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Nadine Gordimer; Writing for a New Cause.(Interview)
Byline: Henk Rossouw
Since the fall of apartheid and South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Nobel Prize-winning author and vocal apartheid critic Nadine Gordimer has rallied behind her country's fight against HIV/AIDS. Inspired by U2 singer Bono's AIDS fund-raising concerts, the 81-year-old Gordimer has now used her literary clout to bring together 20 of the world's best writers to collaborate with her on a unique short-story collection, "Telling Tales." (Proceeds will go to South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign.) NEWSWEEK's Henk Rossouw spoke to Gordimer about the project and her own life in writing. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: How did you come up with the idea for this project?
GORDIMER: Well, there are so many big gigs by [people like] Bono raising a lot of money to fight HIV/AIDS, and I thought to myself, what have we writers done? Obviously our first concern is the freedom to write. But to turn our heads away or put them in the sand over the question of HIV/AIDS when many in the arts community--writers included--have fallen victim to this disease seems to me very strange. I thought, what's the good of grumbling to myself about it? Do something! I wrote to 20 writers, including five Nobel Prize winners. Some of them are my friends. I said, "Right, I want a story from you. And I do not want anything that has HIV/AIDS as a subject." I was incredibly lucky, because they are the most wonderful stories. And so varied. The names alone give you an idea of how much they vary, from Salman Rushdie to Margaret Atwood, Susan Sontag, Hanif Kureishi, Woody Allen, Arthur Miller, John Updike and Chinua Achebe.
Why have these writers given their talents without royalties?
Out of concern, to give something of the best they have, their creativity, to take on some part of the collective human responsibility that we bear towards combating HIV/AIDS. The book is such an extension of my life. As [Albert] Camus said, "The day when I am just a writer, I will cease to be a writer."
Gabriel Garcia Marquez offered up his story "Death Constant Beyond Love," about the dying wishes of a Colombian senator.
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