RIP V.S. Naipaul

[Danik 2016]

"V.S. Naipaul, the Nobel laureate who documented the migrations of peoples, the unraveling of the British Empire, the ironies of exile and the clash between belief and unbelief in more than a dozen unsparing novels and as many works of nonfiction, died on Saturday at his home in London. He was 85.
His family confirmed the death in a statement, The Associated Press reported.

In many ways embodying the contradictions of the postcolonial world, Mr. Naipaul was born of Indian ancestry in Trinidad, went to Oxford University on a scholarship and lived the rest of his life in England, where he forged one of the most illustrious literary careers of the last half-century. He was knighted in 1990.

Compared in his lifetime to Conrad, Dickens and Tolstoy, he was also a lightning rod for criticism, particularly by those who read his portrayals of third-world disarray as apologies for colonialism."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/11/obituaries/vs-naipaul-dead-author-nobel-prize.html

[Pompey Bum]

I'm sorry to hear about this. I read A Bend in the River while living in Africa, and it stands out as the only book I have ever read that accurately describes what I witnessed. Naipaul was more a novelist of rootlessness than the obituary above describes. His allegedly procolonial views were a refusal to look away from the horrors of post-colonial tin-pot regimes--though that is a view greatly out of fashion today. Thank you for your courage and truth.

[Danik 2016]

Thanks for your answer, PB!
When I posted this I thought, that you eventually might have read him. I read Guerrillas a long time ago, which is hard on both sides, if I rightly remember.
My views are certainly not in favor of the old colonizators, but it seems to me, that the ex British colonies got a blessing, that stands out in comparison, with, for example, the ex Portuguese colonies: the possibility of a good education. I don´t know, maybe you can tell me, if this was true only for the more privileged classes, or if all children had access to good schools. What I notice is that post-colonial authors protest, but in very good English. And their rootlessness often drives them to live in UK or US.
Here in Brazil it took centuries until we had a kind of general schooling. In 1808, thanks to Napoleon, the Portuguese Royal Family had to migrate to Rio the Janeiro. For Brazil, this meant a lot of progress, for the Portuguese noblemen, had to have schools and universities. Women only started to attend school regularly in the second half of the 19C.

[tonywalt]

A brilliant writer. Bold enough to write things as they are - few do.

[Danik 2016]

Thanks, Tony! Another 20 C voice that went silent!

[Pompey Bum]

Thanks for your answer, PB!
When I posted this I thought, that you eventually might have read him. I read Guerrillas a long time ago, which is hard on both sides, if I rightly remember.
My views are certainly not in favor of the old colonizators, but it seems to me, that the ex British colonies got a blessing, that stands out in comparison, with, for example, the ex Portuguese colonies: the possibility of a good education. I don´t know, maybe you can tell me, if this was true only for the more privileged classes, or if all children had access to good schools.

I can't tell you for sure, Danik. I was in a former French colony where Catholic missions provided a good education regardless of wealth (though you had to be a Christian and you had to live near a mission school). I'm sure British missionaries provided similar services in their colonies, but I can't tell you much more than that. The British Empire was not uniform (neither was the French). Things were done differently in different colonies.


What I notice is that post-colonial authors protest, but in very good English. And their rootlessness often drives them to live in UK or US.

It's an interesting observation. There is a temptation to look at such people as hypocrites, but it is actually quite dangerous to be a writer in much of the world (mortally dangerous--Africa, for example, is still a terribly dangerous place) and freedom of expression is often unheard of. So if a writer has a chance to move to London or Paris he or she is probably going to jump at it.

