Nothing is black and white in South Africa: power and roles in Nadine Gordimer's <i>Julys's People</i> and J. M. Coetzee's <i>Disgrace</i>

Abstract

The following paper is a comparison between two novels written by South-African Nobel Prize winners. Apparently, Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People and J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace have very little in common: the former was published in 1981, during the Apartheid; the latter in 1999, after the country’s first general election; the former tells the story of a family fleeing their homes for safety during an entirely fictional uprising; the latter is about the downfall of a college professor. However, it is my contention that, by focusing on their main characters, both novels shed light on the power relations between black and white people in South Africa and the violence it brings about.