Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, KB, TC (b. August 17, 1932, Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago), better known as V. S. Naipaul, is a Trinidadian-born British writer of Indo-Trinidadian descent, currently resident in Wiltshire. The dignity of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. ... The Trinity Cross (abbreviated T.C.) is the highest national award in Trinidad and Tobago. ... is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest (67,433, 2000 census) and fastest-growing[1][2] town in Trinidad and Tobago. ... For other uses of the word Trinidad, see Trinidad (disambiguation) Motto Together we aspire, together we achieve Anthem Forged From The Love of Liberty Capital Port of Spain Largest town Chaguanas [1] Official languages English Demonym Trinidadian, Tobagonian Government Republic  -  President George Maxwell Richards  -  Prime Minister Patrick Manning Independence  -  from... Indo-Trinidadians are people of South Asian descent who are citizens or nationals of Trinidad and Tobago. ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ...

Naipaul was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001 and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ...

He is the son, older brother, uncle, and cousin of published authors Seepersad Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul, Neil Bissoondath, and Vahni Capildeo, respectively. His current wife is Nadira Naipaul, a former journalist. Seepersad Naipaul (1906-1953) was a novelist of Indo-Trinidadian heritage. ... Shiva Naipaul (25 February 1945 – 13 August 1985), born Shivadhar Srivinasa Naipaul in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, was a Trinidadian and British novelist and journalist. ... Neil Devindra Bissoondath (born 1955 in Trinidad and Tobago) is a Canadian author who lives in Ste-Foy, Quebec. ... Vahni Capildeo (born 1973) is a Trinidadian writer who has lived in the United Kingdom since 1991. ...

Assessment of his work

In 1971, Naipaul became the first person of Indian origin to win a Booker Prize for his book In a Free State. In awarding Naipaul the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001, the Swedish Academy praised his work "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories." The Committee added, "Naipaul is a modern philosophe carrying on the tradition that started originally with Lettres persanes and Candide. In a vigilant style, which has been deservedly admired, he transforms rage into precision and allows events to speak with their own inherent irony." The Committee also noted Naipaul's affinity with the Polish author of Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad: The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in... The Nobel Prize in literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has produced the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency. The work in this case generally refers to an authors work as a whole, not to any individual work, though individual works are sometimes... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... The philosophes (French for philosophers) were a group of intellectuals of the 18th century Enlightenment. ... Persian Letters is a satirical story of two Persian brothers travelling through France by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. ... For the Bernstein operetta based on the book, see Candide (operetta). ... For other uses, see Heart of Darkness (disambiguation). ... // Joseph Conrad (born Teodor Józef Konrad Nałęcz-Korzeniowski, 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-born novelist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. ...

His fiction and especially his travel writing have been criticised for their allegedly unsympathetic portrayal of the Third World. Edward Said, for example, has argued that he "allowed himself quite consciously to be turned into a witness for the Western prosecution", promoting "colonial mythologies about wogs and darkies".^[1] This perspective is most salient in The Middle Passage, which Naipaul composed after returning to the Caribbean after ten years of self-exile in England, and An Area of Darkness, an arguably stark condemnation on his ancestral homeland of India. For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). ... Travel writing is a literary genre related to the essay and to the guidebook. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... Edward Wadie Saïd, Arabic: , , (1 November 1935 – 25 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and Palestinian activist. ... Look up Wog in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An Area of Darkness is a book authored by V.S. Naipaul in 1964. ...

His works have become required reading in many schools within the Third World. Among English-speaking countries, Naipaul's following is notably stronger in the United Kingdom than it is in the United States.

Though a regular visitor to India since the 1960s, he has arguably "analysed" India from an arms-length distance, in some cases initially with considerable distaste (as in An Area of Darkness), and later with 'grudging affection' (as in A Million Mutinies Now), and of late perhaps even with 'ungrudging affection' (most manifestly in his view that the rise of Hindutva embodies the welcome, broader civilisational resurgence of India). He has also made attempts over the decades to identify his ancestral village in India, believed to be near Gorakhpur in Eastern Uttar Pradesh from where his grandfather had migrated to Trinidad as indentured labourer. The mention of this is found in his work An Area of Darkness. An Area of Darkness is a book authored by V.S. Naipaul in 1964. ... India: A Million Mutinies Now is a book authored by V.S. Naipaul in 1990. ... For Veer Savarkars book Hindutva, see Hindutva. ... Gorakhpur (Hindi: गोरखपुर, Urdu: Ú¯Û‹Ú™Ú©Ú¾ پور) is a city in the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. ... , Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: , Urdu: , translation: Northern Province, IPA: ,  ), [often referred to as U.P.], located in central-south Asia and northern India, is the most populous and fifth largest state in the Republic of India. ... An Area of Darkness is a book authored by V.S. Naipaul in 1964. ...

