A World of Strangers

Last updated

A World of Strangers
AWorldOfStrangers.jpg
First US edition (publ. Simon & Schuster)
Author Nadine Gordimer
Publisher Simon and Schuster
Publication date
January 1, 1958

A World of Strangers is a 1958 novel by South African novelist and Nadine Gordimer. The novel included mixed reviews, drawing criticism for its pedantic explanation of Gordimer's worldview. [1] The novel was banned in South Africa for 12 years. [2]

Contents

The novel's main plot focuses on depicting the divisions and boundaries that Apartheid and international capitalism create within South African society. [3] The novel thematically focuses on liberalism in South Africa and in the international community. [4]

Adaptation

In 1962, a Danish film adaptation of the novel was released under the title Dilemma by Danish film director, Henning Carlsen, and starring Ivan Jackson, Evelyn Frank, and Marijke Mann. The film won the Grand prize at the 1962 Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival. [5] In the U.K. this film was released under the title A World of Strangers due to an unrelated U.K. crime thriller being released in the same year under the same name.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadine Gordimer</span> South African writer (1923–2014)

Nadine Gordimer was a South African writer and political activist. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great benefit to humanity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damon Galgut</span> South African writer (born 1963)

Damon Galgut is a South African novelist and playwright. He was awarded the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel The Promise, having previously been shortlisted for the award in 2003 and 2010.

<i>The Conservationist</i> 1974 novel by Nadine Gordimer

The Conservationist is a 1974 novel by the South African writer Nadine Gordimer. The book was a joint winner of the Booker-McConnell Prize for fiction. It is described as more complex in design and technique than Gordimer's earlier novels.

<i>Burgers Daughter</i> 1979 novel by Nadine Gordimer

Burger's Daughter is a political and historical novel by the South African Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Nadine Gordimer, first published in the United Kingdom in June 1979 by Jonathan Cape. The book was expected to be banned in South Africa, and a month after publication in London the import and sale of the book in South Africa was prohibited by the Publications Control Board. Three months later, the Publications Appeal Board overturned the banning and the restrictions were lifted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South African literature</span> Literature of South Africa

South African literature is the literature of South Africa, which has 11 national languages: Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Pedi, Tswana, Venda, Swazi, Tsonga and Ndebele.

<i>Julys People</i> 1981 novel by Nadine Gordimer

July's People is a 1981 novel by the South African writer Nadine Gordimer. It is set in a near-future version of South Africa where apartheid is ended through a civil war. Gordimer wrote the book before the end of apartheid as her prediction of how it would end. The book was banned in South Africa after its publication, and later under the post-apartheid government.

<i>The Soft Voice of the Serpent</i> 1952 short story collection by Nadine Gordimer

The Soft Voice of the Serpent and Other Stories is the second short story collection by the South African writer Nadine Gordimer, and her first to be published outside South Africa. It was published on May 23, 1952, by Simon & Schuster in the United States, and in the United Kingdom by Gollancz in 1953. It overlaps substantially with her first short story collection, Face to Face (1949), and the stories are set in South Africa.

There is a wide range of ways in which people have represented apartheid in popular culture. During (1948–1994) and following the apartheid era in South Africa, apartheid has been referenced in many books, films, and other forms of art and literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Suresh Roberts</span>

Ronald Suresh Roberts is a British West Indian biographer, lawyer and writer. He is best known for his biographies of some of the leading figures in the "New South Africa" such as Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer and former South African President Thabo Mbeki. Roberts has been described by Nelson Mandela as "a remarkable and dynamic young man". He currently lives in London, England.

Henning Carlsen was a Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer most noted for his documentaries and his contributions to the style of cinéma vérité. Carlsen's 1966 social-realistic drama Hunger (Sult) was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film. Carlsen also won the Bodil Award the following year for the comedy People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart. Acting as his own producer since 1960, Carlsen has directed more than 25 films, 19 for which he wrote the screenplay. In 2006, he received the Golden Swan Lifetime Achievement Award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival.

