Dystopian World: A Reading of Nadine Gordimer’s No Time Like the Present

Abstract

This paper explores and examines Nadine Gordimer’s recent novel No Time like the Present from a dystopian perspective. It interrogates the utopian and dystopian visions that this renowned novelist has presented, with an understanding that they may not simply be standpoints, but can be significant signs of the evolution of various human societies in quest for change to the disillusionment embedded in change itself. The paper underlines that dystopianism, which is often times viewed as a deliberate imaginative effort to disfigure society, is rather examined in this paper as an expression of grim realities which society refuses to acknowledge. The essay, however, concludes that Nadine Gordimer’s novel captures the inherent handicap of change, that of not being reliable and further notes that; what is expected of change in a rosy imagination turns out many at times into a nightmare. This is the predicament of the post-apartheid South Africans and postcolonial nations as a whole especially when, having nurtured a common dream for a non-racial and classless society, they find themselves abandoned and exploited by the very people who led the struggle for freedom. In discussing the dystopian/stark reality that Nadine Gordimer presents, this paper reinforces the role of literature in education and transformation