Book Cover
Book
Author Gordimer, Nadine.

Title Writing and being / Nadine Gordimer
Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1995

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  809.05 G6614/W  AVAILABLE
Description 145 pages ; 24 cm
Series Charles Eliot Norton lectures ; 1994
Charles Eliot Norton lectures ; 1994
Contents 1. Adams's Rib: Fictions and Realities -- 2. Hanging on a Sunrise: Testimony and Imagination in Revolutionary Writings -- 3. Zaabalawi: The Concealed Side. The Cairo Trilogy, Naguib Mahfouz -- 4. To Hold the Yam and the Knife. Anthills of the Savannah, Chinua Achebe -- 5. Forgotten Promised Land. Fima, Amos Oz -- 6. That Other World That Was the World
Summary Their search in Egypt, Nigeria, and Israel for a meaningful definition of home testifies to what it must be: the destination of the human spirit beyond national boundaries. Ending on a personal note, Gordimer reveals her own experience of "writing her way out of" the confines of a dying colonialism
In this deeply resonant book Gordimer examines the tension for a writer between life's experiences and narrative creations. She asks first, where do characters come from - to what extent are they drawn from real life? We are touching on this question whenever we insist on the facts behind the fiction, Gordimer suggests, and here she tries to unravel the mysterious process that breathes "real" life into fiction. Exploring the writings of revolutionaries in South Africa, she shows how their struggle is contrastingly expressed in factual accounts and in lyrical poetry. Gordimer next turns to three writers linked by their search for a life that transcends their own time and place: in distinctive and telling ways, Naguib Mahfouz, Chinua Achebe, and Amos Oz defy accepted norms of loyalty to the mores and politics of their countries
Analysis Literature
Literature
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-142) and index
Notes Also issued online
Author was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991
Subject Achebe, Chinua.
Gordimer, Nadine., 1923-
Gordimer, Nadine., 1923-2014
Gordimer, Nadine.
Maḥfūẓ, Najīb, 1911-2006.
Oz, Amos.
SUBJECT Achebe, Chinua. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79064863
Maḥfūẓ, Naǧīb
Oz, Amos. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50051544
Subject Authors -- 20th century -- Biography.
Literature and revolutions.
Literature, Modern -- Political aspects.
Genre/Form Biographies.
LC no. 95017598
ISBN 067496232X