I got interested in V.S. Naipaul after reading this essay-- well technically a book review of a Naipaul biography-- by Christopher Hitchens-- Cruel and Unusual [0]. It explains and summarizes Naipaul's literary significance as well as the fascinating fact that he acted very badly in his personal life. I read his Middle Passage travelogue after that after I read that and it did not disappoint as far as callousness goes. Although I wouldn't exactly say that it is what we should aspire to I did like it in its own way.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/cruel-and-unusual/307073/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/cruel-a...</a>
Another article today (although actually an interview from 1998) with more focus on his work & what it's about:<p><a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2018/08/vs-naipaul-1932-2018-king-literary-rootlessness" rel="nofollow">https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2018/08/vs-naipau...</a><p>A sad day. It seems to me that his themes of displacement, and cultural mismatches & how they affect people, keep becoming more important. We do a lot of shouting about these issues now, in the Western world in 2018 I mean; but he was never shouting, just digging into people's varied stories, and especially their disappointments, and trying to make sense of them.
Fun fact: A song from a musical adaptation of Naipaul's novel "A House for Mr. Biswas" was re-adapted and used as the theme for James Bond movies.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6EuzGhIyRQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6EuzGhIyRQ</a>
Does anyone else feel that V.S. Naipaul dropped off the radar as soon as he won the Nobel Prize? I heard his name constantly in the 1990s and very early millennium, but after he won the Nobel it feels like there was not only a decline in his output, but in his cultural presence in general.
"The Nightwatchman's Occurrence Book" remains one of my favourite short stories ever since I read it in high school lit class. A truly curious author.