2008-04-11Staff Report 2 "(After the Third Birth: Nadine Gordimer's Writing Since 1994) For the benefit of serious Namibian authors, would-be authors and literature scholars Art/Life is publishing this paper on the South African Nobel Prize Winner, Nadine Gordimer by Karina Magda-lena Brink over the next few weeks. The paper was presented at the University of Namibia on April 3. ALREADY in her eighties, Nadine Gordimer is still continuing an amazing literary career, which, by now, exceeds over 70 years. She has been a fundamental presence on the South African literary stage as an author of short stories, novels, reviews, essays and diverse other criticism which have shaped the literary landscape of her country and the academic and literary scene worldwide. Always the defender of human rights and a declared opponent of apartheid, now, 14 years after the first free elections in South Africa, and 17 years after receiving the ultimate recognition a writer can hope for, the Nobel Prize, Gordimer is still close to the pulse of the country's developments using her seismographic perception to capture and transform reality into fiction. Gordimer has repeatedly been called ""the voice"", ""the conscience"" or ""the interpreter"" of the nation. When in an interview I conducted with her in 2004 I asked her whether she perceives herself as such, she vehemently denied it. Yet, despite her denial, many have no doubt about her status and her achievements. Whether it is a South African academic such as Andries Walter Oliphant, or Per W??????'??" 2008-04-11Staff Report 2
