"When I first began to write, [I felt] I was living at the other end of the world, and that what I had to say couldn't be of any interest to anybody, only to me," she says. "Funnily enough, I'think it was liberating. You'd think it would be frustrating, but it gave me a certain inner impetus to understand."

She first published a short story at age 16, but she says she didn't really "have [her] own voice" until her 30s.

As she has in a series of lectures and discussions at Harvard, in an interview Gordimer pokes gentle fun at the overzealous reviewers and literary analysts who construe motives or find hidden meanings where none exist.

For instance, in her latest book, one of the characters is named Vera Stark.

"I've been amused to see that some people and some reviewers have said, 'Her name is Stark and it's a stark story and she's a stark character."

She dismisses that idea quickly.

"Never entered my head!"

Harvard Experiences

Gordimer was also a guest lecturer at Harvard 25 years ago, in the turbulent year of 1969.

"1969 was traumatic," Gordimer says. "Harvard was just in complete chaos. I was so frightened by people."

Looking around at her quiet Cambridge apartment where vases of flowers adorn most tables, she remembers her 1969 Harvard room, which didn't feel as peaceful.

"I was in...a room on the ground floor [which] had a big push up and down window," she says, and continues with a half-smile of amusement on her face.

"I thought, 'Oh God, this is really not a very secure place to be."

Gordimer's actual lectures had a bit more security. "When I spoke, they said 'Well, we don't know what might happen. If there's any sort of riot breaking out, we'll slip you out this way,'" she says. "They alarmed me, in other words."

Today, things are certainly calmer on campus, and Gordimer is meeting with students for the first time.