Reading and Writing: A Personal Account
by V. S. Naipaul
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How does a writer pass from the fantasy to the ambition to the act of writing? In this essay of literary autobiography, V.S. Naipaul sifts through memories of his childhood in Trinidad, his university days in England and his responses to his family's native India, seeking the experiences of life and literature that shaped his imagination and reflecting on the very different possibilities that he found in the novel and the travel book for capturing the truth of his subjects. 'As a child show more trying to read, I had felt that two worlds separated me from the books that were offered to me at school and in the libraries - the childhood world if our remembered India, and the more colonial world of our city ... What I didn't know, even after I had written my early books of fiction ... was that those two spheres of darkness had become my subject. Fiction, working its mysteries, by indirections finding directions out, had led me to my subject. But it couldn't take me all the way.' show lessTags
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A brief, personal essay that has a depth of meaning that belies its size. Naipaul shares a literary reminiscence that provides a glimpse into the gestation of a great writer. The personal and intimate tone of the extended essay is refreshing and the insights he shares are valuable to all serious readeers.
Naipaul writes about HIS India, among other things. Here is an excerpt: http://www.purao.net/wiki/ReadingWriting_excerpt
Una piccola opera emblematica per comprendere la personalità e la formazione di questo grande autore, premio Nobel 2001. Tre saggi vi sono contenuti. Il primo, che dà il titolo al volume, è una testimonianza del rapporto che Naipaul ha sviluppato con la scrittura, a cui ha legato il desiderio di emancipazione, di crescita e di riscatto. Il secondo è dedicato all'India, patria degli avi, che ha visitato dopo averne letto storie, leggende e mistificazioni. La terza parte contiene il discorso tenuto in occasione del conferimento del Nobel: parole vibranti, appassionate sul mestiere di scrittore.
Dec 3, 2010Italian
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97+ Works 25,735 Members
Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born of Indian ancestry in Chaguanas, Trinidad on August 17, 1932. He was educated at University College, Oxford and lived in Great Britain since 1950. From 1954 to 1956, he edited a radio program on literature for the British Broadcasting Corporation's Caribbean Service. His first novel, The Mystic Masseur, was show more published in 1957. His other novels included A House for Mr. Biswas, A Bend in the River, Guerrillas, and Half a Life. In a Free State won the Booker Prize in 1971. He started writing nonfiction in the 1960s. His first nonfiction book, The Middle Passage, was published in 1962. His other nonfiction works included An Area of Darkness, Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, and A Turn in the South. He was knighted in 1990 and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He died on August 11, 2018 at the age of 85. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Reading and Writing: A Personal Account
- Original publication date
- 2000, 2001
- Dedication*
- For David Pryce-Jones
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Reviews
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- Languages
- 7 — English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
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- ASINs
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