<i>What Happened to Burgers Daughter or How South African Censorship Works</i> 1980 essay collection by Nadine Gordimer and others

What Happened to Burger's Daughter or How South African Censorship Works is a 1980 collection of essays by South African novelist Nadine Gordimer and others. The book is about the South African government's banning and subsequent unbanning of Gordimer's 1979 novel Burger's Daughter.

<i>No Time Like the Present</i> 2012 novel by Nadine Gordimer

No Time Like the Present is a 2012 novel by South African writer Nadine Gordimer. It was Gordimer's last published novel during her lifetime. The novel deals with a variety of issues in contemporary South Africa, including unemployment, HIV-AIDS, and corruption.

<i>My Sons Story</i> 1990 novel by Nadine Gordimer

My Son's Story is the ninth novel by South African novelist Nadine Gordimer. It was written towards the end of the State of Emergency and first published in 1990. The very next year, Gordimer was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Swedish Academy explicitly cited My Son's Story in their press release, calling it "ingenious and revealing and at the same time enthralling".

<i>The Lying Days</i> 1953 novel by Nadine Gordimer

The Lying Days is the debut novel of Nobel winning South African novelist, Nadine Gordimer. It was published in 1953 in London by Victor Gollancz and New York by Simon & Schuster. It is Gordimer's third published book, following two collections of short stories, Face to Face (1949), and The Soft Voice of the Serpent (1952). The novel is semi-autobiographical, with the main character coming from a small mining town in Africa similar to Gordimer's own childhood. The novel is also a bildungsroman "about waking up from the naivete of a small colonial town."

<i>Occasion for Loving</i> 1963 novel by Nadine Gordimer

Occasion for Loving is a 1963 novel by Nobel prize-winning South African author Nadine Gordimer. It was her third published novel and sixth published book.

<i>The Late Bourgeois World</i> 1966 book by Nadine Gordimer

The Late Bourgeois World is a 1966 novella by Nadine Gordimer. The novel follows an egocentric White South African woman, as she negotiates a failing marriage, "half-hearted' love affairs and political intrigue. The novel was banned by the Censorship board in South Africa.

<i>A Guest of Honour</i> (novel) 1970 novel by Nadine Gordimer

A Guest of Honour is a 1970 fictional novel by South African writer Nadine Gordimer. Published four years after her novel The Late Bourgeois World, the novel is a political novel that explores the role of revolutionary ideas in new African states.

None to Accompany Me is a 1994 novel by South African Nobel Winner Nadine Gordimer. The novel follows the motifs and plot framework of a Bildungsroman, exploring the development of the main character, Vera Stark. The novel is set during the early 1990s in South Africa after the release of Nelson Mandela.

Dugmore Boetie is the pen name of South African journalist, writer, and musician, Douglas Mahonga Buti. He is best known for Familiarity is the Kingdom of the Lost, or Tshotsholoza, a fictionalised autobiographical book first published in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Nobel Prize in Literature</span> Award

The 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the South African activist and writer Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity." She is the 7th female and first South African recipient of the prize followed by J. M. Coetzee in 2003.

References

  1. Ogungbesan, Kolawole (1 April 1980). "Reality in Nadine Gordimer's a world of strangers". English Studies. 61 (2): 142–155. doi:10.1080/00138388008598039. ISSN   0013-838X.
  2. Verongos, Helen T. (14 July 2014). "Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took On Apartheid, Is Dead at 90". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331.
  3. Gray, Stephen (1988). "Gordimer's" A World of Strangers" as Memory". ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature. 19 (4). Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  4. Clingman, Stephen (1996). "Nadine Gordimer (review)". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 42 (4): 906–908. doi:10.1353/mfs.1995.0156. ISSN   1080-658X. S2CID   161150975.
  5. IFFMH (International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg) 1962

Further reading