The Experience of Exile in Nadine's Gordimer Novels The Pickup and July's People Cover Image

EXPERIENȚA EXILULUI ÎN ROMANELE „LA AGĂȚAT” ȘI „OAMENII LUI JULY”, DE NADINE GORDIMER
The Experience of Exile in Nadine's Gordimer Novels The Pickup and July's People

Author(s): Simina Pîrvu
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, Other Language Literature
Published by: Universitatea »1 Decembrie 1918« Alba Iulia
Keywords: exile; South Africa; Gordimer; identity; home;

Summary/Abstract: In the Middle Ages, exile meant expatriation, prolonged absence from one's homeland, exile meant uprooting, the exiled suffered from nostalgia and tried to recover the origin, the center, home. Exile becomes a key concept in the writings of the South African author Nadine Gordimer. Starting from this concept, I will present the way in which, through the difficult situations that the characters face, Nadine Gordimer highlights the psychological consequences of exile and the impossibility of recovering the edge, in a postcolonial context. The concepts of place and home are presented in the novels The Pickup, and July's People in relation to the theme of exile and relocation in search of identity.Thus, in the novel The Pickup, the issue of exile and the recovery of the border is obvious and is related to identity. And in the novel July's People, exile involves giving up the previous life, all the privileges of the characters.In conclusion, exile, in all its forms, has psychological consequences on the characters in the novels discussed. Their attempt to return home, to their birthplaces, to a familiar space is not a physical one, but a mental one.

  • Issue Year: 22/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 194-199
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Romanian
Toggle Accessibility Mode