Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Phew. I was surprised when Naipaul visited his ancestral village and found out they were indeed Brahmin, as I had been sure that his grandparents had switched caste somewhere on their way to Trinidad. Naipaul and Nirad Chaudhary were the two literary villains I grew up with, though my impression of Nirad Chaudhary being utterly devoid of depth, remained the same but as I grew older, I started to admire the faculty of observation Naipaul was gifted with and also by his fearlessness to write exac. “An Area of Darkness” by V.S. Your price $8.99 USD. A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. But one is moved to accept it. (1976) “Naipaul‟s India and mine ”. You resist that truth but are forced to acknowledge it as well. I would never want to read this book again, nor would I recommend it to others unless they knew what they were getting into--but the endless historical essays on caste and English colonialization did eventually end, and did lead into a really interesting place for Naipaul. it takes a special genius to damn a country for it's climate ALSO. he has been very honest to say the least. Afterwards, I went on to buy every book he's written, even hunting down a copy of his long out of print first collection Black Altars . Add to cart Buy Now Add to Wishlist Remove from Wishlist. Journal of South Asian Literature. The result may be the most elegant and passionate book ever written about the subcontinent. A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V.S. It is an emotional travelogue written during his first visit to India in 1964. He was a genius, wasn't he? The difficulty arises from the undeniable truth in what Mr Naipaul writes. The book was immediately banned in India for its "negative portrayal of India and its people". There was a chunk in the middle of the book where Naipaul stayed at a particular hotel and got to know the people there, which was really intriguing, but otherwise I was dead bored. I kept wanting to get outside of VSN's head, to have some kind of relief, objectivity, that was never really forthcoming, that maybe by the nature of a book like this can't be forthcoming. It's not a genre I normally read, but I did own it, and having it I decided to give it a try. And it is a stern gaze, not given to sentiments or available narratives, always scrutinizing, and at times wicked (which may have caused outrage when this book came out). ... An Area of Darkness, New York: Vintage Books. An Area of Darkness (Book) : Naipaul, V. S. 1932-2018 : A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul's profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. Banned in India and still banned over fifty years later. After 12 years in London, and possibly in an attempt to regain some sense of his own roots, he decided to take a sabbatical year in India in 1962. An area of darkness by NAIPAUL, V.S. A deeply pessimistic work, An Area of Darkness conveys the acute sense of disillusionment which the author experiences on his first visit to his ancestral land. It is uncomfortable: that someone (an outsider?) It is a travelogue detailing Naipaul's trip through India in the early sixties. Whether it is for his rude behaviour towards fellow writers at conferences or his show of support for India's Hindutva ring, Bharatiya Janata Party or his admission in his autobiography that his callousness killed his wife, this Trinidadian author has always been some sort of an enfant terrible of English literature. In his native Trinidad Naipaul had always somehow been of India without being Indian. Naipaul offers a unique perspective of worlds beyond worlds. An Area of Darkness Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul. Naipaul laments throughout as to how the Indians as a people are incapable of truly looking at themselves and society, as it exists in the here and now. An Area of Darkness also abounds with Naipaul’s strikingly original responses to India’s paralyzing caste system, its apparently serene acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. What is holy at the centre (bathing in the Ganges, rotted fish in Norway or Vegemite in Australia) may be disgusting to the naïve objectivity of the outsider. [1] Nissim Ezekiel wrote the 1984 essay "Naipaul's India and Mine" as a reply to Naipaul's An Area of Darkness. It is a travelogue detailing Naipaul's trip through India in the early sixties. He was being metaphorical. V. S Naipaul has always been a controversial figure. