The Enigma of V. S. Naipaul

Helen Hayward

Palgrave Macmillan, 2002 - Literary Criticism - 222 pages

In this book, Helen Hayward presents a perceptive, well-researched, and objective study of V.S. Naipaul, and identifies the recurring themes that run through his novels, travel books short stories, articles, and interviews spanning over 40 years. Born into and raised on a colonial world, he is regarded by many as one of the most trenchant critics of the corruption, greed, and brutality of the post-colonial world. Hayward traces a pattern of themes and concerns which cast new light in the relationship between the life and the work as well as the creative process itself. She examines key Naipaulian concepts such as cultural alienation, detachment, and anxiety, relating them to the narrative of the writer's life, a story in which fact and fiction are deliberately and artistically blurred.

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Born and raised in Trinidad, the Nobel prize-winning Naipaul moved to England to attend college and has resided there most of his life. He occupies a special niche in the literary world, one that has ...

About the author

Helen Hayward is in the English Department at University College, London.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Enigma of V. S. Naipaul; The Enigma of V.S. Naipaul: Sources and Contexts, Helen Hayward; Warwick University Caribbean studies
• Author: Helen Hayward
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002
• ISBN: 1403902542, 9781403902542
• Length: 222 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / Caribbean & Latin American; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Literary Criticism / European / General