"in Burger’s Daughter, you could say on the face of it that it’s a book about white communists in South Africa. But to me, it’s something else. It’s a book about commitment. Commitment is not merely a political thing. It’s part of the whole ontological problem in life. It’s part of my feeling that what a writer does is to try to make sense of life. I think that’s what writing is, I think that’s what painting is. It’s seeking that thread of order and logic in the disorder, and the incredible waste and marvelous profligate character of life. What all artists are trying to do is to make sense of life."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Booker Prize winnersJewish atheistsWomen academics from South AfricaNovelists from South AfricaJews from South Africa
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nadine_Gordimer
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer (20 November 1923 – 13 July 2014) was a South African Jewish novelist and writer, winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in literature and 1974 Booker Prize.*, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great benefit to humanity".
187 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Nadine Gordimer →
Related Quotes
"despite the fact that the narrative demonstrates that the voice of the ‘other’ can be heard and imagined, Gordimer’s …"
"What had Aila done to assuage his anguish at Baby's attempt to end her life before it had begun? Nothing. Silence. Si…"
"Whether or not harmful intention was premeditated, when the accused picked up the gun … was he in a state of automati…"
"“[T]he isotopy of fragmentation constitutes a unifying web structurally present at the level of story, text, and narr…"
"propos[ed] a future South Africa, not only on terms of equality of races but of sexes, too”"
"She reminds me of pig. Our ancestors didn't eat pig."
"She writes marvelous novels"
"...cannot distinguish which Duncan is being described in truth."
"Bring death and life together."
"It was my mother who had talked under interrogation. I know why she did. It was to be sure neither her husband nor I …"