Writing in the New York Review of Books about Naipaul, Joan Didion said: Joan Didion (born December 5, 1934) is an American writer, known as a journalist, essayist, and novelist. ...

In several of his books Naipaul has observed Islam, and he has been criticised for dwelling on negative aspects, e.g. nihilism among fundamentalists. Naipaul's support for Hindutva has also been controversial. He has been quoted describing the destruction of the Babri Mosque as a "creative passion", and the invasion of Babur in the 16th century as a "mortal wound." He views Vijayanagar, which fell in 1565, as the last bastion of native Hindu civilisation. He remains a somewhat reviled figure in Pakistan, which he bitingly condemned in Among the Believers. For Veer Savarkars book Hindutva, see Hindutva. ... A view of the Babri Mosque, pre-1992. ... Zāhir ud-Dīn Mohammad, commonly known as Bābur (February 14, 1483 – December 26, 1530) (Chaghatay/Persian: ; also spelled ), was a Muslim Emperor from Central Asia who founded the Mughal dynasty of India. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... The Vijayanagara empire was based in the Deccan, in peninsular and southern India, from 1336 onwards. ... // Events March 1 - the city of Rio de Janeiro is founded. ...

In 1998 a controversial memoir by Naipaul's sometime protégé Paul Theroux was published. The book provides a personal, though occasionally caustic portrait of Naipaul. The memoir, entitled Sir Vidia's Shadow, was precipitated by a falling-out between the two men a few years earlier. Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... As a literary genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire from the Latin memoria, meaning memory) forms a subclass of autobiography, although it is an older form of writing. ... Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Europe and South Asia, then South-East Asia, up through East Asia, as...

In early 2007, V.S Naipaul made a long-awaited return to his homeland of Trinidad. He urged citizens to shrug off the notions of "Indian" and "African" and to concentrate on being "Trinidadian". He was warmly received by students and intellectuals alike and it seems, finally, that he has come to some form of closure with Trinidad.

Personal life

Naipaul is married to Nadira Naipaul. She was born Nadira Khannum Alvi in Kenya and got married in Pakistan. She worked as a journalist for Pakistani newspaper, The Nation for ten years before meeting Naipaul. They married in 1996, two months after the death of Naipaul's first wife, Patricia Hale. Nadira had been divorced twice before her marriage to Naipaul. She has two children from a previous marriage, Maliha and Nadir. ^[2] For other uses, see Journalist (disambiguation). ... This is a list of newspapers published in Pakistan. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

Awards

• Booker Prize - 1971 for In a Free State
• Jerusalem Prize - 1983
• David Cohen Prize - 1993
• Nobel Prize for Literature - 2001

In 1977, Naipaul declined to be made a Commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE) The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... The Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society is a biennial literary award given to writers whose work has dealt with themes of human freedom, society, politics, and government. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... The David Cohen Prize is a literary prize awarded every two years to a writer, novelist, short-story writer, poet, essayist or dramatist in recognition of an entire body of work, written in the English language. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... The Nobel Prize in literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has produced the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency. The work in this case generally refers to an authors work as a whole, not to any individual work, though individual works are sometimes... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander...

Bibliography

Fiction

• The Mystic Masseur (novel) - (1957) (film version: The Mystic Masseur (2001))
• The Suffrage of Elvira - (1958)
• Miguel Street - (1959)
• A House for Mr Biswas - (1961)
• Mr. Stone and the Knights Companion - (1963)
• A Flag on the Island - (1967)
• The Mimic Men - (1967)
• In a Free State - (1971)
• Guerrillas - (1975)
• A Bend in the River - (1979)
• Finding the Centre - (1984)
• The Enigma of Arrival - (1987)
• A Way in the World - (1994)
• Half a Life - (2001)
• Magic Seeds - (2004)
• Man-Man

