Лучшие книги Видиадхар Сураджпрасад Найпол

Последний роман лауреата Нобелевской премии 2001 года английского писателя В. С. Найпола (р. 1932) критики сравнивают с "Кандидом" Вольтера. Из провинциальной Индии судьба забрасывает Вилли Чандрана в имперский центр - Лондон, а затем снова в провинцию, но уже африканскую. Разные континенты, разные жизненные уклады, разные цивилизации - и дающаяся лишь однажды попытка прожить собственную, единственную и настоящую жизнь. Будет ли она полноценной, состоявшейся, удачной? И все ли хорошо в этом "лучшем из миров"? Рассказывая о простых людях в обычных житейских ситуациях, писатель вместе со своим героем ищет ответ на вопрос, с которым рано или поздно сталкивается каждый: "Своей ли жизнью я живу?"

В 2001 году роман "Полужизнь" был включен в лонг-лист Букеровской премии.

Потомок браминов, выходец из Тринидада, рыцарь Британской империи и Нобелевский лауреат (2001) предпринимает в 1964 году отчаянную попытку "возвращения домой". С момента своего прибытия в Бомбей, город сухого закона, с провезенным под полой виски и дешевым бренди, он начинает путь, в котором чем дальше тем больше нарастает чувство отчуждения от культуры этого субконтинента. Для него тот становится землей мифов, территорией тьмы, что по мере его продвижения смыкается за ним.

Карибское путешествие B.C.Найпола, полное юмора и страсти, не только дает внутреннее видение повседневной жизни аборигенов одного из регионов романтического туризма (Тринидад, Ямайка, Мартиника, Суринам...), но и позволяет задуматься о поразительных параллелях между ритмами актуальной российской жизни и постколониальными "тринидадскими" мотивами.

В рассказах В. Найпола показан мир простых людей столицы его родины Тринидада – Порт-оф-Спейна, ведущих нелегкую жизнь в бездушном мире капитализма.

Сборник известного тринидадского писателя составлен из цикла рассказов "Мигель-стрит", повести "Флаг над островом" и других произведений малой прозы. Творчество Найпола, глубоко усвоившего традиции европейской реалистической прозы, посвящено проблемам молодых развивающихся государств.

In a Free State is set in Africa, in a place like Uganda or Rwanda, and its two main characters are English. They had once found liberation in Africa. But now Africa is going sour on them. The land is no longer safe, and at a time of tribal conflict they have to make a long drive to the safety of their compound. At the end of this drive - the narrative tight, wonderfully constructed, the formal and precise language always instilled with violence and rage - we know everything about the English characters, the African country, and the Idi Amin - like future awaiting it. This is one of V.S.Naipaul's greatest novels, hard but full of pity. It won the Booker Prize, in its original edition, in 1971.

He was struck again and again by the wonder of being in his own house, the audacity of it: to walk in through his own front gate, to bar entry to whoever he wished, to close his doors and windows every night. Mr. Biswas has been told since the day of his birth that misfortune will follow him - and so it has. Meaning only to avoid punishment, he causes the death of his father and the dissolution of his family. Wanting simply to flirt with a beautiful woman, he ends up marrying her, and reluctantly relying on her domineering family for support. But in spite of endless setbacks, Mr. Biswas is determined to achieve independence, and so he…

The Mystic Masseur

His own modern labour of love, loss and disquiet, this really is a book to treasure. Malcolm Bradbury, Sunday Express This vastly innovative novel explores colonial inheritance through a series of narratives that span continents, swing back and forth between past and present and delve into both autobiography and fiction. Naipaul offers a personal choice of examples of Spanish and British imperial history in the Caribbean, including an imagined vision of Raleigh's last expedition and an introduction to Francisco de Miranda, a would - be liberator and precursor to Bolivar, which are placed within a context of echoing modernity and framed by…

Set in an unnamed African country, the book is narrated by Salim, a young man from an Indian family of traders long resident on the coast. He believes "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it." So he has taken the initiative; left the coast; acquired his own shop in a small, growing city in the continent's remote interior and is selling sundries – little more than this and that, really – to the natives. This spot, this "bend in the river", is a microcosm of post-colonial Africa at the time of Independence: a scene of chaos, violent change, warring tribes, ignorance, isolation…

Повесть "Излучина реки" добавлена во многие англоязычные списки лучших книг.

The story of a writer's singular journey—from one place to another, from the British colony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England, and from one state of mind to another—this is perhaps Naipaul's most autobiographical work. Yet it is also woven through with remarkable invention to make it a rich and complex novel.

Heart-rending and darkly comic, V. S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr Biswas has been hailed as one of the twentieth century’s finest novels, a classic that evokes a man’s quest for autonomy against the backdrop of post-colonial Trinidad.
Mr Biswas has been told since the day of his birth that misfortune will follow him – and so it has. Meaning only to avoid punishment, he causes the death of his father and the dissolution of his family. Wanting simply to flirt with a beautiful woman, he ends up marrying her. But in spite of endless setbacks, Mr Biswas is determined to achieve independence, and so he begins the gruelling struggle to buy a home of his own.
Part of the Picador Collection, a new series showcasing the best of modern literature.

Taking its title from a work by the surrealist painter, Giorgio de Chirico, The Enigma of Arrival tells the story of a young Indian from the Caribbean arriving in post-imperial England and consciously, over many years, finding himself as a writer. It is the story of a journey, from one place to another, from the British colony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England, and from one state of mind to another, and is perhaps V. S. Naipaul's most autobiographical work.
Finding depth and pathos in the smallest moments Naipaul also comprehends the bigger picture - watching as the old world is lost to the gradual but permanent changes wrought on the English landscape. It is a moving and beautiful novel told with great dignity, compassion, and candour.

A Bend in the River is V. S. Naipaul's vivid exploration of post-colonial Africa at the time of Independence. With an introduction by Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
Salim has spent most of his life on the east coast of Africa, living and working with his family. When he sets out to build a new life for himself, moving to an unnamed country in the heart of the continent he believes he is doing so to fulfil his duty as a man. He buys a small shop in a sleepy town, at a bend in the river, where he sells sundries to the locals.
First published in 1979, A Bend in the River is V.S. Naipaul's vivid exploration of post-colonial Africa at the time of Independence. Serving as a microcosm of this changing world, his bend in the river is a scene of chaos, violent change, warring tribes, ignorance, isolation and poverty. And from this rich landscape emerges one of the author's most potent works - a truly moving story of historical upheaval and social breakdown.