A World of Strangers (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Nadine Gordimer
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Work: Social satire
- Time of Work: The early 1950’s
- Setting: Johannesburg, South Africa
- Principal Characters: Tobias (Toby) Hood, Cecil Rowe, Anna Louw, Steven Sitole, Sam Mofokenzazi
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire
- Subjects: 1950’s, Self-discovery, Politics, Racism, Blacks, Death or dying, South Africa or South Africans, Hate crimes, Apartheid
- Locales: South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
The Novel
Oxford graduate Toby Hood has left London and is traveling to Johannesburg to become a publisher’s agent. Toby, however, becomes much more. With the novel’s first sentence, “I hate the faces of peasants,” the reader senses that Toby is not too socially conscious. By the end of chapter 1, Toby confirms his apathy: “Let the abstractions of race and politics go hang. I want to live! And to hell with you all!”
Toby’s year in Johannesburg dissipates this apathy as he repeatedly comes face-to-face with the shocking horrors of apartheid. For example,...
[The entire page is 1788 words long]
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