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The Grapes of Wrath

by the censors. War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, though it is a work of science fiction, would be turned down because the word war appeared in its title. From the first, I tried to read books about South Africa or by South African writers. I read all the unbanned novels of Nadine Gordimer and learned a great deal about the white liberal sensibility. I read many American novels, and recall especially John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath , in which I found many similarities between the plight of the migrant workers in that novel and our own laborers and farm workers. One book that I returned to many times was Tolstoy’s great work, War and Peace . (Although the word wa r was in the title, this book was permitted.)”

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