Introduction: A Changing Face

Abstract

A book of essays about the later fiction of a highly productive, contemporary author at the peak of her powers is unusual; such specialized attention is normally reserved for the long-dead classics of our culture — the late works, say, of Shakespeare, Ibsen, Henry James. Nadine Gordimer, however, is an unusual writer; her recent fiction has evolved so rapidly in new directions that there is considerable puzzlement about what she is doing and why. Many readers feel her later fiction has a prominent place among the classics of our time; others do not like it or became lost along the way. While some object to her politics, more are confused by the rapid changes in the style, manner and form of her novels. What are the novels saying and why has she chosen these forms?