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Occasione d'amore
Radicato nell'esplosiva realtà del Sudafrica, "Occasione d'amore" si presenta come un romanzo classico per la sapienza dell'impianto e il grado di leggibilità. Attorno alla coppia formata da Tom e Jessie, tipici rappresentanti della borghesia anglosassone di Johannesburg, si intrecciano vicende che non possono prescindere dal mondo della segregazione razziale. La storia di Ann, contagiata dall'entusiasmo un po' missionario di Jessie e innamorata di un giovane artista di colore, si specchia in altre storie collaterali, in diverse "occasioni d'amore" che subiscono condizionamenti e frustrazione: è in gioco "l'integrità dei rapporti personali contro le distorsioni delle leggi e della società".
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
8 people are currently reading
276 people want to read
About the author
Nadine Gordimer
329 books953 followersNadine Gordimer was a South African writer, political activist, and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was recognized as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".
Gordimer's writing dealt with moral and racial issues, particularly apartheid in South Africa. Under that regime, works such as Burger's Daughter and July's People were banned. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was banned. She was also active in HIV/AIDS causes.
Gordimer's writing dealt with moral and racial issues, particularly apartheid in South Africa. Under that regime, works such as Burger's Daughter and July's People were banned. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was banned. She was also active in HIV/AIDS causes.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 27, 2020
2.5/5 Stars
Another Nadine Gordimer's book that I had to read for class. I don't why but it seems that her books just aren't for me. I don't particularly enjoy them when I find myself reading them. I'm always interested by the plot, but then the execution lets me down, even though the writing style is beautiful and the original concept was captivating.
Another Nadine Gordimer's book that I had to read for class. I don't why but it seems that her books just aren't for me. I don't particularly enjoy them when I find myself reading them. I'm always interested by the plot, but then the execution lets me down, even though the writing style is beautiful and the original concept was captivating.
December 13, 2017
I wasn't sure I was in the mood for a Nadine Gordimer novel but it was up next on the 1963 list of My Big Fat Reading Project. I opened the book and was immediately swept away by this story of an interracial love affair set deep in the days of Apartheid in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Jessie and Tom Stillwell are white liberals who do not countenance the "color bar." In fact, they claim not to see color. They live in a somewhat ramshackle fashion with four children, he a professor and she rather a job hopper but always working to support causes. When they agree to take in a young couple as house guests all of their views are challenged.
Boaz Davis is a frustrated composer turned musicologist, returning from Europe with his new wife Ann, to conduct research on Native South African music. He is an old friend of Tom Stillwell's so there seems to be no reason not to take him in. However, Ann is a young, free spirited woman who lives for pleasure and excitement with little regard for consequences.
Before too long, Ann engages in an affair with the well-known African artist Gideon Shibalo. The danger and upset she brings upon her husband and the Stillwell family is the plot. It is illegal for whites and Blacks to have a sexual relationship and the centuries of taboo behind the law make it necessary that the couple only meet in certain fringe areas of the city where the law is unlikely to find them.
Nadine Gordimer's writing is crystalline. I always have to readjust my reading for her. It is as though she chooses every word, constructs every sentence, in a deliberate attempt to pinpoint exactly what she wants to convey. As a reader, I cannot just cruise along on story but am pulled into her worldview and mannerisms. So I surrender and it is pure pleasure for me.
Having read much in the past two years about the Civil Rights movement in America, I found reading about the South African conflict fascinating. In America we brought slaves from Africa to help build our nation. In South Africa, the British and Dutch colonized a nation and enslaved the natives. So the insanity and inhumanity of racism, the laws and taboos, the economic justifications while similar, include subtle differences between the two countries.
If you saw the 2016 movie, Loving, you have an idea of the havoc that ensued when an interracial couple tried to live in the pre-Civil Rights times of mid 20th century America. In Occasion For Loving, Nadine Gordimer depicts not only the struggles of her lovers but also the effects on the whites who attempt to practice their liberal views. This is not so much a political novel as a personal look at the demands of one's moral precepts.
I can't recommend the book enough. It is Nadine Gordimer's third novel. I have read her two earlier ones and in Occasion For Loving she took a giant leap into the subject about which she would write for the rest of her life and for which she won the Nobel Prize.
Jessie and Tom Stillwell are white liberals who do not countenance the "color bar." In fact, they claim not to see color. They live in a somewhat ramshackle fashion with four children, he a professor and she rather a job hopper but always working to support causes. When they agree to take in a young couple as house guests all of their views are challenged.
Boaz Davis is a frustrated composer turned musicologist, returning from Europe with his new wife Ann, to conduct research on Native South African music. He is an old friend of Tom Stillwell's so there seems to be no reason not to take him in. However, Ann is a young, free spirited woman who lives for pleasure and excitement with little regard for consequences.
