Lifetimes Under Apartheid

by Nadine Gordimer, David Goldblatt (Photographer)

A profoundly moving book that combines the superb writings fo Gordimer and the stark, powerful photogrpahs fo Goldblatt to show us, in the details of individual lives, the great human damage wrought by apartheid. Black-and-white photographs.

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This work is another contribution to the growing pictorial record of apartheid in South Africa, and like some earlier series of black-and-white photographs it is haunted with pathos and irony. Like the pictures from Peter Magubane's Magubane's South Africa ( LJ 5/15/78), Goldblatt's images span 35 years and qualify as works of art in their own right. Complementing the harsh reality represented by the photographs are excerpts from the writings of South African novelist Gordimer, which in their way are as telling as the scholarly pieces that accompany South Africa, the Cordoned Heart , edited by Omar Badsha ( LJ 5/15/86), a work to which Goldblatt also contributed. Despite the photographic essays already available, libraries may still find this handsome book worth acquiring. Paul H. Thomas, Hoover Inst. Lib., Stanford, Cal.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Genres: South Africa

115 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Nadine Gordimer was a South African writer, political activist, and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was recognized as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".

Gordimer's writing dealt with moral and racial issues, particularly apartheid in South Africa. Under that regime, works such as Burger's Daughter and July's People were banned. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was banned. She was also active in HIV/AIDS causes.

Reviews

[Nicole Costello · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Goldblatt was a South African photographer who was well known for his apartheid era photographs. Nadine Gordimer was an anti-apartheid activist and author whose books were banned by the then government but went on to win a Pulitzer prize in Literature. This is a heartbreaking and important book which shows real life moments that were lived by the oppressed Black people in South Africa during those violent times.