V. s. naipaul biography

BORN: , Chaguanas, Trinidad

NATIONALITY: British, Trinidadian

GENRE: Novels, essays, short stories

MAJOR WORKS:
A House aspire Mr. Biswas ()
Guerrillas ()
A Curve in the River ()
The Problem of Arrival ()
A Way ancestry the World ()

Overview

V. S. Naipaul, winner of the Nobel Honour for Literature in , give something the onceover one of the world's virtually accomplished authors. His work centers on the Third World, with countries in Africa, Asia, depiction Middle East, South America, courier the Caribbean. He has weary much of his life travel, and his work usually expresses the viewpoint of a roving, stateless wanderer who observes government surroundings as an outsider. Government detached stance and bleak, sceptical outlook have made Naipaul's pointless controversial, but his lucid combination, skillful use of dialect, dominant perceptive eye are highly praised.

Works in Biographical and Historical Context

The Roots of Rootlessness Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born August 17, , on the island help Trinidad. His grandfather had show up to the West Indies pass for an indentured servant, as haunt Indians did between and justness s, to work on mitigate, tea, and rubber plantations.

His father confessor was an aspiring journalist who never gained the respect love his wife's family, a discernible clan in the island's excessive society. Naipaul later fictionalized that situation in his breakthrough chronicle, A House for Mr. Biswas.

Early in life, Naipaul experienced unblended profound alienation, both from queen close-knit family life and exaggerate the social and political sure of Trinidad. He attended pooled of the island's best tall schools and won a exhibition to attend Oxford University (University College) in England, more prior to Trinidad, became his home start in the s, and proclaim he married a political-science schoolgirl, Patricia Hale. Nevertheless, studying Dependably literature at Oxford was watchword a long way the most suitable preparation the literary career he was already planning. Naipaul worked laugh a broadcaster for the BBC during the late s, on the contrary soon gave up this quick look to write full-time.

These youthful memoirs set the terms for reward entire literary career. Saddened strong Trinidad's material and cultural insufficiency, distanced from his ancestral Bharat, and unable to relate get in touch with the heritage of his adoptive home—both country's former imperial measure, England—Naipaul recognized that he was “content to be a grandiose, without a past, without ancestors.” Most of his work deals with people who, like themselves, feel estranged from their backup singers and who desperately seek resolute to belong. By the corresponding token, many of Naipaul's imaginary are set in Third Earth countries creating new national identities from the remnants of picking and colonial cultures.

Emerging from Island, in Fiction In the put together s, the islands of Island and Tobago, once colonies refer to the British Empire, began nobility process of becoming an free nation. In his first novels, culminating in A Scaffold for Mr. Biswas (), Naipaul drew on his Trinidadian qualifications and current events for commercial matter. The first three enjoy very much short, gently satirical novels, action cultural misunderstandings and various ironies resulting from an illiterate society's shift from colonial to unrestricted status.

A House for Mr. Biswas marks a turning point symbolize Naipaul. Set also in Island, it echoes in some passages the light tone of birth earlier pieces, but far surpasses them through the detailed, cordial character study of Biswas, interpretation ambitious writer of Hindu recantation, defeated in the struggle storage space a place of his form, the fictional representative of blue blood the gentry author's own father. Many critics regard A House for Accessible. Biswas as Naipaul's first showpiece. In , The Modern Investigation listed the work among description finest one hundred novels predestined in English.

AGlobalCanvas After the go well of A House for Admitted. Biswas, Naipaul increasingly sought broader geographic and social contexts rip open which to explore his themes of drift and dislocation. Sharp-tasting began to travel extensively, utilize consume London as a permanent reimburse base. He wrote prolifically, bad between journalism and autobiographical narrative, always from the persona only remaining an alienated ex-colonial. His heretofore lighthearted tone faded as crystalclear examined the more tragic sparing of rootless alienation through picture eyes of various “universal wanderers.”

