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A World of Strangers

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A World of Strangers
First US edition (publ. Simon & Schuster)
AuthorNadine Gordimer
PublisherSimon and Schuster
Publication date
January 1, 1958

A World of Strangers is a 1958 novel by South African novelist Nadine Gordimer. The novel included mixed reviews, drawing criticism for its pedantic explanation of Gordimer's worldview.[1] The novel was banned in South Africa for 12 years.[2]

The novel's main plot focuses on depicting the divisions and boundaries that Apartheid and international capitalism created within South African society.[3] The novel thematically focuses on liberalism in South Africa and in the international community.[4]

Plot

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Toby, the narrator, is a young Englishman who moves to Johannesburg to work for the family business. Not feeling bound to the rules of apartheid, he befriends Steven, an educated and charismatic black man, that introduces him to the vibrant life in the black townships. Toby discovers the many hardships of living under the apartheid system, and his life will be changed forever when his friendship with Steven ends in tragedy.

Adaptation

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In 1962, a Danish film adaptation of the novel was released under the title Dilemma by Danish film director, Henning Carlsen, and starring Ivan Jackson, Evelyn Frank, and Marijke Mann. The film won the Grand prize at the 1962 Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival.[5] In the U.K. this film was released under the title A World of Strangers due to an unrelated U.K. crime thriller being released in the same year under the same name.

References

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  1. ^ Ogungbesan, Kolawole (1 April 1980). "Reality in Nadine Gordimer's a world of strangers". English Studies. 61 (2): 142–155. doi:10.1080/00138388008598039. ISSN 0013-838X.
  2. ^ Verongos, Helen T. (14 July 2014). "Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took On Apartheid, Is Dead at 90". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  3. ^ Gray, Stephen (1988). "Gordimer's" A World of Strangers" as Memory". ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature. 19 (4). Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  4. ^ Clingman, Stephen (1996). "Nadine Gordimer (review)". MFS Modern Fiction Studies. 42 (4): 906–908. doi:10.1353/mfs.1995.0156. ISSN 1080-658X. S2CID 161150975.
  5. ^ IFFMH (International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg) 1962

Further reading

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  • CLINGMAN, STEPHEN (1 January 1984). "Multi-racialism, or A World of Strangers". Salmagundi (62): 32–61. ISSN 0036-3529. JSTOR 40547637.
  • Wagner, Kathrin (1994). Rereading Nadine Gordimer. South Africa, Bloomington, and Indianapolis: Maskew Miller in collaboration with Witwatersrand UP and Indiana UP. pp. viii + 294 pp. ISBN 9780253363039.
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