V.S.Naipaul by all measures the greatest living writer in the English language is the subject of a lengthy and admiring interview by Rachel Donadio in today’s New York Times Book Review.His work has included several critically acclaimed novels;he has also explored the post colonial societies in the Third World in several books of nonfiction.In the mid 70’s Naipaul published AMONG THE BELIEVERS–AN ISLAMIC JOURNEY,a travelogue through several Islamic countries which was eerily prescient about the coming conflicts with the Islamic world.In that book and the followup,
BEYOND BELIEF, Naipaul explored the hold one’s beliefs can exert on the mind and paralyze action.He correctly foresaw that it is the very strong hold of religion that would make it impossible for countries in the Middle East to advance and produce a rage against the West.Most of his predictions, one is sorry to acknowledge, have come true.His books have the ring of truth to them because he has the keen eyes of a novelist, great powers of observation and writes in an elegant prose that is unmatched.
While I admire Naipaul, I have to concede that what is lacking in his work and his current world view is the exploration of any possibility that our own leaders may be venal men, craving power and capable of committing acts that would have to be termed barbaric.
Naipaul, as a British writer, may not be privy to the inner workings of American politics and completely unaware of the deceptions and lies that led to the War on Iraq. That is indeed a serious shortcoming and one would hope that a serious writer of Naipaul’s caliber addresses this issue soon.
he shouldnt be that unaware since the British Govt swallowed the tale too.
When I said unaware of the American political scene, I meant that there are forces within our power structure that seek global domination, a fact that has been spelled out in the PNAC document.Another aspect of Naipaul’s work is that he is very good at seeing through people, one on one, which leads me to believe that if he gets to interview Bush and Cheney, he will completely deconstruct the madness of these empire builders.
seems to me that our power structure has already attained world domination, for what thats worth.
Good diary.
What I have found remarkable about Naipaul’s writings is his unwavering commitment to tell the truth.This is evident in his writings on India, Africa, Latin America
and even our own Deep South.Because he does not carry any baggage, ideological or otherwise,he is able to meet his commitment to tell the truth without fail.That makes him a very powerful and different kind of writer in our time.
In his NYT interview, naipaul says that he has come to believe that the days of fiction may be over because fiction needs a writer to dress up facts violating his cardinal rule of truth telling.He also believes that only non fiction can do justice to the enoremous changes that the world is undergoing now. All in all, a remarkable writer on a par with Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad and other greats.