This paper makes the argument that Nadine Gordimer, through aspects of the style in July’s People, provides a dystopian critique of the fallacious ideas and the oppressive patterns inherent in the apartheid regime, and unfolds a utopian vision of post-apartheid South Africa. Wrapped in a futuristic narrative mode, the events in the novel examine the lying and dying days of apartheid and its harsh realities and imagine the life of whites in the post-apartheid era. The analysis demonstrates that using irony, symbols, and allegory, the author rebukes power differentials, and primitive conditions born from racial hierarchy, but also unveils the hypocrisy of white liberals, foregrounded in the representation of the black liberation movement. In doing so, the discussion elaborates on power dynamics and the forging of new identities and roles, with the Smales – caught between two worlds, one dead and the other powerless to be born” (Matthew Arnold, the Grande Chartreuse) – accommodated by their black servant, July. As a finale, the study argues that through the novel’s themes and striking characterization, Gordimer hints at the future of the whites after the demise of apartheid, and draws the contours of the anticipated society, with possible avenues for fairer interpersonal relations, a redefinition of powers structures, and a redistribution of economic opportunities. This is, for the writer, an ineluctable road to the building of a new nation, symbolized by the Smales’ children’s immersion into village life, the only gleam of hope for a post-revolutionary rebirth.

Authors:
Khadidiatou Diallo, Gaston Berger University, Senegal

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Khadidiatou Diallo is an Assistant Professor of African postcolonial literature at Gaston Berger University. Dr Diallo’s research embraces gender-based violence in African feminist literature, female genital mutilation in African literature

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Khadidiatou-Diallo/

Additional website of interest
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Khadidiatou-Diallo/achievement/63a93537265012786f41389e

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