V. S. Naipaul’s Exploration of India: A Reading of Land, People and the Self

Abstract

This paper examines the non-fiction of the novelist, V.S. Naipaul, in particular, his writings on India. The paper argues that Naipaul’s repeated exploration of India, over three decades (1964-1990) can be read as his attempts at exploration of the Self. In his An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilisation, India: A Million Mutinies Now and in his Collection of Journalistic Essays, Naipaul examines the land of his ancestors, its people, its culture, polity, literature. But the most fascinating part of this journey pertains to his exploration of his own inner self. The paper juxtaposes his critique of India to probe an interesting analysis of the entity of a country, through a geographical, cultural and inner exploration of the writer.