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Nadine Gordimer - A Flash of Fireflies

Episode 1: Six Feet of the Country

Duration: 15 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 Extra

Marking Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer's death in July, the first of three stories from her remarkable career as a writer and political activist.

In this story, first published in 1953, a landowning couple face a stark dilemma when an illegal immigrant dies on their property.

Read by William Gaminara
Abridged and produced by Gemma Jenkins

The South African author and political activist saw the short story as the literary form for our age. She described the experience of human life as "the flash of fireflies. Short story writers see by the light of the flash; theirs is the art of the only thing one can be sure of - the present moment."

Three stories which shine a light on her country's turbulent past. Show less

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