I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere novellen "City Lovers" af Nadine Gordimer. Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af teksten, samt idéer til fortolkning og perspektivering.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “City Lovers” (1975)
Forfatter: Nadine Gordimer
Genre: Short story
Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) var en sydafrikansk forfatter og politisk aktivist, som blandt andet var aktiv i protestbevægelserne mod apartheid-styret. Hendes værker involverer typisk temaer som racisme, kærlighed og moral. I 1991 vandt hun Nobelprisen i litteratur.
"City Lovers" blev udgivet første gang i 1975, i tidsskriftet The New Yorker.
Uddrag
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Title
The title of the short story “City Lovers” by Nadine Gordimer has both a literal and a symbolic meaning.
In a literal sense, the title is a direct reference to the two lovers: Dr von Leinsdorf and the mixed-race woman. They meet in an urban environment, as their first encounter happens inside a supermarket. Dr von Leinsdorf’s flat is located in a “suburban block” (p. 40, ll. 13-14) and in a part of the city that is not inhabited by black or mixed-race people (p. 41, ll. 42-47). However, the woman begins to live in his flat after the two of them become lovers.
In a symbolic sense, the title represents the limitations and status of their relationship. The two of them cannot openly be together inside the city. When Dr von Leinsdorf goes to the houses of his colleagues, he cannot take the woman with him. The two never kiss when they leave the flat (p. 44, l. 39), showing how their love can exist only in the confines of their home. They are only able to express their relationship freely outside the city, in the countryside, where they “picnicked away up in the Magaliesberg, where there was no one” (p. 43, l. 19-l. 1).
