Something Out There

by Nadine Gordimer

A city of the dead, a city of the living -- At the rendezvous of victory -- Letter from his father -- Crimes of conscience -- Sins of the third age -- Blinder -- Rags and bones -- Terminal -- A correspondence course -- Something out there.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Africa, South Africa, African Literature, Nobel Prize, Literature

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Nadine 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.

Reviews

[Old Man JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another outstanding short story collection by the remarkable Nadine Gordimer. I've read several of her short story books and they have all been exceptional. Her writing has been compared to Faulkner and I agree if it means in the quality of the work. Her writing can be very dense and in some of her other books, I felt, it sometimes bordered on free-verse poetry. It requires complete concentration but is well worth the effort. Her short story collections always have one or two stories that really stand out and in this book I felt it was "Letter From His Father". This story is a letter written by the deceased father of Franz Kafka to his deceased son Franz, a very original and unique but remarkable story.

[Ciaran Monaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having inadvertently started the year with a few Nobel Prize winning authors, I thought it would be a good idea to continue. Many on the list were unknown to me including Nadine Gordimer but there were several of hers available at my local library, so she was first up.

Some of the writing is really good and some stories are really intriguing, and I was left wanting more, which I always find impressive as short stories seem so difficult to write well. However, I didn't really enjoy the title story as there was quite a lot in it that didn't seem relevant. On the whole, though, they were pretty good and I especially enjoyed some of the insights they gave into life in South Africa during Apartheid.

l certainly will read a few more later on in the year but might try one of her novels to see how her writing works in a longer form.

[Althea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the few short story collections I’ve read that actually felt cohesive and easy to transition between. So interesting that each one used a different style of writing too, but still maintained the same tone.

My favorite was the letter to Kafka, cus what’s the drama there?? How does one write a short story with a real person as a narrator, addressed to another real person?? I’m gonna have to research that.

Unfortunately though the star and namesake of this collection fell flat for me; I wasn’t a big fan of how the dialogue in this was done.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title story of this collection drags on and on and on for no good reason. Had it been edited to half, the impact would have been stronger and the point made. The other 9 short stories brought me in and left me wishing for me; as it should be.

[Simon J Alvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Nobel Prize winner proving why she's a Nobel Prize winner, through a series of short stories that reveal the divisions and parallel lives of apartheid South Africa, and highlighting how the bigotry of that system ingrains in people's hearts and minds.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of stories and one novellas mostly set in South Africa

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scrittura e impegno civile, in cerca di un equilibrio ammirevole quanto instabile.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

"He wanted to go back -- to his headquarters -- home -- but one of the conditions of the cease-fire had been that he should be withdrawn 'from the field' as the official term, coined in wars fought over poppy-meadows, phrased it."

"People whose lives are not easy, poor people, to whom things happen but who don't have the resources to make things happen, don't have the means, either, to extricate themselves from what has happened."

"There his letter was, among circulars from film clubs, bills, and aerogrammes with 'And when are you coming over?' scribbled on the back."

"Even if by some pretext he managed to get rid of them, give them all a day off at once. They changed the sheets and brushed the carpets; a tender train, a single hair of unfamiliar colour -- impossible. So in the end even his room, his own bed, in a house where he paid for everything -- nothing is your own, once you are married."

"There was a summer storm coming up, first the single finger of a trees branch paddling thick air, then the land expelling great breaths in gusts, common brown birds flinging themselves wildly, a raw, fresh-cut scent of rain falling somewhere else. So beautiful, the temperament of the earth."

"He thought of the experience as some sort of slip in the engagement of the cogs of time."

"The day after you have left a country it will be as remote, as a physical environment in which you may be apprehended, as it will be in a year."

[Care · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting collection of stories. Sometimes subtle, often not, very political, quite smart. Definitely opinionated yet often very gentle. The story of the collection title gave me nightmares - it was a tale of a baboon that was stealing food and pets! from the rich suburbs told against a tale of 'revolutionaries' preparing for a strike. Lots of play on human emotion, human relationships, gender issues, race and class issues, and even generational attitudes. WELL DONE. Most set in South Africa but some stories' settings were unknown and/or universal. Same with time - even though one story was set in an age without cellphones, it never felt dated.

This is a terrific way for me to ease into my World Citizen Challenge!

[Maarten Wagemakers · Rating 3 out of 5]

An alright collection of short stories; some good, some not that much (the one about the letter from Kafka's father comes to mind in particular).

The writing style is incredibly dense, while Gordimer's short stories tend to end somewhat sudden and cryptically at times, making rereading sessions the rule rather than the exception. Salman Rushdies NY Times review helped a bit in putting some of it in its proper context, making me appreciate the collection a bit more than I initially did.

Not much of a page-turner this one, but on the whole a pretty decent read.

[Miki · Rating 2 out of 5]

How can one possibly criticize the work of Nadine Gordimer? She's written a dozen novels; won the Nobel Prize for Literature; was a member of the ANC before it was legal; when Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Gordimer was one of the first people he wanted to see. No, one can't knock a writer who has done so much and so well. So i'll just say this--for fans of books written in a dense, restrained, 19th century realistic style.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. South African writer Nadine Gordimer collects some short stories here and a long novella in the back that I admit I haven't read yet.. But I already know that my rating will be five stars. She tosses off epiphanies, sometimes several to a page, and I am astonished as to how much humanity she can fit into such short stories. Read it.

[Ilana Diamant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED the "letter to Kafka", Nadine Gordimer is an amazing writer. I kept thinking "I can't think of any male writers who would write that story, the thought doesn't compute". I takes a bold and brave and imaginative and outspoken person to think like that , let alone put the thoughts in a short story form, and there's few people I can think of that could do it as well as Gordimer.

[Flora · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title novella is the star here -- an ingenious bit of fictional reportage about a Bigfoot-like "beast" terrorizing the white suburbs of Johannesburg -- but the others are terrific, too. Wholly original.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A somewhat depressing collection of short stories set in South Africa in the late 70's and early 80's. I thought the writing was just so-so, but I may have found it to be more interesting if I knew more about the politics of South Africa at the time.

[Shailesh Sonar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Baboon in the novel....
It was reminded by "Kala Bunder" in 'Delhi 6'.

Social fabric of South Africa, politics and how media forgets the black baboon the very next moment after another breaking news....well woven.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty dark stuff; short stories about the political unrest in South Africa. But, I couldn't get enough. She has a gift.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presumiré que mi copia de este libro está firmada por la mismísima autora, Nadine Gordimer. :D Me gustó bastante esta colección de short stories.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories that enlighten one about the plight of South Africa before the end of Apartheid.

[Anya · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Once upon a time)