Nadine Gordimer on Writing and Life

Travel
by Eva Holland Jun 5, 2008

Photo by Victor Geere (Creative Commons)

Digging through the (sadly pretty limited) online archives of the excellent Virginia Quarterly Review recently, I came across this interview with South African author (and Nobel Prize winner) Nadine Gordimer.

Here are a few highlights:

“We’ve got to examine truth. To me, writing, from the very beginning and right until this day, is a voyage of discovery. Of the mystery of life. I am one of those people who have no religious faith, I am an atheist. I believe there is only this life. But this life is so incredible.”

“There is more truth in my fiction than in nonfiction. I think, subconsciously, [if] I am writing an article or talking to you, there is a certain amount of self-censorship going on. But in my fiction I am writing as if I were dead. I want to say it all. I want to say everything I know.”

To me, writing, from the very beginning and right until this day, is a voyage of discovery.

“Writers don’t only listen, they also look. Though, indeed, they do listen. I started being an eavesdropper when I was a child, picking up unexplained little bits of conversation and imagining what led to that, what drama in that couple’s life, or what happened between that child and the parent when I overheard: “Stop that! You’re being very naughty.” You know, what does it all mean?”

Read the whole interview here.

I am a bit of a South Africa-phile – if you are too (or think you could become one!), check out my South Africa Reading Guide for some great literature, Gordimer included.

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