SOURCE: "Nadine Gordimer: Nobel Laureate in Literature, 1991," in World Literature Today, Vol. 66, No. 1, Winter, 1992, pp. 7-10.

In the following essay, Eckstein discusses the political atmosphere of South Africa and how it affected Gordimer's career and fiction.

The world literary community has noted each year the prevailing tastes and proclivities of the Nobel jury. So rare was the choice of the Nigerian Whole Soyinka in 1986, for example, that it evoked comment from many quarters. John Kwan-Terry has speculated on the reasons for the exclusion of Chinese names from the list of winners. The paucity of women recipients is no less cause for speculation. In addition, commentary on the Nobel Prize traditionally includes the observation voiced here by John Banville: "The committee has always appeared distinctly chary of anything that smacks of art for art's sake, preferring its literature well salted with political or social concerns." Alfred Nobel's stipulation that...