Before too long, Ann engages in an affair with the well-known African artist Gideon Shibalo. The danger and upset she brings upon her husband and the Stillwell family is the plot. It is illegal for whites and Blacks to have a sexual relationship and the centuries of taboo behind the law make it necessary that the couple only meet in certain fringe areas of the city where the law is unlikely to find them.
Nadine Gordimer's writing is crystalline. I always have to readjust my reading for her. It is as though she chooses every word, constructs every sentence, in a deliberate attempt to pinpoint exactly what she wants to convey. As a reader, I cannot just cruise along on story but am pulled into her worldview and mannerisms. So I surrender and it is pure pleasure for me.
Having read much in the past two years about the Civil Rights movement in America, I found reading about the South African conflict fascinating. In America we brought slaves from Africa to help build our nation. In South Africa, the British and Dutch colonized a nation and enslaved the natives. So the insanity and inhumanity of racism, the laws and taboos, the economic justifications while similar, include subtle differences between the two countries.
If you saw the 2016 movie, Loving, you have an idea of the havoc that ensued when an interracial couple tried to live in the pre-Civil Rights times of mid 20th century America. In Occasion For Loving, Nadine Gordimer depicts not only the struggles of her lovers but also the effects on the whites who attempt to practice their liberal views. This is not so much a political novel as a personal look at the demands of one's moral precepts.
I can't recommend the book enough. It is Nadine Gordimer's third novel. I have read her two earlier ones and in Occasion For Loving she took a giant leap into the subject about which she would write for the rest of her life and for which she won the Nobel Prize.
June 26, 2020
2.5 stars
I had to read this book by Nadine Gordimer for class, but unfortunately it didn't fully meet my taste. Anyway, I appreciate the conception behind this novel and the message it delivers.
I had to read this book by Nadine Gordimer for class, but unfortunately it didn't fully meet my taste. Anyway, I appreciate the conception behind this novel and the message it delivers.
July 13, 2013
Nadine Gordimer has a way of getting under the skin of her characters which makes them uncomfortably familiar. Although times have changed and official apartheid is a thing of the past, the personal situations of the lovers and those around them remain authentic and relevant. The novel is also brutally realistic in bringing to an inglorious end what was an impossible relationship. Where does this leave the main character, the narrator, Jessie, who only reluctantly welcomed the married couple Boaz and Ann in the first place? She has grown closer to both the lovers, Gideon and Ann, during their stay with her by the sea, but not enough to move beyond her status as a liberal "sympathizer" to actively support their relationship and flight. The eventual message of the book is pessimistic showing no light at the end of the tunnel and underlining the fatuous nature of the liberal stance.
October 10, 2024
War mega, mach jetzt aber erstmal eine Pause von Gordimer
September 26, 2014
Such insight and understanding of love, life, prejudice and all with a deep deep respect for human beings. Writing in the 60s what would have informed her profound consciousness?
November 2, 2023
Gordimer portrayed life in South Africa and the realities under apartheid in her novels. In this one, she explores the ideas of marriage, love, and inter-racial relationships. She subjects them to intense scrutiny, cutting away with the diligence and precision of a forensic pathologist to lay bare the lies, vanities and fears that lurk within. Every scene and every character is vividly etched, the minute details of daily life which most might even fail to register are imbued with significance in startling metaphors. The plot is simple and the conversations sparse, but the narration is extensive and in a unique style.
November 28, 2012
I just finished reading this early Gordimer. It was good, shocking and illuminating, but nothing very different from what had been covered in some of her later works. Perhaps if I had read it when it was first written in 1963, it would have had a stronger effect on me. It is a good read.
July 31, 2011
I was happy to discover this older Gordimer novel at a great used bookstore in St. Louis (thanks Kate!)--& it really was an engrossing read.
