V. S. Naipaul

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, T.C. (born August 17, 1932, in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago), better known as V. S. Naipaul, is a Trinidadian-born British novelist of Hindu heritage and Indo-Trinidadian ethnicity. Naipaul lives in Wiltshire, England. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001 and was also knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He is married to Lady Nadira. A scion of the politically powerful Capildeo family, Sir Vidia is the son, older brother and uncle of published authors (Seepersad Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul and Neil Bissoondath respectively).

Related Topics:
T.C. - August 17 - 1932 - Chaguanas - Trinidad and Tobago - British - Hindu - Indo-Trinidadian - Wiltshire - England - Nobel Prize in Literature - 2001 - Queen Elizabeth II - Lady Nadira - Capildeo family - Seepersad Naipaul - Shiva Naipaul - Neil Bissoondath

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In awarding Naipaul the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Swedish Academy praised his work "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories." The Committee added, "Naipaul is a modern philosophe, carrying on the tradition that started originally with Lettres persanes and Candide. In a vigilant style, which has been deservedly admired, he transforms rage into precision and allows events to speak with their own inherent irony."

Related Topics:
Lettres persanes - Candide

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His fiction and especially his travel writing have been criticised for their allegedly unsympathetic portrayal of the Third World. Most notably, Edward Said has argued that he "allowed himself quite consciously to be turned into a witness for the Western prosecution", promoting "colonial mythologies about wogs and darkies" (53). His supporters argue that he is actually an advocate for a more realistic development of the Third World, that he is motivated by a passionate desire for the improvement of the countries which he writes about, and that it is actually the assumptions of the likes of Said which hold them back. Naipaul's contempt for many aspects of liberal orthodoxy is uncompromising, and yet he has exhibited an open-mindedness toward some Third World leaders and cultures that isn't found in western writers. His works have become required reading in some schools within the Third World. His later works are also considerably less harsh than his early, humorous novels.

Related Topics:
Fiction - Travel writing - Third World - Edward Said - Wog

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In 2001 a controversial memoir by Naipaul's sometime protegé Paul Theroux was published. The book provides a personal, though occasionally caustic portrait of the Nobel Laureate. The memoir, entitled Sir Vidia's Shadow, was precipated by a falling-out between the two men a few years earlier.

Related Topics:
2001 - Memoir - Paul Theroux - Nobel Laureate - Sir Vidia's Shadow

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