But the rootlessness Naipaul wrote about was a little different. It had more to do with people lacking connection with their own supposed political or national identities. The narrator of A Bend in the River, for example, is a Hindu expatriate who in an unnamed city at the bend of an unnamed River in an unnamed African country, under the dictatorship of a president-for-life known only as the Big Man (who is an important character but never actually appears in person). It didn't matter that to anyone who knew Africa at the time the Big Man was obviously Mobutu, the country was clearly the former Belgian Congo, and even the town was very obviously a place called Kisangani, on the great bend in the Congo River. It didn't matter because--per Naipaul--was the independent Congo/Zaire even a country? Not really, it was just a conglomerate of African groups barely aware of one another's existence. Most had been brutally exploited by Belgium and all were now being controlled by the lethal violence by the Big Man (which turned out to be far worse than Naipaul imagined--indeed genocidal). But in the simplistic cultural propaganda of the times, colonialism was bad (which it largely was), and anyone who told the truth about tinpot murderers like Mobutu was implicitly supporting it--and probably racist to boot. This is the sort of thing that got Naipaul his bad reputation. He was a fearless man, though. Perhaps I'll reread A Bend in the River to honor his memory. It's been more than three decades.

[Ecurb]

I read "Bend in the River". Great novel. RIP (and I'll have to sample some other Naipaul treats in honor of his death).

[Danik 2016]

Thanks, Ecurb. Reading his works and thinking about them is the best homage one can do to a writer.

[Ecurb]

This New Yorker tribute is written by Pompey's doppelganger (or maybe Pompey himself). Their ages,experiences in Africa, etc. are almost identical:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/reading-naipaul-in-africa

[Danik 2016]

I can't tell you for sure, Danik. I was in a former French colony where Catholic missions provided a good education regardless of wealth (though you had to be a Christian and you had to live near a mission school). I'm sure British missionaries provided similar services in their colonies, but I can't tell you much more than that. The British Empire was not uniform (neither was the French). Things were done differently in different colonies.



It's an interesting observation. There is a temptation to look at such people as hypocrites, but it is actually quite dangerous to be a writer in much of the world (mortally dangerous--Africa, for example, is still a terribly dangerous place) and freedom of expression is often unheard of. So if a writer has a chance to move to London or Paris he or she is probably going to jump at it.

But the rootlessness Naipaul wrote about was a little different. It had more to do with people lacking connection with their own supposed political or national identities. The narrator of A Bend in the River, for example, is a Hindu expatriate who in an unnamed city at the bend of an unnamed River in an unnamed African country, under the dictatorship of a president-for-life known only as the Big Man (who is an important character but never actually appears in person). It didn't matter that to anyone who knew Africa at the time the Big Man was obviously Mobutu, the country was clearly the former Belgian Congo, and even the town was very obviously a place called Kisangani, on the great bend in the Congo River. It didn't matter because--per Naipaul--was the independent Congo/Zaire even a country? Not really, it was just a conglomerate of African groups barely aware of one another's existence. Most had been brutally exploited by Belgium and all were now being controlled by the lethal violence by the Big Man (which turned out to be far worse than Naipaul imagined--indeed genocidal). But in the simplistic cultural propaganda of the times, colonialism was bad (which it largely was), and anyone who told the truth about tinpot murderers like Mobutu was implicitly supporting it--and probably racist to boot. This is the sort of thing that got Naipaul his bad reputation. He was a fearless man, though. Perhaps I'll reread A Bend in the River to honor his memory. It's been more than three decades.

"I was in a former French colony where Catholic missions provided a good education regardless of wealth (though you had to be a Christian and you had to live near a mission school). I'm sure British missionaries provided similar services in their colonies, but I can't tell you much more than that. The British Empire was not uniform (neither was the French). Things were done differently in different colonies."
I understand. Brazil owns its first educational efforts to the Jesuits. But they had missions only in some regions,and after they were thrown out of the country, the country was left to fend for itself.
"There is a temptation to look at such people as hypocrites, but it is actually quite dangerous to be a writer in much of the world (mortally dangerous--Africa, for example, is still a terribly dangerous place) and freedom of expression is often unheard of. So if a writer has a chance to move to London or Paris he or she is probably going to jump at it."
I didn´t mean it that way, I think it is much more complex than that. There is this hypothetical writer X, who has a special sensibility and writing skill. He/she is able to develop both from an early age, because he/she has had an education that teaches him/her to think and to write good essays. So X starts to write about his own country and its condition having his own countrymen in views as his readers. Then he discovers that his countrymen are not only not at all interested in his writings, he starts getting pursued by the authorities of the countries. His life and liberty are threatened, some of these writers are imprisoned. On the same time his works are praised in the West, they get excellent reviews and prestigious awards; he gets readers and followers in Western Countries and invitations to lecture at the best universities of UK and US. So one day X stops running his had against the wall, packs his bags and goes to the West. But I suppose they go with a sense of defeat and the best of them would probably give much of the laureating for a better reception in their own countries.
Having read only one of his novels I don´t know if Naipaul fits this pattern.
"Perhaps I'll reread A Bend in the River to honor his memory. It's been more than three decades."
Yes, and maybe review it on LitNet if you feel like it!

