La única idea que Mehring, un industrial cincuentón y aún atractivo para las mujeres, tiene por clara en su vida es la que debe conservar a toda costa su modo de vida. Ni su amante izquierdista, ni su hijo —un colegial presuntuoso que lleva pelo largo, consiguen socavar su convicción de que tiene el derecho inalienable a seguir en posesión de sus bienes. Y nadie parece cuestionarlo : ni los trabajadores negros que cuidan de su finca en el Transvaal, ni los indios que venden los productos de su tierra, ni los hacenderos boers que le consideran un simple aficionado en los asuntos del campo, ni l... continue
“So flawlessly written that every one of its events seems chillingly, ominously possible.”—Anne Tyler, The New York Times Book Review A startling, imaginative novel from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature A violent war for equality has come to the white suburbs, driving out the ruling minority For years, it had been what is called a “deteriorating situation.” Now all over South Africa the cities are battlegrounds. The members of the Smales family—liberal whites—are rescued from the terror by their servant, July, who leads them to refuge in his village. What happens to the Smaleses and... continue
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 ... continue
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 ... continue
Helen Shaw is the daughter of white middle-class parents in a gold-mining town in South Africa. As Helen comes of age, her awareness of the African life around her grows. Her involvement with young blacks leads her into complex relationships of emotion and action in a culture of dissension.