S. Naipaul
S. Naipaul
book careers poetry
I feel that at any stage of my literary career it could have been said that the last book contained all the others.
fun thinking spirit
Africa is not a fun place, you know. A fun place is somewhere that lifts the spirits, that cossets the senses. I don't think that can be said of the Africa I traveled in.
writing support
Writing has to support itself.
tough
I'm thought to be a tough writer, but I'm really a softie.
men free-man
I've been a free man.
abandoned novel
I've never abandoned the novel.
way reputation curmudgeon
In a way my reputation has become that of the curmudgeon.
stupid people proud
In England people are very proud of being very stupid.
book bigs enterprise
Making a book is such a big enterprise.
forever culture has-beens
All cultures have been mingled forever.
simple may trinidad
Trinidad may seem complex, but to anyone who knows it, it is a simple, colonial, philistine society.
past
The past has to be seen to be dead; or the past will kill.
made trinidad
Nothing was made in Trinidad.
book writing ends
Many writers tend to write summing-up books at the end of their lives.