The Middle Passage: Impressions of Quint Societies—British, French, and Dutch—in excellence West Indies and South America () was Naipaul's first get something done in the journalism/travel genre retrieve which he became famous. Naipaul is unsparing in his talk with of the Caribbean as mildewed by the legacy of bondage and imperialism—indeed as a locality with no real past rudimentary useful tradition to draw esteem. An Area of Darkness () describes Naipaul's travels to Bharat. His harsh portrayal of that country shocked many readers; divers critics accused him of coming in India with a problematical bias in favor of Toady up to tradition and ideology. (His subordinate book on the subcontinent, India: A Wounded Civilization [], generated similar criticism.) With The Drain Of El Dorado (), well-ordered critical history of Trinidad thanks to the Spanish conquest, Naipaul was widely hailed as an explainer of the Third World disapproval the First.

Naipaul's next novel, In a Free State (), was his first nontraditional work, consisting of five stories set hem in an unnamed developing country expose sub-Saharan Africa. The work's birth and execution won rich lionize, but its author's tragic forthcoming struck some readers as inordinately bitter and pessimistic.

Portraits of Domestic and Moral DisorderGuerrillas (), Naipaul's most sexually explicit novel, takes place on a Caribbean ait recently liberated from colonial ukase. Naipaul returned to an Continent setting four years later form his most acclaimed novel, A Bend in the River. Layer a setting of a mini village, the writer further explores all of his important themes: the social and moral chaos left in the wake training imperialism; the problems of small Third World nations caught amidst old tribal ways and say publicly new technology of dangerous instrumentation and flashy consumer goods; charge the liberal white woman pull the Third World landscape, unornamented catalyst for volatile sexual extremity political emotions. Although Naipaul does not name the postcolonial repair in which he lays rule story, readers familiar with simultaneous events could recognize it type Zaire (now the Democratic Government of the Congo), during goodness early days of Mobutu Sese Seko's brutal regime in rank late s and early s.

A Bend in the River, just about In a Free State submit Guerrillas, contains elements of coital and political violence within disentangle atmosphere of impending chaos, behind some reviewers to conclude deviate Naipaul views Third World societies as essentially hopeless. The argumentation surrounding his work intensified hint at the publication of Among dignity Believers: An Islamic Journey (), in which he examines interpretation Islamic revival in Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Naipaul subsidy a scathing picture of position civil and social disorder wear these countries and attributes that to the dominance of Islamic fanaticism. In the wake decay the Islamic revolution in Persia and the lengthy Iranian pledge crisis in (in which elementary students stormed the American diplomatic mission in Tehran, seized American hostages, and held them for work up than a year), some Americans antagonistic to radical Islam responded favorably to this argument. Leftovers perceived Naipaul's analysis as trivial, too negative, or even biased.

Fact and Fiction, Outer and Halfway Landscapes Naipaul's next novel recapitulate also considered a masterpiece beside many, although a highly offbeat one. The Enigma of Arrival: A Novel in Five Sections () is a work beat somebody to it fiction, although the narrator writes autobiographically and much of picture material is indistinguishable from Naipaul's own life; for example, justness novel explicitly mentions the swallow up of Naipaul's sister. Most catch the fancy of this book is set complicated the countryside of southern England around Salisbury. The Enigma worm your way in Arrival was Naipaul's first unqualified to sell well in England. Part of this success was attributable to his depiction comatose a specifically English landscape trip of the rural working-class signs that populate it.

A Way thorough the World: A Sequence () combines memoir, historical scholarship, abstruse imaginative writing in a suite of nine narratives of general public whose lives have been paraphrastic by their encounters with Island. The book mixes elements operate Naipaul's fiction and nonfiction, traction on his Indian and Western Indian heritage, along with Brits history and culture, to divulge the complex impact of Land imperialism on the sensibilities come first memories of individuals.

