The Soft Voice of the Serpent

Last updated
The Soft Voice of the Serpent and Other Stories
SoftVoiceOfTheSerpent.jpg
First edition
Author Nadine Gordimer
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publication date
May 23, 1952
Pages244

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. [1] It was published on May 23, 1952, by Simon & Schuster in the United States, [2] 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. [1] [3]

Contents

Stories

The bracketed dates record, for stories which had previously been published elsewhere, the first appearance of the story in print. [4]

A husband adjusts to the loss of a limb. Sitting in his garden, he feels religious awe at the natural world he is observing. First published as "The two of us" in South Africa. [5]

A young white couple, on holiday in Durban, strikes up a friendship with an Indian fisherman, which becomes awkward when the couple's white friends visit. Notable, on one view, for prefiguring the concerns of Gordimer's later fiction – it too "interrogates the complexities of white liberalism," and explores how legal segregation can undermine meaningful interracial relationships. [6] First published in the Virginia Quarterly Review. [5]

A woman is tormented by the monotony of her marriage, desperate to change her life but unwilling to take the initiative. First appeared in the South African Opinion as "The Peace of Responsibility"; this version, under this name, first appeared in the Yale Review (1950). [5]

During a train stop, a young white couple admire the wooden carvings being sold on the platform by a native vendor. The woman particularly likes a carving of a lion, but decides it's too expensive to buy. Her husband, however, haggles with the vendor and buys it for a much lower price; the woman is horrified and ashamed. [7]

A bereaved Jewish family discovers that their "watcher" (shomer) is not a religious guide, but a bureaucrat. First published in the New Yorker , and the first of many stories Gordimer published therein over her career. [8]

A black man grabs roughly and steals from a white woman her handbag and a parcel, deeply unsettling her. Gordiner selected this story, which she first published in 1947 in a journal called Common Sense, as the opening piece for two different selections of her work published in the 1970s, suggesting that she may have considered it representative of her work or otherwise significant. [7]

An amateur theatre troupe perform Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest in a township. The audience are spellbound perceptibly mystified, and the troupe reacts by overacting their parts. Afterwards, a young black girl thanks them for the performance – not because of its content or quality, but because "it's made us feel that perhaps we could try and occupy our leisure in such a way, and learn, ourselves, and also give other people pleasure." One member of the troupe, a white woman, is affected by the girl's sincerity and its contrast with the insincerity of their performance.

An alcoholic woman hopes to give her daughter an expensive bag for Christmas by paying for it in instalments. [9]

A white woman observes as her black domestic worker, Sarah, who fixates on her ambitions for the success of her children, faces a series of tribulations, with her children ultimately failing to meet her expectations.

A seventeen-year-old boy, the son of a shopkeeper, struggles against his parents, but ultimately realises his dependence on them.

After a life of thankless sacrifice, the Saiyetovitzes, who are shopkeepers, are rejected by their grown-up daughter, Miriam – they are invited to her house only once, after the birth of their grandson.

Elizabeth, a black woman, is a domestic worker for a family from whom she feels distant, and who frequently treat her as invisible.

About a young, idealistic doctor, whose earnestness begins to fade following confrontations with the cynical head nurse.

Critical reception

The collection was favourably received, with reviewers complimenting Gordimer's "microscopic precision" [2] and "keen eye." [1] Kirkus Reviews said that the stories had "sensitivity and distinction," exhibiting "moments of deep knowledge and a penetration of the currents below the surface of action and words." [2] The New York Times said of Gordimer that she wrote "with discipline and moderation, unusual for so young an author." [1] Anthony Delius lauded her "meticulous imagery and observation," as well as her tendency to end stories "in a swift emotional blow or the snapping of a tiny nerve or a dull disillusion." [10] Writing in 1961, however, Anthony Woodward was ambivalent about the collection:

Only a born writer could achieve the sparkle and tang of Nadine Gordimer at her best; whether she is in the last analysis a good writer is another matter. Often her stories are so dazzlingly authentic in their atmosphere of place, in particular, that it is possible to overlook the purpose to which all this skill is deployed. [11]

Contemporary studies have revisited The Soft Voice of the Serpent with a comparative eye, seeking to trace the development of Gordimer's fiction writing over time. Comparing the collection with Jump (1991), one study said that both are "governed by a similar principle of arrangement... a unity of idea, tempo and tone." [12] It also shares with her later work an interest with race and unequal power dynamics, though it tends to explore these themes through the prism of the inner life of, and personal relationships between, individuals, rather than in an overtly political way. [12] [1] [5] Some of the stories may "anticipate" the character and quandary of Helen Shaw in The Lying Days (1953), Gordimer's first novel. [12] However, John Cooke argues that Gordimer underwent significant creative change in the years following the publication of The Soft Voice. Between the 1940s, when most of the pieces were written, and the 1970s, she had acquired "new themes and developed new techniques to present them as the South African situation... altered," so that it would be misleading to take The Soft Voice of the Serpent as representative of Gordimer's "creative profile," as Robert F. Haugh does in his book-length critical study, Nadine Gordimer (1974). [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Jackson</span> American novelist, short-story writer (1916–1965)

Shirley Hardie Jackson was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Over the duration of her writing career, which spanned over two decades, she composed six novels, two memoirs, and more than 200 short stories.

