Part 1 of Essay
was born on 20 November 1923 in Springs, a small mining town near Johannesburg in South Africa, which turned out to be the setting for Gordimer's first novel, The Lying Days (1953). Her father was a Jewish jeweler originally from Latvia and her mother of British descent. She was educated in a convent school and she spen ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... Days, appeared in 1953. She has now published 10 novels and 7 collections of short stories, as well as a few volumes of literary criticism and in addition, a large number of articles, speeches and lectures on different subjects. Some of her books have at times been banned in her native country. Since 1948 Gordimer has lived in Johannesburg and taught in the USA in several universities during the 1960s and '70s. She has also written books of non-fiction on South African subjects and made television documentaries. ....