Literary, South African fiction (English), Alienation (Social psychology), South Africa, Man Booker Prize, Manners and customs, Race relations, Farmers, Interpersonal Relations 

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 stewardship; even the land rises up, as drought, then flood, destroy his farm. As the upheaval in Mehring's world increasingly resembles that in the country as a whole, it becomes clear that only a seismic shift in ideas and concrete action can avert annihilation. 

Publisher Comments
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.
Review
"Nadine Gordimer has written a masterpiece in 'The Conservationist,' a brilliant study of a wealthy, white industrialist in South Africa, a dealer in base metals, whose self-definition depends upon random and unsuitable sexual encounters, unlimited meditations upon death, and alienation from his family while his so-called primitive neighbors play out their lives among their kin in labor, custom, and ceremony." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
"A triumph of stle … It is not often that lyrical intelligence and political pupose are combined in so effective a way."
—Paul Theroux

"Gordimer has written what must be considered her masterpiece. The beauty and largeness of this land she loves is drawn with a breadth and scope that is breathtaking."

—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"This is a novel of enormous power."

—The New Statesman

About the Author
Nadine Gordimer is the author of eleven previous novels, as well as collections of stories and essays. She has received many awards, including the Booker Prize (for The Conservationist in 1974) and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991. She lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Genre/Form: Fiction
English fiction
Material Type: Fiction
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Nadine Gordimer

ISBN: 067023883X 9780670238835
OCLC Number: 1046790
Awards: Man Booker Prize, 1974.
Description: 252 pages ; 22 cm
Responsibility: Nadine Gordimer.