Рассказ опубликован в журнале "Иностранная литература" № 10, 1970 Надин Гордимер — Nadine Gordimer (род. в 1923 г.). [...] Рассказы Н.Гордимер, которые она начала публиковать в 15-летнем возрасте, составили несколько сборников, в том числе «Нежный голос змия» («The soft voice of the serpent», 1952), «Шесть футов земли» («Six feet of the country», 1956), «He для публикации» («Not for publication and other stories», 1965), откуда взят рассказ «Африканский фокусник». Из подборки "Авторы этого номера"

Сборник рассказов, составленный лауреатом Нобелевской премии по литературе Надин Гордимер, явление в литературном мире уникальное. Здесь под одной обложкой собраны рассказы лучших писателей современности, в том числе пяти лауреатов Нобелевской премии по литературе. Эти рассказы, по словам Гордимер, «охватывают все многообразие чувств и ситуаций, доступных человеческому опыту». Однако этот сборник еще и международная благотворительная акция, вызвавшая заметный отклик в издательской среде и средствах массовой информации. Каждый издатель, который принимает участие в этой благотворительной акции, передает все средства от продажи сборника рассказов в помощь неизлечимо больным людям.

Get a Life begins with Paul Bannerman, a South African ecologist, being treated for thyroid cancer with radioactive iodine. To spare his wife and child any peril from the radioactivity, he returns to his parents' home to recuperate. He's returned to his childhood state, being cared for by his mother, a civil rights lawyer, and the black housekeeper who's been with the family his whole life. Paul's wife, an advertising executive, realizes that her clients are facilitating the foreign corporations who want to take advantage of liberal land use laws for their own interests. Paul's illness forces them all the re-evaluate both their lives and the new challenges facing their country. Nadine Gordimer's has received mostly positive reviews with the Philadelphia Inquirer saying, "At first whiff, Get a Life feels an odd title for this novel. But as the action progresses, and Gordimer masterfully grinds her yarn to a quivering conclusion, no answers have been provided, and the moniker she has given this provocative book seems perfect."

Rosa era una niña cuando su padre, Lionel Burger, fue condenado a cadena perpetua por promover la revolución en Sudáfrica. A partir de entonces, empezará un camino que la llevará a replantearse lo que realmente significa ser la hija de Burger.

La vida de los Lingord, un matrimonio liberal de Suráfrica, sufre un vuelco cuando su hijo Duncan mata a uno de sus compañeros de piso. El joven ha confesado su autoría, pero no el motivo del crimen. Para afrontar el proceso, los Lingord recurren a un abogado negro recién regresado del exilio, una elección arriesgada en un país donde sólo formalmente se ha puesto fin a la discriminación racial.

A depiction of South Africa today, this novel is more revealing than a thousand news dispatches as it tells the story of a young woman cast in the role of a young revolutionary, trying to uphold a heritage handed on by martyred parents while carving out a sense of self.

Not all whites in South Africa are outright racists. Some, like Bam and Maureen Smales in Nadine Gordimer's thrilling and powerful novel , are sensitive to the plights of blacks during the apartheid state. So imagine their quandary when the blacks stage a full-scale revolution that sends the Smaleses scampering into isolation. The premise of the book is expertly crafted; it speaks much about the confusing state of affairs of South Africa and serves as the backbone for a terrific adventure.

Mehring is rich. He has all the privileges and possessions that South Africa has to offer, but his possessions refuse to remain objects. His wife, son, and mistress leave him; his foreman and workers become increasingly indifferent to his stewarsship; even the land rises up, as drought, then flood, destroy his farm.