Sameer Rahim writes on Naipaul, a complex and divisive figure, regarded by some as morally suspect – but it’s wrong to see him as an elegist for empire
V. S. Naipaul
Novelist and travel writer V. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad. He studied at Oxford University, then moved to London to work for the BBC
His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Enigma of Arrival, A Bend in the River (shortlisted for the Booker Prize 1979), Half a Life (longlisted for the Booker Prize 2001) and In a Free State, which won the Booker Prize 1971.
He was also shortlisted, for his entire body of work, for The Man Booker International Prize 2009.
His works of non-fiction include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief and The Masque of Africa. In 1990, Naipaul received a knighthood and in 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In a Free State
Winner of The Booker Prize 1971
- Published by
- André Deutsch
Through five connected tales, V.S. Naipaul explores alienation, disruption and racial tension in a perilously unpredictable world
Other nominated books
One of V.S. Naipul’s best-known works, this account of chaos and corruption in post-colonial Africa evokes echoes of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
V. S. Naipaul’s graceful novel is a humorous and sensitive vision of the half-lives quietly lived out at the centre of our world
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- Information
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