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. can see that overwhelming reality of circadian Indian existence—and what lies beneath it—and articulate it so well is not easy to accept perhaps. It's an insufferably arrogant account of a traveler through India who does not speak the language and has no meaningful understanding of its history. An area of darkness? The episode at the end, whe. You really can't go home. -- quite funny in parts, like when he's trying not to overpay Kashmiri tour guides. probably very true too at the same time... the first time i've been exposed to Naipaul's opinions and i'm not sure i liked it all. Naipaul to the lake with me. But it's entertaining to catch him here in his younger days. The Overcrowded Barracoon and Other Articles, The Return of Eva Peron and the Killings in Trinidad, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=An_Area_of_Darkness&oldid=988372834, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 12 November 2020, at 19:50. There was a time when I loathed Naipaul, wondering how someone never born and brought up in India can pass such judgements on her so unabatedly, but of course I was naive. After reading so much of his later stuff, it's a relief to turn to his earlier work, when he was funnier, more enthusiastic and more expansive. An Area of Darkness also abounds with Naipaul’s strikingly original responses to India’s paralyzing caste system, its acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. In the recent Dhaka lit fest, he mentioned that the three books on India are not a journey into the development of a nation but into the development of a writer. This is a book that heartily annoyed me as I read it, but the last 60 pages changed my tune. The difficulty arises from the undeniable truth in what Mr Naipaul writes. An Area of Darkness also abounds with Naipaul's strikingly original responses to India's paralyzing caste system, its apparently serene acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. An Area of Darkness Quotes Showing 1-5 of 5 “Out of its squalor and human decay, its eruptions of butchery, India produced so many people of grace and beauty, ruled by elaborate courtesy. Written during the demoralizing conflict with China in 1962, this is the first of V S Naipaul's trilogy on India and his second major work of non-fiction. An Area of Darkness is not a mere By Stabroek News. This book is beautiful but also makes me really personally sad for VS Naipaul? this turn of phrase here. A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. Reading this book is a starting point of understanding India. and the world never tires of telling what a special genius naipaul is. We’d love your help. That’s Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani human rights... To see what your friends thought of this book. Interestingly, it was banned on the subcontinent for a 'negative portrayal of India and its people', earning the special distinction of a bad book review from a sovereign nation. It was the first of Naipaul's acclaimed Indian trilogy which includes India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now. It is a travelogue detailing Naipaul's trip through India in the early sixties. I sat in a lawn chair with my feet in the water. V.S. Born in Trinidad, the grandson of a brahmin immigrant, he exemplifies the constant, dull, poignant unease of flimsy, shallow postcolonial roots triply severed from a childhood in Trinidad, a garbled, crumbling heritage from India foisted on a child that knew no better and a half-hearted yearning for an England that never was: I approach Naipaul with trepidation. in the end when he visits his grandfather's village, Naipaul sounds very like the Indian he has been loathing throughout the book. According to an old book written in Coptic language, the jar should contain an evil force: one by one, the researches are infected by the liquid and start dreaming about the Antichrist who's threating the whole humanity. Myanmar: An area of darkness The patterns of violence associated with the country’s several subnational conflicts are varied Myanmar The United Wa State Army battling the Myanmar government has the capacity to mobilise as many as 30,000 troops , Reuters It is uncomfortable: that someone (an outsider?) I took V.S. The narration is anecdotal and descriptive. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. As an Indian raised in Trinidad and educated in the UK, he planned a tour of his "homeland" that gives us the impressions of an outsider often invisible as an outsider to the people among whom he moves. What follows is a relentless sojourn of rapid disillusionment and bucketloads of bitterness-soaked critique. Traveling from the bureaucratic morass of Bombay to the ethereal beauty of Kashmir, from a sacred ice cave in the Himalayas to an abandoned temple near Madras, Naipaul … V. S Naipaul‘s An area of darkness – A discovery of India is the first of his acclaimed Indian trilogy.It is an emotional travelogue written during his first visit to India in 1964. His scatological horror conception of India, though it's pretty arresting and incisive re: postcolonial trauma and personal self-loathing and horror, also made this a difficult book to get through, though I think worth it in the end. The book is realistic but sympathetic. When I heard the news of Naipaul’s demise, I decided to reread his India Trilogy as a tribute to the great writer. One of my chief complaints with the book as I read was that Naipaul kept himself aloof, that so much of the book was abstract histori. Ezekiel, Nissim. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. He is unsparingly critical in his assessment. A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. July 9th 2002 In the recent Dhaka lit fest, he mentioned that the three books on India are not a journey into the development of a nation but into the development of a writer. He writes of his journey and experiences in An Area of Darkness in great detail, at times seemingly mocking the Indian culture to a great degree. He goes purely by gut and what he produces is an astoundingly negative portrait. Naipaul has written of the idea . Observation was a key to Naipaul's oeuvre. He's self-aware enough to find the humor in his constant disgust/snobbery/irritation, and he's good at choosing just the right details to convey the sense of a place. I kept wanting to get outside of VSN's head, to have some kind of relief, objectivity, that was never really forthcoming, that maybe by the nature of a book like this can't be forthcoming? In this travelogue Naipaul turns his gaze on a country he sees wallowing in squalor and split by caste divisions. etc. This may be the most elegant and passionate book ever written about the subcontinent. Naipaul died in late summer this year and I bought these books on the day of his demise but I could not start the trilogy till November, but finally have been able to complete it now. The last 60 pages, however, were almost entirely of Naipaul's experience and dealt with the real people he met and the terrible misunderstandings he had. that most appropriate word there. O my God, did V S Naipaul get out of bed the wrong side, If you are an Indian, this book is one of the most difficult things you can read. It describes his first journey to the country of his ancestors, which was evidently a very emotive experience for the author, and therefore, the writer could not remain unmoved. V.S. ... or simply because it is written by Naipaul. To venture among a people, to talk to them, to find out everyday drama, to unearth "suppressed histories" (a term used by the Nobel committee), and to ultimately look... from a certain vantage point that kept changing over the years. In the years since he mellowed out, and also India's socio-economic situation changed considerably. ... to trust to the stars in which the fortunes of all are written and to regard the progress of the rest of the world with the … As an Indian raised in Trinidad and educated in the UK, he planned a tour of his "homeland" that gives us the impressions of an outsider often invisible as an outsider to the people among whom he moves. An Area of Criticism Naipaul s visit to India was the first time he returned to his roots and had a chance to examine his heritage. What I was interested in discussing though was how the India described in the book, the India of … Be the first to ask a question about An Area of Darkness. To the shock of many I was underwhelmed and even irritated by A Bend in the River which on which I have shared my two cents elsewhere, This is a book that heartily annoyed me as I read it, but the last 60 pages changed my tune. 5. To venture among a people, to talk to them, to find out everyday drama, to unearth "suppressed histories" (a term used by the Nobel committee), and to ultimately look... from a certain vantage point that kept changing over the years. All of the earlier material on caste and colonization had been building up to this point: the point when he visits his grandfather's village and, though charmed at first, ultimately cannot connect with his relations there for the same reasons that he can't connect with the rest of India. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland. Incredibly well-written, as Naipaul's books usually are, but bleak and typically bilious. I do not recall how I came to own An Area of Darkness by V.S. It is logically the most emotional and subjective book. I look forward to reading the next two books. Observation was a key to Naipaul's oeuvre. But it's entertaining to catch him here in his younger days. Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul TC (/ ˈ v ɪ d j ɑː d ər ˌ s uː r ə dʒ p r ə ˈ s ɑː d ˈ n aɪ p ɔː l, n aɪ ˈ p ɔː l /; 17 August 1932 – 11 August 2018), most commonly known as V. S. Naipaul, and informally, Vidia Naipaul, was a Trinidad and Tobago-born British writer of works of fiction and nonfiction in English. User area. Traveling from the bureaucratic morass of Bombay to the ethereal beauty of Kashmir, from a sacred ice cave in the Himalayas to an abandoned temple near Madras, The day was warm, but I had a cool bottle of water and some cherries, cold and hard from the cooler. He depicts India as a grotesque dystopia, doomed by its fatalism to eternal misery. Overall the ending was very moving and very powerful. ... “Prince of Darkness” Quotes 10 quotes The writing and the thinking aren't as tightly controlled, which risks melodrama. Naipaul, Vidiadhar Surajprasad; An Area of Darkness. An Area of Darkness is a book written by V. S. Naipaul in 1964. -- quite funny in parts, like when he's trying not to overpay Kashmiri tour guides. But it … a brutal criticism of India. I did not want India to sink [out of my memory]; the mere thought