[Pompey Bum]

This New Yorker tribute is written by Pompey's doppelganger (or maybe Pompey himself). Their ages,experiences in Africa, etc. are almost identical:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/reading-naipaul-in-africa

Thanks for the interesting article, Ecurb. No, I'm not Paul Baker, but we did our stateside training with a Togo group, so it's not impossible that our paths crossed. It doesn't surprise me that Baker had such a similar experience. The truth wasn't hard to see unless one turned one's face. I remember our "Big Man" used to execute dissidents and rivals by firing squad on live television. The bigger cities had electricity, and people would watch it at the bars. And I remember the nationalistic dancing Baker mentions. This was done by groups of women who wore dresses with the president's image printed all over them. Lots of people--men and women's--wore similarly illuminated clothing in daily life. As with the Big Man in Naipaul's novel, he was a fact of life (and death) who didn't have to be there in person.

One detail from Baker's article I found touching was his memory of A Bend in the River being "passed hand to hand among the volunteers." That's exactly the way it was. There was this mobile library of dilapidated (sometimes mouse chewed) paperbacks shared between the lot of us. When we got together in the capital at holidays or happened to bump into each other in the field, we would hungrily exchange fragile, taped-up books and they would make their strange journeys deeper and deeper into the African bush. So I know what Baker means about meeting Naipaul before he knew he wasn't supposed to like him. I met him the same way.

[Pompey Bum]

Yes, and maybe review it on LitNet if you feel like it!

I would love to, but unfortunately the letters in my copy turn out to be too small for me to read, even with my glasses. :( Maybe I'll manage to find another copy.

[Danik 2016]

I understand. Nowadays I often prefer to read short novels on line, because then I can choose the size of the print.

See if this link works with you, it didn´t with me, but that may have to do with country copyright rules.

https://www.bestseller.md/a-bend-in-the-river-ebook-v-s-naipaul-free-ebook.html

[Pompey Bum]

Well, we should probably respect the copywrite laws. Maybe my library has a copy. Thanks for trying, though. :)

[Ecurb]

I didn't think you were Paul Baker, Pompey, but the story of how the copy of "Bend in the River" was passed around made it possible that you both read the same copy. I couldn't remember where you did your Peace Core service -- I vaguely remembered it was in west Africa somewhere not too far from Togo. Also, I looked up Baker's bio: he went to Yale, and his parents were a Law and Literature professor. I thought your bio (father a minister, college in Boston) might have been morphed into his by someone who wanted to conceal his identity while not exaggerating his credentials.

[Pompey Bum]

I lived in Gabon, near the frontier with Cameroon and therefore not too far from Equatorial Guinea. We used to drift into the other countries--it was all the heartland of a once fierce people (slavers not slaves) called the Fang. Togo is not that close, but the Togo volunteers we trained with used to come down on their breaks sometimes. (I vaguely remember a guy named Paul, but that doesn't mean much). Togo and Gabon had reputations as desirable posts, and that (oddly) was a kind of bond, too. It makes me melancholy to think of all that now. I'm not sure why, but it's probably because I'm not a young man anymore.

[Danik 2016]

Well, we should probably respect the copywrite laws. Maybe my library has a copy. Thanks for trying, though. :)

Ok, PB. Never mind the copywrites, they take good care of themselves. If the book or video is protected, one simply can´t download it, and that´s it.

Naipaul seems to be a source of memories to you. So, please, don´t mind my suggestion.

[Pompey Bum]

No, I thank you. Hopefully I will reread and review the novel at some point soon (especially since the Man Booker longlist is such a horrorshow this year). I'm overdue for a review in any case.