Anthology Revision Booklet
Anthology
Retake 2006-7
Revision booklet
The Anthology
Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer
Author: Nadine Gordimer (born 1923) has made her career under difficult circumstances. Born an English-speaking Jew in South Africa, she resented and resisted the pressure to conform to the white supremacist attitudes embodied in the system of apartheid. She has been politically active most of her life, and has often written about the relationships among white radicals, liberals and blacks in South Africa. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Although she is one of the most distinguished of modern female writers, she resists being classed as a feminist.
Context: Apartheid consisted of numerous laws that allowed the ruling white minority in South Africa to segregate, exploit and terrorize the vast majority: Africans, mostly, but also Asians and ‘Coloureds’ (people of mixed race). In white-ruled South Africa, black people were denied basic human rights and political rights. Their labour was exploited and their lives segregated. Under Apartheid, racist beliefs were enshrined in law and any criticism of the law was suppressed. Apartheid was racism made law. It was a system dictated in the minutest detail as to how and where the black population would live, work and die.
Summary: Set in Apartheid South Africa, this story is about the lustful relationship between a white man and a black woman. Paulus is the son of a white farmer. Thebedi is a black woman who works on the farm. They pursue a secret friendship when they are young, giving each other secret gifts. Paulus then goes to veterinary college. The two begin a hidden sexual relationship. Shortly after marrying a man from her village who had always liked her, Thebedi has a mixed race child. When Paulus returns from college, he visits her and the baby and tells her to hide it and get rid of it. She refuses. He returns a second time and the child is ill with diarrhoea. He tells her he will give
Retake 2006-7
Revision booklet
The Anthology
Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer
Author: Nadine Gordimer (born 1923) has made her career under difficult circumstances. Born an English-speaking Jew in South Africa, she resented and resisted the pressure to conform to the white supremacist attitudes embodied in the system of apartheid. She has been politically active most of her life, and has often written about the relationships among white radicals, liberals and blacks in South Africa. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Although she is one of the most distinguished of modern female writers, she resists being classed as a feminist.
Context: Apartheid consisted of numerous laws that allowed the ruling white minority in South Africa to segregate, exploit and terrorize the vast majority: Africans, mostly, but also Asians and ‘Coloureds’ (people of mixed race). In white-ruled South Africa, black people were denied basic human rights and political rights. Their labour was exploited and their lives segregated. Under Apartheid, racist beliefs were enshrined in law and any criticism of the law was suppressed. Apartheid was racism made law. It was a system dictated in the minutest detail as to how and where the black population would live, work and die.
Summary: Set in Apartheid South Africa, this story is about the lustful relationship between a white man and a black woman. Paulus is the son of a white farmer. Thebedi is a black woman who works on the farm. They pursue a secret friendship when they are young, giving each other secret gifts. Paulus then goes to veterinary college. The two begin a hidden sexual relationship. Shortly after marrying a man from her village who had always liked her, Thebedi has a mixed race child. When Paulus returns from college, he visits her and the baby and tells her to hide it and get rid of it. She refuses. He returns a second time and the child is ill with diarrhoea. He tells her he will give