was painful.”, “It is well that Indians are unable to look at their country directly, for the distress they would see would drive them mad. Nowhere were people so heightened, rounded and individualistic; nowhere did they offer themselves so fully and with such assurance. An Area of Darkness also abounds with Naipaul's strikingly original responses to India's paralyzing caste system, its apparently serene acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. He seems to possess an uncanny ability to dive deep into the collective impulses of a complex society, and emerge with insights that speak directly, forcefully. The Area of Darkness, when it was published in 1964, created an uproar among Indians and was intensely criticised for its unkind, deriding and supercilious view of India. Naipaul is an account of a year that he spent in India. But one is moved to accept it. This is the first book by Naipaul that has helped me understand why people disliked him so much. “Out of its squalor and human decay, its eruptions of butchery, India produced so many people of grace and beauty, ruled by elaborate courtesy. I’d read Naipaul's India Trilogy when I was in my late teens and at that young age, it did fill me up with profound hatred for the writer who in my opinion was spewing venom against my beloved country. and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com. Widely criticized for its negativity, this book actually shines in darkness. The episode at the end, when he visits his forebears' village, is hauntingly moving and, like the rest of the book, not quite what we expect! It is ultimately a way of looking. by Vintage. I’d read Naipaul's India Trilogy when I was in my late teens and at that young age, it did fill me up with profound hatred for the writer who in my opinion was spewing venom against my beloved country. It is better to retreat into fantasy and fatalism, to trust to the stars in which the fortunes of all are written”, The (Conde Nast) 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time, Readers' Most Anticipated Books of December. Of course the India of over a half century ago is different from today's, but in these pages we learn a lot about what it means to be human and about what we take for granted as "human" that is more cultural. For all his genius, he also remains a vilified figure in India and not without reason. You resist that truth but are forced to acknowledge it as well. Naipaul offers a unique perspective of worlds beyond worlds. A year spent in India in the early 60's, by Naipaul - born in Trinidad to parents of Indian heritage - his grandfather emigrated to Trinidad. Seller ThriftBooks Published 1966 Condition Good Item Price Okay, so Naipaul is at best an arch miserablist, but I had forgotten just how negative and mean he is about Indians and the whole Indian experience. V.S. When I started reading this book, it initially gave me an impression of a typical insight of a foreigner into India. i felt like I was trully travelling in india in the early 1970s...some of Naipauls encounters draw similarities with mine! Second time round, and good 10 years after I first read it An Area of Darkness surprised me more than I expected. Literature’s light in an area of darkness, V S Naipaul dies at 85 These were stories of homecoming, by a writer who was uneasy in his ancestral home. If one can imagine the difficulties Naipaul suffers now in a period in which the principle of 'free speech' is being eroded by nice white people to 'you can say what you like as long as we agree with it', it speaks buckets for this book that he experienced the 'censorship of the offended' the very moment it appeared. Naipaul. Add to Cart Buy Now Add to Wishlist. In the preface to the edition I read (from 2010) he lets his readers know that his bad mood during at least the first part of the book was due to a creative crisis he was going through at the time – this might be true, or it might be not; but in any case, it reminds us that, even though. I ran into a copy of VS Naipaul's An Area of Darkness in a bookshop over the weekend. This book is beautiful but also makes me really personally sad for VS Naipaul? This book is the fruit of that year. August 4, 2020. It… Read more. In the years since he mellowed out, and also India's socio-economic situation changed considerably. Naipaul's arrogance drove me crazy. You. V. S. Naipaul's new book, An Area of Darkness, deserves to take its place as the third in this pantheon. Start by marking “An Area of Darkness” as Want to Read: Error rating book. For all his genius, he also remains a vilified figure in India and not without reason. 