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V.S. Naipaul

V.S. Naipaul’s Followers (1,655)

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V.S. Naipaul


Born
in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago
August 17, 1932

Died
August 11, 2018

Genre

Influences


Naipaul was born and raised in Trinidad, to which his grandfathers had emigrated from India as indentured servants. He is known for the wistfully comic early novels of Trinidad, the bleaker novels of a wider world remade by the passage of peoples, and the vigilant chronicles of his life and travels, all written in characteristic, widely admired, prose.

At 17, he won a Trinidad Government scholarship to study abroad. In the introduction to the 20th-anniversary edition of A House for Mr. Biswas, he reflected that the scholarship would have allowed him to study any subject at any institution of higher learning in the British Commonwealth, but that he chose to go to Oxford to do a simple degree in English. He went, he wrote, "in order at last to
...more

Average rating: 3.7 · 78,420 ratings · 6,661 reviews · 136 distinct worksSimilar authors
A House for Mr Biswas

3.81 avg rating — 21,305 ratings — published 1961 — 125 editions
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A Bend in the River

3.77 avg rating — 17,843 ratings — published 1979 — 113 editions
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Miguel Street

3.95 avg rating — 4,874 ratings — published 1959 — 44 editions
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In a Free State

3.49 avg rating — 5,043 ratings — published 1971 — 83 editions
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Half a Life

3.24 avg rating — 4,391 ratings — published 2001 — 83 editions
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Among the Believers : An Is...

3.86 avg rating — 2,384 ratings — published 1981 — 75 editions
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The Mystic Masseur and Migu...

3.48 avg rating — 2,526 ratings — published 1957 — 72 editions
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An Area of Darkness: A Disc...

3.68 avg rating — 2,294 ratings — published 1964 — 59 editions
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India: A Million Mutinies Now

3.93 avg rating — 2,057 ratings — published 1990 — 58 editions
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The Enigma of Arrival: A No...

3.69 avg rating — 1,901 ratings — published 1987 — 16 editions
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More books by V.S. Naipaul…
An Area of Darkness: A Disc... India: A Wounded Civilization India: A Million Mutinies Now
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3.78 avg rating — 6,087 ratings

Half a Life Magic Seeds
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Quotes by V.S. Naipaul  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves.”
V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State

“The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.”
V. S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River

“Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision.”
V.S. Naipaul

Polls

Group read for September 2016 from the remaining books that haven't been discussed yet from 50 Books to Read Before You Die. Poll closes August 15.

 
  20 votes, 18.5%

 
  17 votes, 15.7%

 
  15 votes, 13.9%

 
  14 votes, 13.0%

 
  14 votes, 13.0%

 
  13 votes, 12.0%

 
  10 votes, 9.3%

 
  4 votes, 3.7%

 
  1 vote, 0.9%

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: Geography Lessons 95 416 Oct 10, 2009 07:10PM  
Caribbean Authors: Puerto Rico - Trinidad & Tobago 3 185 Nov 06, 2009 03:59AM  
Literary Fiction ...: The Root Rewrites the Western Canon 13 460 Nov 22, 2009 01:19PM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. * Spring Challenge 2010 Tasks 6 1240 Feb 26, 2010 07:44PM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. 30.6 (Donna Jo's Task - As Suggested By Liz Brooklyn - Character References) 115 397 May 11, 2010 02:21PM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks 2725 2499 May 31, 2010 09:00PM  
The World's Liter...: Brazil... Peru...Asia Pacific... 10 142 Dec 17, 2010 09:40AM  
UK Book Club: Zoe's List 15 199 Jan 06, 2011 05:33AM  
Reading with Style: This topic has been closed to new comments. WI 10-11 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 715 504 Mar 01, 2011 09:19AM  
Terminalcoffee: This topic has been closed to new comments. VS Naipul: Women Writers Suck 6 50 Jun 02, 2011 10:16AM