V. S. Naipaul
V. S. Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, TC, is a Trinidadian Nobel Prize-winning British writer known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad and Tobago, his bleaker later novels of the wider world, and his autobiographical chronicles of life and travels. He has published more than 30 books, both of fiction and nonfiction, over some 50 years...
NationalityTrinidadian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth17 August 1932
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.
trying situation universal
One must always try to see the truth of a situation - it makes things universal.