V. S. Naipaul''s Journeys - From Periphery to Center

Sanjay Krishnan rereads V. S. Naipaul's work to offer new perspectives on his achievements, shortcomings, trajectory, and complicated legacy. While recognizing the flaws and prejudices that shaped and limited Naipaul's life and art, this book challenges the binaries that have restricted discussions of his writing.

List of contents

Abbreviations
Introduction
I. Early Writings: 1955–1961
1. Memories of Underdevelopment: Miguel Street; The Middle Passage
2. Self and Society: The Suffrage of Elvira; A House for Mr Biswas
II. The Middle Period: 1962–1980
3. Historical Identities: The Middle Passage; An Area of Darkness
4. Fantasy and Derangement: The Loss of El Dorado; India: A Wounded Civilization; “Michael X and the Killings in Trinidad”
5. Ambiguous Freedom: “In a Free State”
6. Truth and Lie: A Bend in the River
III. Late Works: 1981–2010
7. Productive Deformation: The Enigma of Arrival
8. Landscapes of the Mind: India: A Million Mutinies Now
9. Conversations with the Faithful: Among the Believers; Beyond Belief
10. Concluding Reflections: Half a Life; Magic Seeds; The Masque of Africa
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

About the author

Sanjay Krishnan is professor of English at Boston University. He is the author of Reading the Global: Troubling Perspectives on Britain’s Empire in Asia (Columbia, 2007).

Summary

Sanjay Krishnan rereads V. S. Naipaul’s work to offer new perspectives on his achievements, shortcomings, trajectory, and complicated legacy. While recognizing the flaws and prejudices that shaped and limited Naipaul’s life and art, this book challenges the binaries that have restricted discussions of his writing.

Additional text

Krishnan argues persuasively that the way Naipaul used his own life story and experiences, including his interactions with the people he met on his travels, enabled him to create 'an original form of postcolonial writing'…the importance of his nuanced approach to Naipaul’s life and work cannot be overstated.

Product details

• Authors: Sanjay Krishnan, Sanjay (Associate Professor Krishnan, Krishnan Sanjay
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 29.02.2020
• EAN: 9780231193320
• ISBN: 978-0-231-19332-0
• No. of pages: 304
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; 20th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Caribbean & Latin American, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Asian / Indic, India, Ireland, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Relating to Latin / Hispanic American people, Modern Indic languages, literary criticism; Caribbean; Indian; European