Non-fiction The Mystic Masseur is a comic novel by V. S. Naipaul. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Miguel Street is a semi-autobiographical novel by V. S. Naipaul set in wartime Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A House for Mr Biswas is a 1961 novel by V. S. Naipaul, significant as Naipauls first work to achieve acclaim worldwide. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... Guerillas is a 1975 novel by V. S. Naipaul. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Bend in the River (ISBN 0844666319) is a 1979 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... This article is about the year. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... V.S.Naipauls 2005 book Literary Occasions Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, T.C. (born August 17, 1932, in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago), better known as V. S. Naipaul, is a Trinidadian-born British novelist of Indo-Trinidadian ethnicity and Bhumihar Brahmin heritage from Gorakhpur in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• The Middle Passage: Impressions of Five Societies - British, French and Dutch in the West Indies and South America (1962)
• An Area of Darkness (1964)
• The Loss of El Dorado - (1969)
• The Overcrowded Barracoon and Other Articles (1972)
• India: A Wounded Civilization (1977)
• A Congo Diary (1980)
• The Return of Eva Perón and the Killings in Trinidad (1980)
• Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (1981)
• Finding the Centre (1984)
• Reading & Writing: A Personal Account (2000)
• A Turn in the South (1989)
• India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990)
• Homeless by Choice (1992, with R. Jhabvala and S. Rushdie)
• Bombay (1994, with Raghubir Singh)
• Beyond_Belief:_Islamic_Excursions_among_the_Converted_Peoples (1998)
• Between Father and Son: Family Letters (1999, edited by Gillon Aitken)
• The Writer and the World: Essays - (2002)
• Literary Occasions: Essays (2003, by Pankaj Mishra)
• A Writer's People: Ways of Looking and Feeling (2007)

Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... An Area of Darkness is a book authored by V.S. Naipaul in 1964. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... The Loss of El Dorado This book by V.S. Naipaul is a history book about Venezuela and Trinidad. ... Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... A Turn in the South is a travelogue of the American South written by Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... Salman Rushdie (born June 19, 1947, in Bombay, India) is an essayist and author of fiction, most of which is set on the Indian subcontinent. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...

Further reading

• Girdharry, Arnold (2004) The Wounds of Naipaul and the Women in His Indian Trilogy (Copley).
• Barnouw, Dagmar (2003) Naipaul's Strangers (Indiana University Press).
• Dissanayake, Wimal (1993) Self and Colonial Desire: Travel Writings of V.S. Naipaul (P. Lang).
• Hamner, Robert (1973). V.S. Naipaul (Twayne).
• Hammer, Robert ed. (1979) Critical Perspectives on V.S. Naipaul (Heinemann).
• Hayward, Helen (2002) The Enigma of V.S. Naipaul: Sources and Contexts (Macmillan).
• Hughes, Peter (1988) V.S. Naipaul (Routledge).
• Jarvis, Kelvin (1989) V.S. Naipaul: A Selective Bibliography with Annotations, 1957–1987 (Scarecrow).
• Jussawalla, Feroza, ed. (1997) Conversations with V.S. Naipaul (University Press of Mississippi).
• Kelly, Richard (1989) V.S. Naipaul (Continuum).
• Khan, Akhtar Jamal (1998) V.S. Naipaul: A Critical Study (Creative Books)
• King, Bruce (1993) V.S. Naipaul (Macmillan).
• King, Bruce (2003) V.S. Naipaul, 2nd ed (Macmillan)
• Kramer, Jane (13 April 1980) From the Third World, an assessment of Naipaul's work in the New York Times Book Review.
• Levy, Judith (1995) V.S. Naipaul: Displacement and Autobiography (Garland).
• Nightingale, Peggy (1987) Journey through Darkness: The Writing of V.S. Naipaul (University of Queensland Press).
• Said, Edward (1986) Intellectuals in the Post-Colonial World (Salmagundi).
• Theroux, Paul (1998) Sir Vidia's Shadow: A Friendship across Five Continents (Houghton Mifflin).
• Theroux, Paul (1972). V.S. Naipaul: An Introduction to His Work (Deutsch).
• Weiss, Timothy F (1992) On the Margins: The Art of Exile in V.S. Naipaul (University of Massachusetts Press).

is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ...

References

External links

• Open Directory Project - V.S. Naipaul directory category
• Editing Vidia, by Diana Athill, a memoir of Naipaul by his editor
• A literary Brown Sahib