V.S.Naipul

[Jon Ford]

Naipaul, not Naipul! Mr. Biswas is considered by many his most entertaining 
book. He wrote a good book about Indonesia which wasn't entirely hostile to 
Muslims, and which helped my understanding of that troubled huge place. His 
book about travel in the USA, "A Time in the South," is very touching-- he 
simply wanders around the country and meets people from all backgrounds, 
classes, genders, and ethnicities--displaying no sign of bias against 
anyone, interweaving bits of history in which we see the US and its historic 
relationship to the West Indies and the slave trade. Seeing your country 
from an outsider's eye can be interesting, and he really looks at the 
details.

Jon


>From: ted samsel <tbsamsel@infi.net>
>To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>Subject: Re: V.S.Naipul
>Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 17:11:16 -0400
>
>Michael Eisenstadt wrote:
> >
> > Wayne Johnson wrote:
> > >
> > > V. S. Naipul just won the Nobel Prize for Literature.  I am sure his 
>many
> > > fans will be pleased to hear of his latest recognition.
> >
> > My favorite of his novels is A Bend in the River. Set in Africa
> > it is the autobiography of an Indian store keeper who must
> > eventually flee after Big Man decides to drive out non-blacks.
> > I cannot look at a photo of President Mugabe of Tsimbabwe or
> > others of his ilk without mouthing to myself Big Man.
> >
> > There is a totally weird biography of Naipul by his one-time
> > close friend Paul Theroux. Its title is Sir Vidia's Shadow.
> > Very good read if you are a fan of either or both of these
> > authors.
> >
> > Warning: politically correct types will not enjoy reading
> > Naipul; he is very "judgmental" (to use your jargon) about
> > inferior cultures.
>
>_A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS_ is one of his that I particularly like.
>And his travel books are rather enlightening.
>--
>TBSamsel@infi.net
>         http://home.infi.net/~tbsamsel/
>         'Do the boogie woogie in the South American way'
>                               Hank Snow  (1914-1999)
>                               THE RHUMBA BOOGIE
>


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