V.S. Naipaul

by Bruce King

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403904560
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/01/2003
Edition description:	2nd ed. 2003
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

BRUCE KING, now a freelance writer and a leading international literary critic, was professor of English and has taught in universities in England, France, Nigeria, Canada, Israel, New Zealand and the United States. His publications include Modern Indian Poetry in English, second edition (Oxford, 2001) and Derek Walcott: A Caribbean Life (Oxford, 2000). He is series editor for Literature, Culture and Identity (Continuum), English Dramatists and Modern Dramatists (both Palgrave Macmillan).
BRUCE KING, now a freelance writer and a leading international literary critic, was professor of English and has taught in universities in England, France, Nigeria, Canada, Israel, New Zealand and the United States. His publications include Modern Indian Poetry in English, second edition (Oxford, 2001) and Derek Walcott: A Caribbean Life (Oxford, 2000). He is series editor for Literature, Culture and Identity (Continuum), 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 Turban 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.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Review of 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. Apart from the deft synopses of the plots of the works under discussion, the insightful and analytical evaluations that are presented, one distinct asset of this study is the first-hand acquaintance that the author has with the West Indies, India, and the other areas that Naipaul himself writes about....No beginning student should fail to read this work: no scholar will want to miss it.' - A. L. McLeod, Choice

Editorial Reviews

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


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"

From the Publisher