ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Monday, January 25, 2021
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Goodbye to a Great Woman, By Tade Ipadeola

Goodbye to a Great Woman, By Tade Ipadeola

byPremium Times
July 15, 2014
2 min read
ADVERTISEMENT

A writer like Nadine Gordimer is rare. She was one of those great ones who challenged the human faculty for reading because her writing never conformed to the norms of writing but rather reached forwards into realms of possibilities, constantly. She wrote a lot, thought a lot, suffered a lot. You wouldn’t know it, looking at her – she was the ultimate stoic.

Her writings spanned a range of human interests, she wrote a huge number of short stories, a sheaf of novels and a critical shelf of essays. Her energy far exceeded her slight human frame.

I first met Nadine Gordimer in person on the eve of the celebration of her 88th birthday. I had two of her books with me for her autograph, she obliged with an old woman’s facility for generosity. Her calligraphy was precise, practiced, steady, firm. I left with the books with a feeling that I imagine a man who just found a fat stash of cash must have, finders keepers ringing in the alleys of my mind. That evening, at the Sci-Bono in the heart of Johannesburg, Nadine Gordimer drew attention to the inimical Secrecy Laws which the ruling party sought to embed in South African jurisprudence. She quoted from the Swedish poet, Tomas Transtromer, to the effect that humanity will defeat Big Brother in the end.

The South African Department of Culture had asked me to come to Johannesburg specifically to deliver a tribute to Nadine Gordimer on the occasion of the celebration of her 88th birthday. The event was jointly hosted by the South African Ministry of Culture and the University of Witwatersrand.

The moment arrived, the first words out of my mouth to the great woman sitting before me were totally unplanned, they belonged entirely to the atmosphere of the moment: they were ‘Thank you. Thank you.’ If I thanked her in all of the six thousand languages mankind had left, I still wouldn’t have thanked Nadine Gordimer enough. I looked into her eyes and she was all lady, a modest smile lit her otherwise stoic bearing. I knew I had begun fulfilling my task.

It was my chance to remind that August gathering about just how special the celebrant was. It was my chance to call to mind the singular fact that the Nobel Prize for Literature had been awarded to a great many deserving writers, 108 in all at the time, but only once have the very words of Alfred Nobel himself been invoked in the award of the prize:

Nadine Gordimer, the writer who “through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity”.

The lady sat modestly through my panegyrics and only allowed herself the occasional smile through it all. At the end, she looked into my eyes, smiled and nodded. It felt like a benediction from heaven, her warriors face framed in that beatific moment.

Nadine Gordimer was a witness to many chapters of dark human history as it unfolded in South Africa. ANC to the end, she pitched her tent with enlightened liberalism rather than the profiteering inner ring of power pimps. I’m glad to say that she maintained her stance for Freedom of Expression to the very end.

RelatedNews

Tinubu, Alpha-beta, others accused of fraud, tax evasion, money laundering

Nigerian poet selected for U.S. govt writing programme

Tade Ipadeola to build library in memory of Kofi Awoonor with $100,000 Nigeria literature prize

NLNG Announces Three Final Contenders For $100,000 Prize For Literature

The poet Seamus Heaney referred to Nadine Gordimer as a guerilla of the imagination. She was that and much more. She brought a depth of dimension to what our understanding of Apartheid is, her writings provide a roadmap to the future and her thinking constantly underscored the importance of human dignity now and at all times.

Tade Ipadeola is the President of PEN Nigeria Centre and the 2013 winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature.

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: To advertise here . Call Willie +2347088095401...


JOIN THE CONVERSATION

  • Disqus (0)
premiumtimes



PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

How Nigeria’s FIFA suspension can be lifted – Aisha Falode

Next Post

Now the bigger threat to Humanity, By Hannatu Musawa

Premium Times

Premium Times

More News

Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram terrorists

Boko Haram: NHRC trains security personnel in Adamawa

September 17, 2020
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group

EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

September 16, 2020
COVID-19: Coronavirus

EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

March 26, 2020
SSS Officials

EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

December 13, 2019
Godwin Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

EDITORIAL: The flaws in Governor Emefiele’s five-year plan for Central Bank of Nigeria

October 16, 2019
Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official Instagram account of Sowore]

EDITORIAL: President Buhari must release Sowore Now!

September 23, 2019
Next Post
Exit of the Emir, Alhaji Ado Bayero, By Hannatu Musawa

Now the bigger threat to Humanity, By Hannatu Musawa

APC’s call for international probe of Boko Haram “curious”- PDP

When we cannot see Sambisa for the trees, By Omowande Omame

Discussion about this post

Search

#EndSARS: Latest Updates




Polaris Bank


JAIZ Ad


NITDA Ad




Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,605,741 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert

Zenith Advert

Heritage Advert
ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
    • Dubawa NG
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.