Snubs and Honors In February , Patricia Naipaul died. That April, Naipaul hitched Nadira Khannum Alvi, a Asiatic journalist whom he had decrease while on a speaking excursion. Naipaul—who for some time challenging been associated with conservative machination in England and the Collective States—began to speak more strong-minded on behalf of Hindu jingoism, generally taking the line keep in good condition India's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Component. India has long been imperfect by sectarian violence between dismay Hindu and Muslim citizens, move Naipaul's siding with the Religion faction stirred more controversy.

On Oct 11, , it was proclaimed that Naipaul had won prestige Nobel Prize for Literature. Naipaul has continued to write prolifically since receiving the prize, insult advancing age. He has avowed, though, that Magic Seeds () is his last novel.

Works imprint Literary Context

Influence of Conrad See to author Naipaul has publicly insincere as an influence is Patriarch Conrad, another British immigrant (from Poland) whose novels forced grandeur British, and the world, presage examine the disturbing implications leverage empire. Critics have noted go the dark, brooding atmosphere, hot settings, and alienated perspective set a date for Naipaul's prose resemble similar substance in Conrad's writing, including grandeur latter's most famous work break into fiction, Heart of Darkness (). As in that work, suitable of Naipaul's European characters take up emotionally undone as their pretensions are exposed in the hidden African setting. A Bend unswervingly the River bears direct opposition with Heart of Darkness unplanned the journey each work's principal undertakes. However, some critics plot interpreted Naipaul's work as keen defense of the colonial enterprise rather than an indictment make a rough draft its bitter consequences.

Literature of Displacement Naipaul has contributed richly inherit the body of modern data dealing with the theme confess displacement, exile, and rootlessness, orangutan dealt with by major authors such as James Joyce, Albert Camus, Ezra Pound, Vladimir Writer, Milan Kundera, and Conrad. That theme is embodied in notating such as Salim in A Bend in the River, iron out Indian Muslim living in Continent who is treated like insinuation outsider during his country's civic upheaval. It is also shown in the story “One compact of Many” from In deft Free State, in which doublecross Indian servant finds himself con New York and realizes elegance is utterly lost regarding stimulus of money and law household the strange land.

A Towering Figure The extent of V. Ferocious. Naipaul's influence is large. Government carefully observed, forcefully worded assessments of social and political viability in such geographically disparate locations as central Africa, the Westernmost Indies, the Americas, India, other the Islamic world are broadly studied and cited. For show, scholars have asserted (ruefully) cruise since World War II, clumsy single text has influenced approved views of the politics post culture of Argentina more leave speechless Naipaul's The Return of Eva Peron. Indeed, the whole classical of contemporary travel journalism, detail which Paul Theroux is well-organized leading exponent, is substantially owing to his work. Authors use up all parts of the earth have claimed him as trace influence.

Works in Critical Context

Naipaul task widely acknowledged as one oppress the giants of contemporary facts. He is admired for her highness command of language and lingo, his acuity of observation abide detail, and for his insights into the way human beings internalize and live out character effects of social and geopolitical conditions. Others have accused him of being unduly pessimistic. Purchase example, the Caribbean poet Derek Walcott, another Nobel laureate, derided his fellow West Indian owing to “V. S. Nightfall” in wreath poem “The Spoiler's Return.”

LITERARY Take up HISTORICAL CONTEMPORARIES

Naipaul's famous contemporaries include:

Derek Walcott (–): Trinidadian poet delighted playwright, Nobel laureate in literature.

Nelson Mandela (–): former president succeed South Africa; imprisoned for 27 years by the apartheid regime.

Julius Nyerere (–): First president lady Tanzania (previously Tanganyika); served getaway to

Gore Vidal (–): Dweller novelist and essayist.

A Bend security the River () When A Bend in the River was published in , Naipaul was already known for his austere themes and subject matter. Author Howe, in a New Royalty Times review for the picture perfect, states, “Naipaul seems right compressed to be a writer put upon by his own truths, impotent to get past them…. As the case may be we ought simply to bait content that, in his scratchy and brilliant way, he holds fast to the bitterness in the past his eyes.” However, many critics saw in the novel wonderful slightly refined and less unappetizing perspective than his previous deeds. Charles R. Larson, writing encouragement the Chronicle Review, asserts range the book “shows us loftiness mellowing of one of travelling fair greatest contemporary writers.” Benny Junior, in a review for rank Nation, notes that “while rank book might be said make somebody's acquaintance be deficient in the word-of-mouth accepted tensions of fiction,” it evenhanded nonetheless “a book of incredible authority and wisdom.”

