A Story of South Africa
Susan Gallagher
In this timely study of Coetzee's fiction, Gallagher places his work in the context of South African history and politics. Her close historical readings of Coetzee's six major novels explore how he lays bare the "dense complicity between thought and language" in South Africa.
Hardcover 1991
Writing and Being
Nadine Gordimer
In this deeply resonant book, Nadine Gordimer examines the tension for a writer between life's experiences and narrative creations. She tries to unravel the mysterious process that breathes "real" life into fiction by exploring the writings of revolutionaries in South Africa and the works of Naguib Mahfouz, Chinua Achebe, and Amos Oz. Ending on a personal note, Gordimer reveals her own experience of "writing her way out of" the confines of a dying colonialism.
Paperback 1996 / Hardcover 1998