Print
Share
Your Selected Item:
Would you like to help us improving the content? Send us your suggestions
Gordimer, Nadine
Novelist, essayist, screenwriter and political activist
Born in 1923 in the Transvaal gold mining town of Springs, she has lived all her life in South Africa. Unlike most other white liberal writers, she chose not to go into exile but to remain and fight against apartheid from within the country. A courageous and respected writer, she published her first book, a collection of short stories, Face to Face, in 1949, which was followed by many other collections. Her first novel The Lying Days was written in 1953. Her style, like her person, is precise, concise, and polished; her writing sensitive portrayals of the fate of individuals in the complex South African society; her theme, the growth of self-awareness and maturity. In collaboration with another South African writer, Lionel Abrahams, in 1967 she published the anthology South African Writers Today, which, like many of her other writings, was banned in her own country. Having been conferred ten important literary awards and fourteen honorary degrees, in 1991 she won the Noble Prize for literature. A prolific writer, Gordimer has published so far a total of twelve novels, among her latest works are Burger’s Daughter (Nov. 1980); The Conservationist (reissued Feb. 1983); The House Gun (Feb. 1999) as well as ten collections of short stories and was responsible for the screenplays of four films.
Born in 1923 in the Transvaal gold mining town of Springs, she has lived all her life in South Africa. Unlike most other white liberal writers, she chose not to go into exile but to remain and fight against apartheid from within the country. A courageous and respected writer, she published her first book, a collection of short stories, Face to Face, in 1949, which was followed by many other collections. Her first novel The Lying Days was written in 1953. Her style, like her person, is precise, concise, and polished; her writing sensitive portrayals of the fate of individuals in the complex South African society; her theme, the growth of self-awareness and maturity. In collaboration with another South African writer, Lionel Abrahams, in 1967 she published the anthology South African Writers Today, which, like many of her other writings, was banned in her own country. Having been conferred ten important literary awards and fourteen honorary degrees, in 1991 she won the Noble Prize for literature. A prolific writer, Gordimer has published so far a total of twelve novels, among her latest works are Burger’s Daughter (Nov. 1980); The Conservationist (reissued Feb. 1983); The House Gun (Feb. 1999) as well as ten collections of short stories and was responsible for the screenplays of four films.
Date of birth:
1923
Personality type:
Authors
ID Number:
172172
Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People
Nearby places:
Related items:
GORDIMER
(Family Name)GORDIMER
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
The surname Gordimer is associated with the village of Gordomy in Lithuania, near Raseiniai. It is also possible that Gordimer was originally a personal nickname meaning "proud man" in Russian, before becoming a fixed hereditary family name. The suffix "-er" is common in Jewish surnames. Gordimer is common among Jewish families from Telsiai (Telz) and Siauliai, Lithuania.
Distinguished Jewish bearers of the family name Gordimer include the South African author Nadine Gordimer (born in 1923), who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991.
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
The surname Gordimer is associated with the village of Gordomy in Lithuania, near Raseiniai. It is also possible that Gordimer was originally a personal nickname meaning "proud man" in Russian, before becoming a fixed hereditary family name. The suffix "-er" is common in Jewish surnames. Gordimer is common among Jewish families from Telsiai (Telz) and Siauliai, Lithuania.
Distinguished Jewish bearers of the family name Gordimer include the South African author Nadine Gordimer (born in 1923), who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991.
South Africa
(Place)South Africa
Republic of South Africa (RSA)
The southernmost country in Africa.
21st Century
Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 69,000 out of 56,500,000
South African Jewish Board of Deputies
Telephone: +27 11 645 2523
Fax: +27 11 640 1662
Email: sajbd@sajbd.org
Website: www.sajbd.org
President: Mary Kluk, also WJC Vice-President
National Chairman: Jeff Katz
National Director: Wendy Kahn