Nadine Gordimer
South African, Nobel Laureate, longtime anti-apartheid activist, now 83 years old, attacked at home by robbers, assaulted and locked into a cupboard when she refused to hand over her wedding ring even though she had already given them her cash and other jewellery.
And still refusing to leave the family home in Johannesburg.
Here’s what she had to say after the attack:
As the thieves grabbed the widowed author and her 66-year-old domestic servant, she was overcome more by sympathy than fear. “One grabbed me and had his arm across me. It was a muscular, smooth arm and I thought, ‘Shouldn’t there be a better use for these hands, this arm than robbing an old woman?’ What a waste of four young men. They should have jobs,” she said.The robbers were after cash and car keys, which Gordimer did not hesitate to hand over. But after one of the thieves pushed her into her bedroom she balked at surrendering the wedding ring from her husband, Reinhold Cassirer, who died five years ago. “He pulled off my ring. He held me tight, against his chest. I was very close to his face and could see he had very little beard. He didn’t shave often. I would put his age at 18 to 22,” she said.
The two women were then locked in a storeroom. They were released about 30 minutes later by security guards who had been alerted by the domestic worker hitting an alarm button.
A week later, Gordimer was keen to view the incident from the other side. The robbers, she said, are products of a society grappling with the legacy of South Africa’s past. “I know that South Africa has a terrible problem with crime, with violent crime. But I don’t think the answer is more police. I think we must look at the reasons behind the crime. There are young people in poverty without opportunities. They need education, training and employment. That is the way to reduce crime,” she said.
Thanks for this. The real question I want to ask is about the young woman raped in Coetzee’s Disgrace: she’s the one who not only leaves but declares that she’s paying for the past. Gordimer’s sensible remarks don’t touch upon that much more disturbing sentiment. Anyway, there’s a question there, but I’m unable to formulate it, and so, instead, I’ll note how Gordimer, under duress, remains the writer. Noticing almost on behalf of her assailants, the smooth, muscular arm, the recent beard.
Comment by Amitava Kumar — November 11, 2006 @ 4:14 am
you have a fantastic site developed
i am a new welcomer for you
good byee
Comment by Syed Imran — November 11, 2006 @ 6:08 pm
A mistake in my comment above. It should read “… she’s the one who not only stays …” Apologies.
Comment by Amitava Kumar — November 12, 2006 @ 4:17 am
Nadine Gordimer’s description of the assailants is very neutral - like in her writings, she is politically correct here too. The toned muscles, the stubble do not say about the colour of the assailant. Is he a black South African, a Afrikaner, a white south African of British decent or any other category/ colour that go make a rainbow nation of South Africa? Despite living through all those tumultuous times in South Africa, she is still a liberal at heart talking about employment, training and education as the solution for the problems. There is the history of suffering that cannot be put away, the whites carry it as guilt while it manifests as violence among the others. It might take many many years for the people of South Africa to step out of the shadow cast by history.
Comment by Uma Gowrishankar — November 12, 2006 @ 5:33 am
Hold, I have misspelt descent as decent. Sorry.
Comment by Uma Gowrishankar — November 12, 2006 @ 5:39 am
one sometimes feels the urge to salaam some people..
Comment by kuffir — November 12, 2006 @ 10:23 am
I just finished reading Coetzee’s Disgrace and then I see this.
Comment by SloganMurugan — November 13, 2006 @ 9:47 am