AUTHOR HOPES PRIZE AIDS S. AFRICA
Author: Associated Press
Date: Friday, October 4, 1991
Page: 17
Section: NATIONAL/FOREIGN
NEW YORK -- Nadine Gordimer said yesterday she hopes her Nobel Prize in
literature will stir renewed support around the world for racial equality in
her native South Africa.
"I have two roles in my life -- one as a writer and another one, my
commitment to the cause of freedom in South Africa and creating a new
postapartheid culture in South Africa," she told reporters shortly after
learning that she had won the prize.
Gordimer, 67, who is white, has written 10 novels and more than 200 short
stories.
A member of the African National Congress, the overwhelmingly black
nationalist movement, she has often been at odds with the white-led South
African government. Three of her novels were banned in South Africa.
Her books address the suffering caused by racism and the way blacks and
whites relate to each other under apartheid.
She said she would never accept literary honors from South African
authorities "as long as we have a purely white government."
De Klerk's government has dismantled apartheid laws and is preparing for
talks on sharing political power with the black majority.
Gordimer is in the United States on a promotional lecture tour for her new
book, "Jump." She was staying with her son, Hugo, a filmmaker, in New York,
when she was awakened by a phone call bringing the news that she had won the
prize, worth about $1 million.
South African writers have helped portray to the world "what racism and
apartheid has meant in the lives of people," she said.
"I think we've had an effect on raising the consciousness of the outside
world. And perhaps given a little courage to the silent majority in our own
country," she said.
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