<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".

A talisman is an object which is purported to possess certain magical properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindiwe Magona</span> South African writer (born 1943)

Sindiwe Magona is a South African writer.

The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003.

<i>The Pickup</i> 2001 novel by Nadine Gordimer

The Pickup is a 2001 novel by South African writer Nadine Gordimer. It tells the story of a couple: Julie Summers, a white woman from a financially secure family, and Abdu, an illegal Arab immigrant in South Africa. After Abdu's visa is refused, the couple returns to his unnamed homeland, where she is the alien. Her experiences and growth as an alien in another culture form the heart of the work. The Pickup considers the issues of displacement, alienation, and immigration, class and economic power, religious faith, and the ability of people to see and love across these divides. This novel won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Best Book from Africa.

<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.

<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>Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black</i> 2007 short story collection by Nadine Gordimer

Beethoven was One-Sixteenth Black is a book of short stories by Nadine Gordimer, published by Bloomsbury. Reviewing the collection in The New York Times, Siddhartha Deb said: "As she always has, Gordimer offers her readers a rare combination of intimacy and transcendence". Jonathan Gibbs wrote in The Independent: "In her 84th year, Nadine Gordimer has produced a remarkable 10th collection. They show none of the "audacity" Richard Ford called for in his recent anthology of American short stories. Instead, what they show is tact: a quality that seems bound up in Gordimer's decades of experience. There are stories here that a 30-year-old could not have thought to write, let alone written."

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.

Makhosazana Xaba is a South African poet and short-story writer. She trained as a nurse and has worked a women's health specialist in NGOs, as well as writing on gender and health. She is Associate Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Weiss (writer)</span> English and German author and anti-racism champion

Ruth Weiss is a writer who focuses on anti-racism in all its forms. She is a well-known anti-apartheid journalist and activist, exiled by South Africa and Rhodesia for her writings. She is based in Denmark and writes in both English and German. Her young adult, historical fiction reflects her battles against racism in Germany and Africa.

<i>At the Bottom of the River</i> Short story collection by Jamaica Kincaid

At the Bottom of the River is a collection of short stories by Caribbean novelist Jamaica Kincaid. Published in 1983, it was her first short story collection. The collection consists of ten inter-connected short stories, seven of which were previously published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review between 1978 and 1982. Kincaid was awarded the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1983 for the collection.

<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>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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bettie du Toit</span> South African trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist

Bettie du Toit OLS was a trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist in South Africa.

<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. 1 2 3 4 5 Peden, William (1952-06-15). "Stories From Africa". New York Times. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Soft Voice of the Serpent". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  3. ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991: Nadine Gordimer". Nobel Prize. 3 October 1991. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  4. ↑ Gordimer, Nadine (1952). The soft voice of the serpent, and other stories. New York: Simon and Schuster. OCLC   924669.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Venter, Delina Charlotte (1991). "The interaction of race, gender and class in a selection of short stories by Nadine Gordimer." (MA thesis). Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  6. ↑ Gibbs, Alison. "But What Have I Said?". Thresholds. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  7. 1 2 Trump, Martin (1986). "The Short Fiction of Nadine Gordimer". Research in African Literatures. 17 (3): 341–369. ISSN   0034-5210. JSTOR   3819220.
  8. ↑ Gordimer, Nadine (1951-06-02). "A Watcher Of The Dead". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  9. ↑ Gordimer, Nadine (1952-04-01). "A present for a good girl". Harper's Magazine. Vol. April 1952. ISSN   0017-789X . Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  10. ↑ Delius, Anthony (1990) [1953]. "Danger from the Digit: 'The Soft Voice of the Serpent'". In Smith, Rowland (ed.). Critical Essays on Nadine Gordimer. Boston: G.K. Hall. pp. 23–25.
  11. ↑ Woodward, Anthony (1961). "Nadine Gordimer". Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory (16): 1–12. ISSN   0040-5817. JSTOR   41801452.
  12. 1 2 3 Dimitriu, Ileana Sora (1997). "Nadine Gordimer after Apartheid: a reading strategy for the 1990s." (PhD thesis). Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  13. ↑ Haugh, Robert F. (1974). Nadine Gordimer. Twayne's world authors series, TWAS 315. South Africa. New York: Twayne Publishers. ISBN   978-0-8057-2387-8.
  14. ↑ Cooke, John (1977). "Review of Nadine Gordimer". Research in African Literatures. 8 (1): 147–149. ISSN   0034-5210. JSTOR   3818879.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.