Looking for South African novel

July 17, 2012 6:49 AM

South African novel? A Boer seduces a black girl, they have sex in his Mercedes Benz. The book deals with the seduction that comes before, and the problems afterwards. The white guy is NOT cast as a villain. My friend read this book in the 70s and is looking for it. Thanks!
posted by Tom-B to media & arts (10 answers total)

It's been a while since I read it, but I immediately thought of Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist. I can't remember all the plot details, but it sounds like something that could have happened in that novel.
posted by col_pogo at 7:34 AM on July 17, 2012

(An interracial affair was definitely not the focus of that book, however.)
posted by col_pogo at 7:35 AM on July 17, 2012

I was thinking Nadine Gordimer as well - an earlier novel has a similar situation to what you're mentioning above, but the genders are reversed. Is it possible your friend has the genders mixed up?
posted by LN at 7:46 AM on July 17, 2012

Too Late the Phalarope, by Alan Paton?
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:43 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

OK my friend tells me that it's not Nadine Gordimer, the book had an urban, not rural vibe, and also that it might not be a South African writer...

Thanks for the feedback though!
posted by Tom-B at 9:44 AM on July 17, 2012

Something by Doris Lessing? She wrote a lot of fiction set in Africa and in particular South Africa and won the Nobel for Literature in 2007.
posted by vkxmai at 10:15 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Might be Alan Paton... now he's trying to find out if it's had a Brazilian edition
posted by Tom-B at 10:58 AM on July 17, 2012

I was also thinking of Doris Lessing.
posted by Forktine at 10:59 AM on July 17, 2012

This sounds like a James McClure theme to me, though I don't recall any of his books (Kramer / Zondi novels) that has this anecdote in it.
posted by jet_silver at 2:02 PM on July 17, 2012

It sounds a lot like Alan Paton's Too Late the Phalarope.
posted by atropos at 6:19 PM on July 17, 2012