November 2, 2019
След като прочетох добре подредената междурасова романтична история на Лус Габас, където всеки си има назначена роля и място в една илюстрация на колониална Африка през 1960-те според разбиранията на писателката от половин век по-късно, реших да си сверя часовника и със съвременната спрямо епохата гледна точка. В центъра на вниманието на Надин Гордимър е любовната връзка между току що доведена от съпруга си в Йоханесбург бяла европейка и черен местен. За нея животът е единствено източник на развлечение, страст и приключение без никаква грижа за последици или отражение върху околните. Той, учител и художник, е „космополит“ в южноафриканския смисъл и същевременно - политически активен и лоялен към партията, обвързана с визията за мултирасиализъм - държавата като дом на хората от всички раси, а не само на черните африканци, каквато е визията и на конкурентната партия, и на установилите се на власт в няколко от току що деколонизираните африкански страни. А Южна Африка по време на действието и писането на романа, 30 години преди утвърждаването на мултирасиализма в нова конституция, е страната на регламентираното разделение на расите и узаконеното табу на социални и сексуални връзки между тях. Системата е абсурдна дотолкова, че за черен в компания на бели „е по-лесно да е пиян, отколкото - трезвен, да се изповядва, отколкото просто да побъбри, и да има любовна връзка, отколкото приятелство“. Ако си бунтар, безразсъден или просто имаш възможност как и къде да се криеш, можеш да правиш любов с човек от другата раса. Но не може да си ходил на училище с него, да си живял в неговия квартал или да си си прекарвал ваканцията на същия плаж. Пропастта на непознаване на културите, която трябва да се преодолее за взаимно разбиране е огромна. Същевременно белият мъж в триъгълника толкова внимава да не се възползва от привилегията на цвета на кожата си, че в крайна сметка прави точно това – възползва се, отказвайки да третира съперника си, както би третирал всеки друг. С юмрук в лицето примерно. Всичко което е истинско и има корени в истинския живот, гневи се в прав текст Гордимър, всякакви естествени чувства, които героите биха могли да имат един към друг, Боаз към Ан, Ан към Гидиън, Ан към Боаз, Гидиън към Боаз (куиз: познайте кой е черният?) нямат никакво значение пред сухия правен текст на узаконената расова теория. И раздава психологични оценки, като например, че в моралния здрач на властта, която ограничава черните да бъдат където искат, могат да се намерят такива бели, които да помагат не толкова от искрено желание да помогнат, а подавайки се на натиск върху точното слабо място в бронята на собствения си инстинкт за оцеляване. В тази зона се намират другите двама герои, завлечени в аферата им по стечение на обстоятелството, че са дали стая под (символичен) наем. Либерално настроените Том и Джесика от академичния свят, които живеят в собствения си етичен баланс, че не виждат цветно, когато общуват с хора, но също така не са в положение да променят света, дирижиран от хора, които виждат. Докато и те, и читателите, не осъзнаят, че Гордимър изследва не само и не толкова драмата на забранената любов, колкото отражението ѝ върху тях. Върху Джесика по-специално. До жестоката присъда в последната реплика.
November 29, 2020
Valutare questo libro è complesso. Se si considera che è stato scritto negli anni’60 è un’opera moderna, innovativa, scandalosa(!) per i tempi. La scrittura è un po’ arcaica e questo rende il libro non propriamente scorrevole.
L’autrice narra la storia di una famiglia bianca borghese che vive nel Sudafrica caratterizzato dall’apprtheid e lo fa utilizzando i pensieri di Jesse, per spiegare le situazioni e portare i lettori a riflettere su situazioni quali status, integrazione, famiglia, tradimenti, tradizioni. Il racconto si snoda tra brutali rappresentazioni della società razzista sudafricana e i pensieri progressisti della famiglia di Jessie.
Il continuo mettere in discussione la libertà, l’integrazione, le differenze fornisco ai lettori spunti per comprendere il difficile percorso per la creazione di una società tollerante e multiculturale.
L’autrice narra la storia di una famiglia bianca borghese che vive nel Sudafrica caratterizzato dall’apprtheid e lo fa utilizzando i pensieri di Jesse, per spiegare le situazioni e portare i lettori a riflettere su situazioni quali status, integrazione, famiglia, tradimenti, tradizioni. Il racconto si snoda tra brutali rappresentazioni della società razzista sudafricana e i pensieri progressisti della famiglia di Jessie.
Il continuo mettere in discussione la libertà, l’integrazione, le differenze fornisco ai lettori spunti per comprendere il difficile percorso per la creazione di una società tollerante e multiculturale.
March 29, 2021
Quite boring to be honest.
January 10, 2022
Come l'adagio di una sonata di Beethoven, questo libro ha un ritmo tranquillo ma un'intensità strabiliante. Primo libro che leggo della Gordimer, ma non di certo l'ultimo <3
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November 11, 2023One of the best political novels I’ve read. Even the straightforward statement of the novel’s thesis toward the end can’t spoil the beauty of the final images.
February 5, 2017
good book where the background theme is race, the author won the nobel prize for literature in 1991. This book was published in 1963 however the theme continues today. There were several catchy lines throughout the book... some I liked ....
"if you did not find blackness abhorrent and outcast, was the only alternative the fastidious suppression of all personal responses in the common denominator of shared humanity?"
---
"i don't mind him being black"
"do you mind sometimes when other people are?"
"i don't think it's pretty"
---
the mood between them was affectionate, and the mood of the evening behind them was one that suggested that men and women were neither good or bad, happy nor unhappy, but taking pleasure here, suffering there, as they tried to live; rash, occasionally exalted, often funny.
"if you did not find blackness abhorrent and outcast, was the only alternative the fastidious suppression of all personal responses in the common denominator of shared humanity?"
---
"i don't mind him being black"
"do you mind sometimes when other people are?"
"i don't think it's pretty"
---
the mood between them was affectionate, and the mood of the evening behind them was one that suggested that men and women were neither good or bad, happy nor unhappy, but taking pleasure here, suffering there, as they tried to live; rash, occasionally exalted, often funny.
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October 17, 2012Finiti
August 26, 2014
Really beautifully written book about real love. Sad because it must be hidden in order to survive.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews