RACISM AND IDENTITY IN NADINE GORDIMER’S JULY'S PEOPLE

Authors

  • Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir Ph. D Research Scholar, Department of English, Annamalai University
  • Dr. V. K. Saravanan Assistant Professor, Department of English, Annamalai University

Keywords:

Nadine Gordimer, Racism, Identity, South Africa, Apartheid, Society

Abstract

South Africa's twentieth century witnessed a rise of the Apartheid regime movement. It was based on the separation and made apart the races of the South African society. It caused a lot of, if not a complete, destruction and suddenness on the lives of masses of people of all the races. However, these issues of racism and other sub-issues such as black identity, which might seem less important in the eyes of some writers and historians, were the mere interest of many writers and thinkers. Among them,  we found Nadine Gordimer. Nadine Gordimer is a famous satirist and social reformer. She wants behind most of her novels social change and reform, and the cure for social ills, which are known as "racial segregation". Gordimer is also well known for her July's People, the portrayal of how would be the end of Apartheid regime in South Africa. And, since the novel in South Africa would for sure represent the political view of the author towards what happens in his/her surrounding, July's People may involve something historical. To justify this, it is enough to consider the fictional revolution in the novel as the prediction of the author herself of the end of the Apartheid. And then, even though July's People is a fictional piece of writing, it may be more realistic than fictional.

References

Dehmoune, Amel. African Trade-Unionism and Apartheid in South Africa. Ed. Lahouel Badra et al. African Issues. Oran: Dar el Gharb, 2004. Print

Eyerman, Ron. Cultural Trauma: Slavery and the Formation of African American Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. PDF.

Gordimer, Nadine. July's People. London: Bloomsbury, 2005. Print

Gordimer, Nadine. The Novel and the Nation in South Africa. 1961. Ed. G.D.Killam. African Writers on African Writing. Heinemann.1981. Print.

Parker, John, and Rathbone, Richard. African History: A Very Short Introduction.

Hampshire: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.

Additional Files

Published

15-07-2017

How to Cite

Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir, & Dr. V. K. Saravanan. (2017). RACISM AND IDENTITY IN NADINE GORDIMER’S JULY’S PEOPLE. International Education and Research Journal (IERJ), 3(7). Retrieved from http://ierj.in/journal/index.php/ierj/article/view/1252