The Conservationist (1974) by Nadine Gordimer is one of many novels this Nobel-prize-winning author has written about the turmoil of South Africa under Apartheid. Gordimer, a longtime ANC supporter, regards the novel as a critique of society, but resists stereotyping. The Conservationist is a lyrical portrait of an emotionally arid white industrialist who has a farm - staffed by blacks - that he visits at weekends. Like any planter in a colony, his sense of ownership is shrill and shaky, built on the bones of indigenous people.