Book dossier

The Conservationist

by Nadine Gordimer

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. Nadine Gordimer's fascinating portrait of a man both reckless and calculating, a "conservationist" left only with the possibility of self-preservation, is also a subtle and detailed study of the forces and relationships that seethe in South Africa today.