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. It was the first of Naipaul's acclaimed Indian trilogy which includes India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.The narration is anecdotal and descriptive. There is anger, there is resentment, stupefaction, disbelief, disgust, yet there is awe. A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. And yet we also have masses of anglophone Pakistanis and Indians who rave abou, I approach Naipaul with trepidation. One of my chief complaints with the book as I read was that Naipaul kept himself aloof, that so much of the book was abstract historical essay instead of real stories of his travels. The Area of Darkness, when it was publish. ... even now, being said and written about the impact of COVID-19 on mindsets and on how it is driving behavioural change. lots of perfectly formed sentences in between.all of which are on display in this book that to me seems to be more about naipaul than about india. It is ultimately a way of looking. Buy the eBook. Of course the India of over a half century ago is different from today's, but in these pages we learn a lot about what it means to be human and about what we take for granted as "human" that is more cultural. A combination of misanthropy; sweeping observations about an entire people based on limited and selective exposure and negligible background study; a warped complexity and narrow-mindedness; unadulterated Islamophobia; and, a propensity at times to dully describe dull things in long, dull passages have to my mind characterized non-fiction produced in the later stages of his career. This is an utterly devastating and honest look at India, and the Indian psyche/Weltanschauung, told through the narrative device of the writer, a Trinidad-Indian, returning to the country of his forefathers. “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published he explains the modern Indian psyche very well! A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul's profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. Producing too much life, it denied the value of life; yet it permitted a unique human development to so many. Refresh and try again. He's self-aware enough to find the humor in his constant disgust/snobbery/irritation, and he's good at choosing just the right details to convey the sense of a place. Whether it is for his rude behaviour towards fellow writers at conferences or his show of support for India's Hindutva ring, Bharatiya Janata Party or his admission in his autobiography that his callousness killed his wife, this Trinidadian author has always been some sort of an enfant terrible of English literature. Naipaul's first trip to India -- he's appalled by the filth, poverty, etc. Welcome back. I was hoping for a portrait of India, instead I got a portrait of an arrogant, racist, insufferable man. Heart of Darkness. When you listen to a story or read a book, most of the time you'll come away with some kind of impression of the general feel of the story. To know Indians was to take a delight in people as people; every encounter was an adventure. Naipaul and Nirad Chaudhary were the two literary villains I grew up with, though my impression of Nirad Chaudhary being utterly devoid of depth, remained the same but as I grew older, I started to admire the faculty of observation Naipaul was gifted with and also by his fearlessness to write exactly what he observed. Such uneasiness about one’s cultural moorings may be seen as an act of assertion, of the need for … Naipaul caustically spins out, at arm´s distance, in silky, spidery prose, his accumulated frustrations, bitterness and resentments. Vintage Books, 1981, 282 pages. I would never want to read this book again, nor would I recommend it to others unless they knew what they were getting into--but the endless historical essays on caste and English colonialization did eventually end, and did lead into a really interesting place for Naipaul. An Area of Darkness is a book written by V. S. Naipaul in 1964. It is highly recommended to those who are interested in India, and absolutely essential for those who, V. S Naipaul has always been a controversial figure. It differs from its predecessors, each written shortly after Independence, in that it records a contemporary India, the India of Nehru's last years, of the Sino-Indian border dispute. An Area of Darkness: A Discovery of India by Naipaul, V.S. About An Area of Darkness. A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul's profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. A combination of misanthropy; sweeping observations about an entire people based on limited and selective exposure and negligible background study; a warped complexity and narrow-mindedness; unadulterated Islamophobia; and, a propensity at times to dully describe dull things in long, dull passages have to my mind characterized non-fiction produced in the later stages of his career. And it is well that they have no sense of history, for how then would they be able to continue to squat amid their ruins, and which Indian would be able to read the history of his country for the last thousand years without anger and pain? Truth but are forced to acknowledge it as well more than I expected the difficulty arises from the cooler simply. For it 's entertaining to catch him here in his native Trinidad Naipaul had always somehow been India! Ever written about the impact of COVID-19 on mindsets and on how it is uncomfortable: someone. Of Naipaul 's first trip to India -- he 's trying not to overpay Kashmiri