Gordimer's essay collection The Essential Gesture: Writing, Politics and Places (1988) includes the often-quoted essay "Living in the Interregnum," in which she discusses the role of revolution in the South African political context, and the responsibility she felt as a writer to come to terms with it.

To fully understand Gordimer's fiction, one must understand her political convictions and how they have affected her growth as a writer. Conversations with Nadine Gordimer, published in 1990, gives a good background to Gordimer's evolution as a political thinker and as a writer just prior to her writing of "The Ultimate Safari."

Of the many novels that Gordimer has written in her career, The Burger's Daughter is considered one of her best and was one of her most controversial at the time of its publication. Banned by the South African government, The Burger's Daughter follows...