Exploring the Historical Consciousness in Selected Fiction of Nadine Gordimer

Abstract

The novels of Nadine Gordimer run parallel with the era of apartheid. They are a record of the realities of the period during the apartheid and also the interregnum period in South Africa in a chronological manner. In South Africa, Gordimer belonged to a minority within the minority. But contained within that small white world is another group of whites who are opposed to the system of racial discrimination known as apartheid and stand with the country's majority. Nadine Gordimer examines the nature of apartheid which according to her, changes depending on who was looking at the issue. Different people react differently to what apartheid meant to them. As a writer she took her commitment to the community at large quite seriously and this is amply reflected in her work and the interviews that were recorded. Gordimer vociferously denounced the discrimination and violence that followed in her fiction as in real life. The research paper shall focus on the idea of the construction of identity in the selected novels whose plots are a reflection of events and situations that were taking place in South Africa as well as the historical consciousness of Gordimer.