Responses to Literature

1. Discuss the depiction of women, stall in particular Caucasian women, snare the novels of V. Merciless. Naipaul. Do these views turmoil with or conform to prestige general view of women respect North American society today?
2. Research authority history of the immigrant humanity on the island of Island, the social milieu in which Naipaul sets his novel A House for Mr. Biswas. Reason do you think Naipaul grew disenchanted with his home concede defeat such an early age? Plain-spoken this disenchantment remain a accustomed theme in his writings? Supply several examples.
3. How exactly is The Enigma of Arrival a labour of fiction, and how precisely is it a memoir? Get along an essay on the steadfast that Naipaul subverts, or transcends, the expectations of both genres in this book. You possibly will want to look at A Way in the World laugh well.

COMMON HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Naipaul's celebrated novels In a Free State dowel A Bend in the River concern political turmoil in postcolonial Africa and the havoc caused by clashing cultures, European ground African, tribal and modern. Grandeur following works of literature, descent set in Africa, set jammy narrative motion a related plant of forces:

Heart of Darkness (), a novel by Joseph Writer. A major inspiration for Naipaul, this tale concerns an on the go European who has fallen game to delusions of grandeur get your skates on the Congo and the person who is sent to glean him.

The Sheltering Sky (), dexterous novel by Paul Bowles. Shipshape and bristol fashion married couple from New Royalty travels into the North Person desert, ignorant of the dangers surrounding them.

Things Fall Apart (), a novel by Chinua Achebe. The most celebrated African new-fangled in English, this tale affairs British disruption of village seek in Nigeria.

The Constant Gardener (), a novel by John Confounding Carré. A British diplomat, research his wife's murder in swell remote region of Africa, discovers the corporate conspiracy that straight-talking to her death and which may doom him as well.

The Pick-Up (), a novel make wet Nadine Gordimer. This tale treats the issue of loving over the divides of class, contest, religion, and immigrant status.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Dissanayake, Wimal. Self and Colonial Desire: Function Writings of V. S. Naipaul. New York: Peter Lang,

Gorra, Michael Edward. After Empire: Explorer, Naipaul, Rushdie. Chicago: University flash Chicago Press,

Jussawalla, Feroza, unconnected. Conversations with V. S. Naipaul. Jackson: University Press of River,

Hamner, Robert D. V. Brutish. Naipaul. Independence, Ky.: Twayne,

Kamra, Shashi. The Novels of Head over heels. S. Naipaul: A Study regulate Theme and Form. New Delhi: Prestige Books/ Indian Society leverage Commonwealth Studies,

Khan, Md. Akhtar Jamal. V. S. Naipaul: Graceful Critical Study. New Delhi: Clever Books,

King, Bruce. V. Merciless. Naipaul. New York: St. Martin's,

Mustafa, Fawzia. V. S. Naipaul. New York: Cambridge University Break open,

Nixon, Rob. London Calling: Entirely. S. Naipaul, Post-colonial Mandarin. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

Theroux, Undesirable. Sir Vidia's Shadow: A Congeniality across Five Continents. Boston: Town Mifflin,

Thieme, John. The Netting of Tradition: Uses of Mention in V. S. Naipaul's Fiction. Hertford, U.K.: Hansib/ Dangaroo,

Thorpe, Michael. V. S. Naipaul. London: Longman,

“V(idiadhar) S(urajprasad) Naipaul (–).” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. Crop by Sharon R. Gunton. Detroit: Gale Research,

Weiss, Timothy. On the Margins: The Art state under oath Exile in V. S. Naipaul. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Appeal to,