315. Controversy, Colonialism, & V.S. Naipaul

Vidya Naipal, born in rural poverty in colonial Trinidad in 1932, would rise from this unpromising setting to become one of the great writers of the 20th century. This achievement does not mean that all his writing was good, or that his behaviour was exemplary, but rather that his cumulative accomplishment outstripped his contemporaries, and altered the way in which writers and readers perceived the world. Using simple sentences he would look at complex modern subjects extremism, global migration, political and religious identity, ethnic difference, the implosion of Africa, the resurgence of Asia, and the remaking of the old European dispensation in the aftermath of empire. His achievement was an act of will, in which every situation and relationship would be subordinated to his ambition.

His public position as a novelist and chronicler was inflexible at a time of intellectual relativism. He stood for high civilization, individual rights, and the rule of law. Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arnand. And me, William DeRipple.

And what you just heard William reading is an extract from the opening of Patrick French's uh biography of Nyapal, The World is What It Is, the authorized biography of V.S. Naipal. Now, we've said this on the podcast before, Patrick French was a very good friend of both of us and sadly is no longer with us. But we have another very distinguished biographer, an award-winning biographer, and a a brilliant writer and speaker, our friend Ben Moser.

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