60sand 70s but rejected any oers to livethere permanently, saying that exile is ahorrbl thng, vn n comfort. durngths tm, th South afrcn govrnmntbnn svrl of hr works. Th LtBourgeois World was Gordimers rstpersonal experience with censorship; itwas banned in 1976 for a decade by theSouth afrcn govrnmnt n a WorlOf Strngrs ws bnn for 12 yrs.

Julys Popl ws lso bnn. in Southafrc, sh jon th afrcn NtonlCongrss whn t ws stll lst s nllgl orgnston. Sh h aNC l-rs n hr hom to thr scp fromrrst by th govrnmnt.

Gormr took hr ctvsm furthrn rsst cnsorshp n sttcontrol of nformton. Sh rfus to lthr work b r by th South afrcnBrocstng Corporton bcus t wsstt-controll.

Her works

almost ll of Gormrs works lwth thms of lov n poltcs, prtcu-lrly concrnng rc n South afrc,n ths s tru of hr most rcnt work.Sh nvr rlly wrot rctly boutpoltcs n woul rjct bng frms poltcl wrtr; hr stors tl k ofornry popl, rvlng morl mb-guts n chocs.

although Gormr hs wrttn

numrous works, nclung multtuof short stors, lttrs, ssys, plys,critiques, it is her novels that have madesuch n mpct on th ltrry ln-scp, rnng hr th Nobl Prz forltrtur n 1991.

Bss th Nobl Prz, sh won thBooker Prize in 1974 for The Conser-vtonst n hs gn bn fturon th long lst snc thn. Sh won thCommonwlth Wrtrs Prz for bstbook from afrc n 2002 n sh hsrcv t lst 15 honorry grs.

Novels

Th Lyng dys (1953)a Worl Of Strngrs (1958)Occson For Lovng (1963)Th Lt Bourgos Worl (1966)A Guest Of Honour (1970)The Conservationist (1974) Jointwinner of the Booker Prize in 1974Burgers Daughter (1979)Julys Popl (1981)

A Sport Of Nature (1987)My Sons Story (1990)Non To accompny M (1994)Th Hous Gun (1998)Th Pckup (2001)Gt a Lf (2005)No Tm Lk Th Pr snt (2012)

wll outlst lftm. Ths hom s th rsultof lf wll lv n wll consr, ofsomon who hs chv thr gols nrms so wht kps rvng hr?

Th rv s just thr. if you r gong tob n opr sngr you r gong to b bornwth th rght kn of voc. Thr s som-thng, i ont know whr t s, tht llowsyou to b wrtr.

But lots of popl hv th tlnt n sklls,

so sh tks t stp furthr.it hs to b n urg you cnnot ny.i nt wnt to b wrtr, i wnt to b

bllt ncr, but i m gl i chos wrtngs i woul b wsh up s bllt ncr bynow, sh sys wth grn.

Wrtng wsnt gol for Gormr, t ws n. i h to wrt n orr to unrstnwht lf ws. Sh sms to b trnllygrtful tht sh nvr took th vc of hrfrns to tk tht job n vrtsng.

Sh osnt scrb hr tlnt to ny hghrpowr but os ccpt som kn of nnrn, sr. i know thr s noboy upthere, she says with rm conviction but thatosnt stop hr from contnung th pushto nd truth and write it in her ction. Shequotes WB Yeats: What do we know buttht w fc on nothr n ths plc? Froma quote like that one understands a little bet-tr hr rv for socl justc.

Gormr hs lv n Johnnsburg sncroun th n of 1948, sh sys. Whn sh

ws young sh wnt to b n th cntr oft. an for young grl from smll mnngtown on th est Rn, Johnnsburg wsth worl, Johnnsburg ws Mcc. Shrfrs to hr rlst mmory: i ws rounthr n my grnmothr took m to ththtr. i ont rmmbr whch on, but irmmbr ths plush st n sttng on mykns n turnng roun n lookng t thpopl. it ws bng thr. i lov t.

So now, n th sunst of glttrng crr,what could be next? She is keen to see howhr ltst novl s rcv by th publcn lov ons, but sh os confss t sntexcitement she feels.

i wll go on wrtng s i kp, i hop, thstnr hgh. if t s not wht t shoul b, iwll stop. i hv sn mong gng wrtrstht ths lst-mnut books r trvsty ofwht thy hv wnt to wrt. i m blssto hv rn my lvng n lv my lfong th on thng i knw i coul n rllywnt to o. it s trmnous blssng.

Only on rgrt lngrs tht sh nvrlrn n afrcn lngug but sh syswth strn no, t s not too lt for you.an sh pts hr butful gry Wmrnrhoun wth lght mbr ys tht coul slycrumpl hr frl frm n wshs m wllwth my rtcl.

scotts@thenewage.co.za

THE JOURNEY: Nadine Gordimer in Johannesburg in 1990. Pictures: GALLO IMAGES

ACTIVIST: Nadine Gordimer in October, 1961.