Synopses & Reviews
This revised and updated introduction to the novels and non-fiction of V.S. Naipaul will be of interest to students, specialists and general readers. Chronological chapters examine the structure, significance and development of Naipaul's writing, setting the texts in their autobiographical, philosophical, social and political, colonial and post-colonial contexts. New chapters in the second edition include an expanded biographical introduction, and discussion of the recent novels
A Way in the World and
Half a Life, Naipaul's writings on Islam, and the criticism of Naipaul by writers and post-colonial theorists.
Review
Praise for the first edition:
"The introduction to this volume is perhaps the best 15-page essay on Naipaul and his art; and the subsequent eight chapters are written with the authority that King is known to possess on post-colonial literature and in a style that is both crisp and admirably textured. . . . No beginning student should fail to read this work: no scholar will want to miss it."--Choice
Synopsis
V. S. Naipaul is a reader-friendly introduction to the writing of one of the most influential contemporary authors and the 2001 Nobel laureate in Literature. Bruce King provides a novel by novel analysis of the fiction with attention to structure, significance, and Naipaul's development as a writer, while setting the texts in their autobiographical. philosophical, social, political, colonial and postcolonial contexts. King shows how Naipaul modified Western and Indian literary traditions for the West Indies and then the wider world to become an international writer whose subject matter includes the Caribbean, England, India, Africa, the United States, Argentina, and contemporary Islam.
Thoroughly revised and updated, the second edition of V. S. Naipaul now includes an expanded Introduction, and discussion of his most recent novels A Way in the World and Half a Life, his Nobel Lecture, Naipaul's writings on Islam, and a survey of the main criticism by other writers and postcolonial theorists.
About the Author
Bruce King is a freelance writer and a leading international literary critic and is series editor for
English Dramatists and
Modern Dramatists (both Palgrave Macmillan).
Table of Contents
Preface * Introduction * Miguel Street, The Mystic Masseur, and The Suffrage of Elvira * A House for Mr. Biswas and The Middle Passage * Mr. Stone and the Knights Companion and An Area of Darkness * A Flag on the Island, The Mimic Men, and The Loss of El Dorado * In a Free State * The Overcrowded Baracoon, "Michael X", Guerrillas and India: A Wounded Civilization * "A New King for the Congo" and A Bend in the River * Finding the Centre, The Enigma of Arrival, A Turn in the South, and India: A Million Mutinies * A Way in the World * Among the Believers, "Our Universal Civilization" and Beyond Belief * "Two Worlds", Reading & Writing and Half a Life * Naipaul's Critics and postcolonialism * Appendix A: Naipaul's Family, A House for Mr Biswas and The Mimic Men * Appendix B: Naipaul, Trinidad, Guyana and Africa * Notes * Selected Bibliography * Index
Preface * Introduction * Miguel Street, The Mystic Masseur, and The Suffrage of Elvira * A House for Mr Biswas and The Middle Passage * Mr Stone and the Knights Companion and An Area of Darkness * A Flag on the Island, The Mimic Men, and The Loss of El Dorado * In a Free State * The Overcrowded Baracoon, 'Michael X', Guerrillas and India: A Wounded Civilization * 'A New King for the Congo' and A Bend in the River * Finding the Centre, The Enigma of Arrival, A Turn in the South, and India: A Million Mutinies * A Way in the World * Among the Believers, 'Our Universal Civilization' and Beyond Belief * 'Two Worlds', Reading & Writing and Half a Life * Naipaul's Critics and postcolonialism * Appendix A: Naipaul's Family, A House for Mr Biswas and The Mimic Men * Appendix B: Naipaul, Trinidad, Guyana and Africa * Notes * Selected Bibliography * Index