Thematic Concerns of the Post-Apartheid Novels of Nadine Gordimer and J M Coetzee

Abstract

South African texts published after the first democratic elections in 1994 are commonly referred to as post-apartheid literature because, despite the lingering after-effects of the former political system, this event marked the eradication of legalized racial segregation. Post-apartheid writing is marked by an abrupt shift away from a racial focus towards a wider concern with all the many and various dimensions of human existence. The end of apartheid witnessed the emergence of new social problems that writers have attempted to confront in their works. This major political shift prompts many questions. What happens to the many committed writers who used to denounce political oppression in their texts? What themes do they take up? Whether the South African writers would be able to adjust their writing to the new political climate, since the end of racial oppression implies liberation from the old racial discourse. How different will their literature be from the literature written during the apartheid period? This paper tries to explore these possibilities. The paper tries to analyze critically the different themes and topics of South African novelists-Nadine Gordimer and J M Coetzee-and a thorough study of their novels-Disgrace and The Pick Up–written during this period looking for the new dimensions and new themes that they focus on.