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Another article today (although actually an interview from 1998) with more focus on his work & what it's about: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2018
by iguy 8y ago
Another article today (although actually an interview from 1998) with more focus on his work & what it's about:
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2018/08/vs-naipaul-1932-2018-king-literary-rootlessness https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2018/08/vs-naipau...
A sad day. It seems to me that his themes of displacement, and cultural mismatches & how they affect people, keep becoming more important. We do a lot of shouting about these issues now, in the Western world in 2018 I mean; but he was never shouting, just digging into people's varied stories, and especially their disappointments, and trying to make sense of them.
- sridca 8y ago> Racial equality and assimilation are attractive but only underline the loss, since to accept assimilation is in a way to accept permanent inferiority. Interesting. Anyone got details (background and context) on this quote?
- iguy 8y agoNot this exact quote. But something like this is a theme in many of his books, often applied to himself, and to other people who've moved to western countries (or, into western-derived cultures). It's also close to a theme of Among the Believers etc, where (to paraphrase crudely!) he comes to view non-arab muslims as being in some sense immigrants to an Arab-centred culture, with some of the same feelings of loss.