In this study of Nadine Gordimer's fictional depiction of South African society under the apartheid system, Uledi-Kamanga begins by tracing the history of S Africa from its introduction in 1948 through to abolition in the early nineties. Engaging in a close textual analysis of Gordimer's novels and short stories with specific focus on her use of irony as a central mode of literary exposition, he argues tha Gordimer was able to perceive and expose the various contradictions created by apartheid and to predict its eventual apartheid and to predict its eventual collapse.