"The young man outside. But he is not part of the unreality; he is for good now. Odd…somewhere there was an idea that he, that living with him, was part of the holiday, the strange places. The heat of shame mounted through her legs and body and sounded in her ears like the sound of sand pouring. Pouring, pouring. She sat there, sick. A weariness, a tastelessness, the discovery of a void made her hands slacken their grip, atrophy emptily, as if the hour was not worth their grasp. She was feeling like this again. She had thought it was something to do with singleness, with being alone and belonging too much to oneself.She sat there not wanting to move or speak, or to look at anything even; so that the mood should be associated with nothing, no object, word, or sight that might recur and so recall the feeling again….Smuts blew in grittily, settled on her hands. Her back remained at exactly the same angle, turned against the young man sitting with his hands drooping between his sprawled legs, and the lion, fallen on its side in the corner.The train had cast the station like a skin. It called out to the sky, I’m coming, I’m coming; and again, there was no answer."
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 …"