V S Naipaul (1932 - )

A Bend in the River

Background and Career

• Born Trinidad, West Indies, 1932
• Studied literature at Oxford 1950
• Writer for BBC and host of “Caribbean Voices”
• Reviewer for The New Statesman
• Married Patricia Ann Hale 1955
• Knighted 1989
• Married to Nadira Alvi after first wife’s death
• Resides in London
• Numerous awards including Booker Prize 1971 and Nobel Prize 2001

Major Works

The Mystic Masseur, 1957

The Suffrage of Elvira, 1958

Miguel Street, 1959

A House for Mr. Biswas, 1961

The Middle Passage: Impressions of Five Societies, 1962

Mr. Stone and the Knights Companion, 1963

An Area of Darkness, 1964

The Mimic Men, 1967

A Flag on the Island, 1967

The Loss of El Dorado, 1970

In A Free State, 1971

The Overcrowded Barracoon, 1972

Guerrillas, 1975

India: A Wounded Civilization, 1977

A Bend in the River, 1979

The Return of Eva Peron with the Killings in the Trinidad, 1980

Among the Believers, 1981

Finding the Center, 1984

The Enigma of Arrival, 1987

A Turn in the South, 1989

India: A Million Mutinies Now, 1990

A Way in the World, 1994

Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples, 1998

Resources

Biographical and critical information in the following Gale publications:

Contemporary Authors Gale (Detroit MI) or Contemporary Authors online Gale 2002 which can be accessed online through subscribing libraries at www.galenet.com

Contemporary Literary Criticism Vols. 4,7,9,13,18,37,105 (1999) Gale (Detroit, MI) or online as above

Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol 125 Twentieth Century Caribbean and Black African Writers Gale 1993 (Detroit MI)

For Further Reading (selected works; listed chronologically by publication)

White, L. V.S. Naipaul: A Critical Introduction, 1975

Hamner, R.D., ed. Critical Perspectives on V.S. Naipal, 1977

Cudjoe, Selwyn S. V.S. Naipaul, 1988

Kamra, Sashi. The Novels of V.S. Naipaul, 1990

Weiss, Timothy F. On the Margins, 1992

Nixon, Rob. London Calling: V.S.Naipaul, Postcolonial Mandarin, 1992

King, Brice. V.S. Naipaul, 1993

Dissanayake, Wimal. Self and Colonial Desire, 1993

Mustafa, Fawzia. V. S. Naipaul, 1995

Jussawalla, Fawzia. ed. Conversations with V.S. Naipaul, 1997

Theroux, Paul. Sir Vidia’s Shadow: A Friendship Across Five Continents, 1998

Athill, Diana. Stet: an editor’s life, 2000

Feder, Lillian. Naipaul’s Truth: The Making of a Writer, 2000

Online

Amazon.com/Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com/Books and Writers

www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/