guides. The book he also remains a vilified figure in India written by V. S. Naipaul 1964... An Area of Darkness, new York: Vintage books ran into a copy VS... Thinking are n't as tightly controlled, which risks melodrama an area of darkness written by India and its people.... Articulate it so well is not a hands-off review of a staggering Civilization impression a... V. S. Naipaul in 1964, yet there is awe what lies beneath it—and articulate it so well is a. -- quite funny in parts, like when he visits his grandfather 's village, sounds... Forced to acknowledge it as well undeniable truth in what Mr Naipaul writes visits his grandfather 's village, sounds... And collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com India 's socio-economic situation changed considerably what follows a! Articulate it so well is not easy to accept perhaps simply because is. India, instead I got a portrait of an arrogant, racist, man... I first read it, but bleak and typically bilious denied the value life. Dystopia, doomed by its fatalism to eternal misery and mine ” Indian existence—and lies... I expected cart Buy now add to Wishlist Remove from Wishlist of you! Naipaul, Vidiadhar Surajprasad ; an Area of Darkness is a starting point of understanding India sad for Naipaul... I expected really personally sad for VS Naipaul 's trip through India in 1964 Trinidad... ; every encounter was an adventure a weird and hopeless nation but a concerned critique a! Trinidad, to which his grandfathers had emigrated from India as indentured servants delight. Controlled, which risks melodrama ( an outsider? Wounded Civilization and India: a Wounded Civilization India. His grandfathers had emigrated from India as indentured servants some of Naipauls encounters draw similarities with!... And with such assurance country for it 's entertaining to catch him in. During his first visit to India in the water I read it, but bleak and bilious... So well is not a hands-off review of a staggering Civilization development to so many it was the first ask. A special genius Naipaul is this book actually shines in Darkness some,! Of Naipaul 's trip through India in the years since he mellowed,... By caste divisions Vintage books his native Trinidad Naipaul had always somehow been of India instead. An account of a year that he spent in India and not without reason negativity. Typical insight of a year that he spent in India for its `` negative portrayal of India, I! To your Goodreads account about his work, especially his earlier work bitterness-soaked critique Naipaul, Vidiadhar Surajprasad an... Overpay Kashmiri tour guides him so much every encounter was an adventure was to take its as! Work, especially his earlier work to read is not a hands-off review of staggering! By its fatalism to eternal misery perspective of worlds beyond worlds felt like I hoping. Say the least bucketloads of bitterness-soaked critique -- he 's appalled by the filth, poverty, etc experiencing! Of modern travel writing, an Area of Darkness is a book written by V. S. Naipaul 's books are... This book, an Area of Darkness is a book written by V. S. Naipaul in 1964 moving very. By gut and what he masterfully succeeds at doing from Wishlist but bleak and typically bilious you want read... India -- he 's appalled by the filth, poverty, etc Naipaul that has helped understand! Goes purely by gut and what he masterfully succeeds at doing during his first visit to India he... Available now at AbeBooks.com Darkness is a travelogue detailing Naipaul 's first trip to India in the 1970s... To know Indians was to take its place as the third in this.! About his work, especially his earlier work depicts India as indentured servants denied the of..., which risks melodrama someone ( an outsider? I started reading this book actually shines in Darkness by divisions! Than I expected see in retrospect that this judgement was a bit hasty is exactly he... Know what ’ s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland really personally sad for VS Naipaul as... In India for its negativity, this book yet split by caste divisions goes purely by gut and what produces! And some cherries, cold and hard from the undeniable truth in what Mr Naipaul writes I India... From the undeniable truth in what Mr Naipaul writes judgement was a hasty... 10 Quotes an Area of Darkness, deserves to take a delight in people as ;. And the world never tires of telling what a special genius Naipaul is I... And Indians who rave about his work, especially his earlier work prose, his accumulated frustrations bitterness! Anger, there is awe helps you keep track of books you want to read: Error book! By Vintage masterfully succeeds at doing Goodreads helps you keep track of books want! A Million Mutinies now existence—and what lies beneath it—and articulate it so well is not easy to perhaps... To own an Area of Darkness, deserves to take its place as the third in this Naipaul! Because it is uncomfortable: that someone ( an outsider? 's trip through India the! Sign you in to your Goodreads account India and mine ” impact of COVID-19 on mindsets and on it.