Nadine Gordimer was born on 20 November 1923 in Springs, a small mining town near Johannesburg in South Africa, which turned out to be the setting for Gordimer's first novel, The Lying Days (1953). Her father was a Jewish jeweler originally from Latvia and her mother of British descent. She was educated in a convent school and she spent a year at Witwaterstrand University, Johannesburg without taking a degree. She has traveled extensively in Africa, Europe, and North …showed first 75 words of 455 total…

…showed last 75 words of 455 total…much local and international work become known as part of the conscience of South Africa. Gordimer's main themes are exile, loneliness and strong political opposition towards racial segregation. She reveals the effects of alienation of races on society in an unsentimental manner and unique narrative style. In her first novels she studies the master-servant relations characteristic of South African life, spiritual and sexual paranoia of colonialism, and the political responsibilities of privileged white South Africans.