The writer and the world: essays

Naipaul is a thorny writer frequently accused of misanthropy, but all of his books evince the deep engagement with the world alluded to in the title of this magisterial essay collection as well as his commitment to accuracy and candor. These rigorously observed, eloquently composed, and long unavailable meditations combine elements of travel writing with political, social, and cultural analysis, and all are shaped by a relentlessly critical point of view. In his rousing introduction, novelist and editor Mishra characterizes Naipaul's achievement as "one of the most brilliant--and by far the unlikeliest--literary careers of the last hundred years." He goes on to describe Naipaul as "fundamentally exilic," and notes his intensity and "restless moral intelligence," key qualities already apparent in Naipaul's earliest works, including unsparing essays about India in which Naipaul seems personally affronted by that vast land's suffering and resiliency. Naipaul is equally outraged by the corruption and poverty he witnesses in the Caribbean and Africa, and by how religion is used to stifle curiosity about the past and other cultures. His powerful indictments can seem arrogant, but Naipaul's ire actually masks despair over the ignorance, dysfunction, and tyranny that so severely impact the lives of so very many people. A writer who cherishes intellectual adventure, Naipaul grieves for all who are denied a genuine worldview, and the freedom to act on it. --Donna Seaman

The election campaign is a recurring theme in this comprehensive collection of essays spanning four decades and scattered about the globe: India, Zaire, Grenada, Anguilla, the Americas. Civilization's sharpest tool for self-determination serves as familiar backdrop against which Naipaul, with a robust sense of wonder, examines more ancient yet persistent methods of human interaction ritual, magic, myth, prophecy, clans and castes. The Nobel laureate also tackles U.S. politics, from Norman Mailer's 1969 campaign for mayor of New York City to the surreal and religion-amped 1984 Republican National Convention where the wheels of the image-making machine are in constant motion. Through tenacious yet unobtrusive reportage, Naipaul deconstructs the mythologized among them Eva Peron, Mobutu Sese Seko, John Steinbeck, Eldridge Cleaver, the American Dream and how progress falters in the face of ritualism and single-mindedness. Revolutionary movements often fall prey to these, and Naipaul analyzes those derailments, particularly in postcolonial society. While some of his travelogues date back to the early 1960s, they nonetheless seem fresh, speaking to Naipaul's astute and prescient powers of observation. He uncovers the universal in his subjects: the confrontation between East and West, the tension between old and new, between creators and consumers, the nature of power. A champion of the individual and one of civilization's ardent faithful, Naipaul offers his own exilic heritage and literary experience as an example of modernity's prowess. He is indeed a master stylist, his prose precise and fresh. Yet always beating below the words is a true and tender heart. Densely researched with an omniscient touch, some of Naipaul's meditations are more accessible than others, which may, at times, hinder demystification of the man many consider to be the greatest living writer in the English language. (Aug. 17) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Naipaul is a traveler, but these collected essaysDnever before in book formDare not just travel pieces but meditations on the world. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Last year's Nobel laureate in literature gathers various nonfiction reports and reflections. "Guyana was the first place I travelled to as a writer. . . . I was twenty-eight. I was an artless traveller, and was soon to discover that, whatever the excitements of new landscapes and of being on the move, a journey didn't necessarily result in a narrative on the page." So Naipaul (Half a Life, 2001, etc.) observes toward the end of this collection, which takes in a range of occasional pieces, some already available in previous books such as The Overcrowded Barracoon (1972) and The Return of Eva Peron (1980). Those pieces reveal, for those who did not already know it, that few contemporary writers are as well traveled as Naipaul, especially in landscapes others know too little to interpret: Congo, Mauritius, India, Trinidad. They also reveal that Naipaul has virtually no peers as a writer of intensely literary but thoroughly well-reported journalism; only Ryszard Kapuscinski and Joan Didion approach his skills in weaving bookish learning with experience into coherent, often exciting narrative. Among the best pieces here are his dissections of the now-extinct regimes of the Zairian dictator Mobutu ("the great African nihilist") and the St. Kitts tinhorn Robert Bradshaw (all "drama for the sake of drama"), as well as a descent into a true heart of darkness, a conference of American Christian conservatives. Naipaul, who has long delighted in pricking bubbles of political correctness, will doubtless offend cultural relativists with the bit of Western triumphalism he closes with, but it seems timely in an era of imploding tyrannies: "The idea of the pursuit of happiness . . . is an immense human idea. It cannot be reduced to fixed system. It cannot generate fanaticism. But it is known to exist; and because of that, other more rigid systems in the end blow away." A welcome summing-up of a distinguished journalistic career that matches Naipaul's accomplishments as a novelist.

