Trinidadian Nobel Prize winner V.S. Naipaul died yesterday

[malaise]

In London where he lived for decades. He was 85.


https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/11/vs-naipaul-nobel-prize-winning-british-author-dies-aged-85


The writer VS Naipaul, who explored questions of place and identity for more than half a century, has died aged 85.

Lady Naipaul confirmed that her husband had died peacefully in London. “He was a giant in all that he achieved and he died surrounded by those he loved having lived a life which was full of wonderful creativity and endeavour,” she said. The author Sir Salman Rushdie paid tribute to Naipaul, writing: “We disagreed all our lives, about politics, about literature, and I feel as sad as if I just lost a beloved older brother. RIP Vidia.”

[Hortensis]

1. What a lovely testament from Salman Rushdie.

I think I only read one of Naipaul's books, an earlier one. When I was searching for it I found this article, something he wrote while traveling and observing the world, a curious, objective viewpoint from an outsider, but not forgetting to observe himself in context also.

Money is revered everywhere but in Dallas it is holy; and something like grace—a reward for faith in God’s land—attaches to real-estate success. Every day in Dallas (since journalists are obedient people, and also want to do what other journalists do) I ...

"Naipaul also covered the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, at the behest of Robert B. Silvers, editor of The New York Review of Books, after which Naipaul wrote "Among the Republicans",[72] an anthropological study of a "white tribe in the United States"."

Among the Republicans
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1984/10/25/among-the-republicans/

I may have read it before but am hooked by the beginning anyway. When I read Eldridge Cleaver's angry Soul on Ice as a kid I of course had no idea he would calm into a reborn Christian conservative. Now, that's not really much of a surprise.

Sir Naipaul's books live on.

[malaise]

2. I read many of them particularly the early ones

Last edited Sun Aug 12, 2018, 10:48 AM - Edit history (1)

I was never a fan but he did speak some truths about people in the land of his birth.

[Hortensis]

5. "A House for Mr. Biswas," I'm pretty sure chosen

off a list for some college class. I have the impression I liked it but wouldn't reread. Frankly, most of the really good books I read at that age were somewhat wasted on me. Certainly, Cleaver's Soul on Ice was, I'm pretty sure I knew that then, if not how much, but didn't care since I didn't like him.

If darkness and complexity of expression, as opposed to his depiction of Caribbean cultures, is part of what makes you not a fan, I share the problem. Unfortunately, I've probably finished few of the Pulitzer and Nobel winners I tried to plug through. I think I've rediscovered one I read and would like to try again, though, A Bend in the River, so I ordered it. Having a bookshop right in one's lap is so incredibly wonderful.

[malaise]

6. I liked A House... Too

You are right re why I am not a fan.

[jalan48]

3. I read the Mystic Masseur years ago. Very funny and insightful I thought.

[spanone]

4. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Naipaul some years back....late eighties.

He was a soft-spoken, highly intellectual, kind human being.

[malaise]

7. Cool

I never met him.

[spanone]

8. It was my pleasure. I was somewhat awestruck.