Bücher von V.S. Naipaul

The first book in V. S. Naipaul's acclaimed Indian trilogy - with a preface by the author. An Area of Darkness is V. S. Naipaul's semi-autobiographical account - at once painful and hilarious, but always thoughtful and considered - of his first visit to India, the land of his forebears. He was twenty-nine years old; he stayed for a year. From the moment of his inauspicious arrival in Prohibition-dry Bombay, bearing whisky and cheap brandy, he experienced a cultural estrangement from the subcontinent. It became for him a land of myths, an area of darkness closing up behind him as he travelled . . . The experience was not a pleasant one, but the pain the author suffered was creative rather than numbing, and engendered a masterful work of literature that provides a revelation both of India and of himself: a displaced person who paradoxically possesses a stronger sense of place than almost anyone. 'His narrative skill is spectacular. One returns with pleasure to the slow hand-in-hand revelations of both India and himself' The Times

Set in an unnamed African country, V. S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River is narrated by Salim, a young man from an Indian family of traders long resident on the coast. He believes The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it. So he has taken the initiative; left the coast; acquired his own shop in a small, growing city in the continent's remote interior and is selling sundries - little more than this and that, really - to the natives. This spot, this 'bend in the river', is a microcosm of post-colonial Africa at the time of Independence: a scene of chaos, violent change, warring tribes, ignorance, isolation and poverty. And from this rich landscape emerges one of the author's most potent works - a truly moving story of historical upheaval and social breakdown.

Dette er en bok om England, om den tredje verden, og samtidig en bok om en kunstners smertelige vei til selverkjennelse. Den ytre fortellingen beretter om en reise, fra det fjerne Trinidad til England midt i 1950-årene, og en rapport om den møysommelige måten forfatteren nærmer seg den nye virkeligheten på. Forfatteren møter et England som ved første øyekast virker uforandret og tradisjonsbundet. Men det går opp for ham at førsteinntrykkene er et bedrag. Båndene som en gang knyttet menneskene til jorden og til hverandre, er smuldret opp.

Naipaul tar utgangspunkt i sine egne barndoms- og ungdomsopplevelser på landsbygden og i hovedstaden Port of Spain i Trinidad. Herfra tar han leseren med bakover på en historie- og geografileksjon som favner vidt: fra Columbus' oppdagelser i 1498, via andre europeiske kolonialisters erobringer, og fiaskoer, til lokale opprørslederes revolusjonsforsøk i forrige århundre.

Born of Indian heritage, raised in the British-dependent Caribbean island of Isabella, and educated in England, forty-year-old Ralph Singh has spent a lifetime struggling against the torment of cultural displacement. Now in exile from his native country, he has taken up residence at a quaint hotel in a London suburb, where he is writing his memoirs in an attempt to impose order on a chaotic existence. His memories lead him to recognize the cultural paradoxes of his childhood and later life: his attempts to fit in at school, his short-lived marriage to an ostentatious white woman. But it is the return to Isabella and his subsequent immersion in the roiling political atmosphere of a newly self-governing nation that ultimately provide Singh with the necessary insight to discover the crux of his disillusionment.

Boken handler om mennesker langt hjemmefra. Den indiske tjeneren i Washington blir amerikansk statsborger, men føler at han selv ikke henger helt med. Den Vestindiske mannen i London som sitter fengslet for mord, har egentlig aldri helt visst hvor han er. Hovedhistorien i boka er om de to engelskmennene som en gang fant friheten i Afrika, men som må flykte da det blir uroligheter i landet.

Fortellingen ved første øyekast en reiseskildring, en beretning om en ferd gjennom noen av de amerikanske sydstatene. Men dypere sett er boken et nytt bidrag til forfatterens "bekjennelsesprosa" hvis sentrale kapitel er den bevegende Ankomsts gåte (1989).

V.S. Naipaul's first novel traces the story of Ganesh, from failed primary school teacher and struggling masseur to author, revered mystic and MBE. It is a journey memorable for its hilarious and bewildering success.