Redefining Gender in a Selection of Nadine Gordimer's Novels

This book investigates gender issues in Nadine Gordimer's selected novels. The way she manipulates them allows me to assume that for her, gender is inclusive, interdependent, collaborative, partnership-based, and it seeks the welfare of men and women. My work gets deeper in the connection between literature and social phenomena in ways that may escape the common reader's attention. I am indeed dealing with gender through works rather known for their exposure of apartheid. Gender refers to the sociocultural definitions of the concepts man or woman. This book is trying to deconstruct gender discourse in Gordimer's novels in order to show that a number of critics have judged her novels in different ways. That Gordimer has deconstructed gender in her novels is one thing, but this book aims at analysing how female and male characters in her novels selected for this study live gender relations, and check whether these relations contribute to women's empowerment. In short, my concern is to see how male and female characters experience gender and see how her novels may, eventually, frame gender evolution.

Autorentext

Willy Maloba Kal'A Binene, docteur en Langue et Littérature Anglaises après avoir défendu en juin 2012 une thèse en codirection entre l'Université de Liège et l'Université de Lubumbashi. Il est Professeur Associé à l'Université de Lubumbashi où il est chargé de la coopération interuniversitaire à la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines.

Klappentext

This book investigates gender issues in Nadine Gordimer s selected novels. The way she manipulates them allows me to assume that for her, gender is inclusive, interdependent, collaborative, partnership-based, and it seeks the welfare of men and women. My work gets deeper in the connection between literature and social phenomena in ways that may escape the common reader s attention. I am indeed dealing with gender through works rather known for their exposure of apartheid. Gender refers to the sociocultural definitions of the concepts man or woman. This book is trying to deconstruct gender discourse in Gordimer s novels in order to show that a number of critics have judged her novels in different ways. That Gordimer has deconstructed gender in her novels is one thing, but this book aims at analysing how female and male characters in her novels selected for this study live gender relations, and check whether these relations contribute to women s empowerment. In short, my concern is to see how male and female characters experience gender and see how her novels may, eventually, frame gender evolution.