VS NAIPAUL – A FREE SPIRIT

CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREATEST ENGLISH PROSE STYLISTS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY, AND ARGUABLY OF ALL TIMES, V S NAIPAUL WAS A COLOSSUS WHO STRODE THE LITERARY REALM. HE WOVE A FICTIONAL LANDSCAPE AND WAS KNOWN TO SPIN MAGIC OUT OF WORDS, AND WAS EASILY IN THE LEAGUE OF LEGENDARY WRITERS LIKE CHARLES DICKENS, LEO TOLSTOY AND JOSEPH CONRAD. NAIPAUL WAS AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE IN 2001, WHERE HE HIGHLIGHTED ONLY HIS ADOPTED COUNTRY BRITAIN, AND THE LAND OF HIS ANCESTORS INDIA, BUT NEVER MENTIONED THE COUNTRY OF HIS BIRTH, TRINIDAD, PART OF THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS. THE GENRE OF HIS WRITING WAS FICTION AND NON-FICTION, ESPECIALLY NARRATIVISED HISTORY THAT INCLUDES SOME HISTORICAL RESEARCH BASED ON HIS TRAVELS. ACCORDING TO NAIPAUL, A NON-JUDGMENTAL OBSERVATION OF THE WORLD WAS A HALLMARK OF HIS WRITING. NAIPAUL WAS KNOWN FOR HIS VISION OF WRITING AND BELIEVED THAT EVERYTHING ELSE HAS TO BE SUBSERVIENT TO THIS GOAL. IN WHAT CONCERNS THE QUESTIONS THIS PAPER INTENDS TO ANSWER HERE ARE SOME OF THEM: 1. WHICH IS THE RELATION BETWEEN NAIPAUL’S WORKS AND BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY? 2. WHAT ARE THE DIFERENT MEANINGS OF NAIPAUL’S FREE SPIRIT? 3. WHY ARE VS NAIPAUL’S NOVELS A GRIM EVEN PESIMISTIC VIEW OF THE POST-COLONIAL WORLD?

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