Naipaul is a thorny writer frequently accused of misanthropy, but all of his books evince the deep engagement with the world alluded to in the title of this magisterial essay collection as well as his commitment to accuracy and candor. These rigorously observed, eloquently composed, and long unavailable meditations combine elements of travel writing with political, social, and cultural analysis, and all are shaped by a relentlessly critical point of view. In his rousing introduction, novelist and editor Mishra characterizes Naipaul's achievement as "one of the most brilliant--and by far the unlikeliest--literary careers of the last hundred years." He goes on to describe Naipaul as "fundamentally exilic," and notes his intensity and "restless moral intelligence," key qualities already apparent in Naipaul's earliest works, including unsparing essays about India in which Naipaul seems personally affronted by that vast land's suffering and resiliency. Naipaul is equally outraged by the corruption and poverty he witnesses in the Caribbean and Africa, and by how religion is used to stifle curiosity about the past and other cultures. His powerful indictments can seem arrogant, but Naipaul's ire actually masks despair over the ignorance, dysfunction, and tyranny that so severely impact the lives of so very many people. A writer who cherishes intellectual adventure, Naipaul grieves for all who are denied a genuine worldview, and the freedom to act on it. ((Reviewed May 1, 2002)) Copyright 2002 Booklist Reviews

Naipaul is a traveler, but these collected essays never before in book form are not just travel pieces but meditations on the world. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

"To me situations and people are always specific, always of themselves. That is why one travels and writes to find out," Nobel Prize-winning author Naipaul (Half a Life) observes in the postscript to this collection. The 20 essays here represent the finest of his shorter pieces, most of which have been long out of print, such as "Crocodiles of Yamoussoukro," a study of the Ivory Coast, and "Argentina and the Ghost of Eva Peron," an updated account of his earlier "The Ghost of Eva Peron." Introduced by critic/ novelist Pankaj Mishra (The Romantics), the essays span four decades and cover India, Africa, and the New World. The hallmarks of Naipaul's later writings are in evidence here: an inveterate curiosity, the Socratic method of interviewing his hosts, and the ability to write what he sees in a spare, clear prose. Readers who appreciate this will find this latest offering a bracing read. Recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/02.] Ravi Shenoy, Naperville P.L., IL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

The election campaign is a recurring theme in this comprehensive collection of essays spanning four decades and scattered about the globe: India, Zaire, Grenada, Anguilla, the Americas. Civilization's sharpest tool for self-determination serves as familiar backdrop against which Naipaul, with a robust sense of wonder, examines more ancient yet persistent methods of human interaction ritual, magic, myth, prophecy, clans and castes. The Nobel laureate also tackles U.S. politics, from Norman Mailer's 1969 campaign for mayor of New York City to the surreal and religion-amped 1984 Republican National Convention where the wheels of the image-making machine are in constant motion. Through tenacious yet unobtrusive reportage, Naipaul deconstructs the mythologized among them Eva Peron, Mobutu Sese Seko, John Steinbeck, Eldridge Cleaver, the American Dream and how progress falters in the face of ritualism and single-mindedness. Revolutionary movements often fall prey to these, and Naipaul analyzes those derailments, particularly in postcolonial society. While some of his travelogues date back to the early 1960s, they nonetheless seem fresh, speaking to Naipaul's astute and prescient powers of observation. He uncovers the universal in his subjects: the confrontation between East and West, the tension between old and new, between creators and consumers, the nature of power. A champion of the individual and one of civilization's ardent faithful, Naipaul offers his own exilic heritage and literary experience as an example of modernity's prowess. He is indeed a master stylist, his prose precise and fresh. Yet always beating below the words is a true and tender heart. Densely researched with an omniscient touch, some of Naipaul's meditations are more accessible than others, which may, at times, hinder demystification of the man many consider to be the greatest living writer in the English language. (Aug. 17) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.