V.S. Naipaul
V.S. or Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was a British novelist and writer of nonfiction born in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2001 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for having “united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories.”. He also won the 1971 booker Prize with In a Free State.
Books by V.S. Naipaul
“This was the first book of his I came to, and it remains for me his most shocking and blistering. I’ve probably read the opening suite of stories twenty times, while flinching away from the painful novella of the title. Naipaul’s work can be harsh, but it is nearly always moving.” Read more...
Esi Edugyan on Books That Influenced Her
Esi Edugyan, Novelist
“I appreciate the intimacy and humour of the book, it feels so true to the Caribbean. It captures our idiosyncrasies, and the experiences of living in a small place. And it represents my favourite kind of collection: stories that all together bloom and bloom, revealing a larger world. But like many Caribbean people, I have a complicated relationship with V.S. Naipaul.” Read more...
Alexia Arthurs, Novelist
“I don’t think there’s ever been a writer, since Gandhi, who looked at India with such sharpness and such clarity. And I’ve never read another that has moved me so viscerally. I think anyone who wants to understand India today should read this book.” Read more...
The best books on Contemporary India
Kapil Komireddi, Journalist
“The book that comes closest to having the narrative energy of a work of fiction on my list is India: A Million Mutinies Now by V S Naipaul, which is why I chose it, in part. There’s this idea of the ‘Great American Novel’, which is deeply flawed because we know there isn’t one America. There are many, many Americas and no novel can hope to capture them all. This difficulty is even more pronounced in India. No novel can really capture the different textures of life there. But A Million Mutinies Now does an excellent job of describing the lives, the hopes and aspirations and frustrations of a diverse cast of Indians who have lived through the last 60 years. Some of them are even older figures, who can recall a pre-1947 India. Naipaul himself is very much a figure in the background in this particular book; he just lets people speak. And what you get through the stories that these people tell to Naipaul is a nuanced picture of the many different personal and political journeys since 1947. It’s probably the closest thing you can get to a good book of fiction about India.” Read more...
Pankaj Mishra, Political Commentator
Interviews where books by V.S. Naipaul were recommended
The best books on India, recommended by Pankaj Mishra
The world’s largest democracy isn’t something that has just materialised in the past 60 years, says the Indian essayist and novelist. He chooses books that illustrate India’s complex history and diverse society.
The best books on Contemporary India, recommended by Kapil Komireddi
As the world’s biggest democracy, India could be an inspiring example of how a multiethnic, multilingual country with many different religions can come together to form a vibrant state with equality enshrined in its constitution. But all that is in danger of going down the drain, as the country transforms into a brutally exclusionary Hindu-supremacist state under the leadership of Narendra Modi, says Kapil Komireddi, essayist and author of Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India. Here, he talks us through how the country got to where it is now and recommends five books that present a “comprehensive picture” of contemporary India.
The Best Travel Books, recommended by Paul Theroux
Travel is a leap in the dark, says Paul Theroux and one that will leave you a different person at the other end. He recommends five travel books that inspired him, from Mark Twain at sea to VS Naipaul in India
The Best Caribbean Fiction, recommended by Alexia Arthurs
From the humorous and dark stories of a young V. S. Naipaul to recent coming-of-age novels, set in a cut-throat Jamaican holiday resort or American’s urban battlefields, Alexia Arthurs explores the myriad expressions of Caribbean identity in fiction
Esi Edugyan on Books That Influenced Her
Canadian author Esi Edugyan, whose novel Washington Black is shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize, picks five books that have inspired her novels, and shares wisdom on what it means to read fiction today
