<p>In this comic novel, Naipaul tells the story of Mohun Biswas, a Trinidadian of East Indian ancestry who stumbles into one misfortune after another as he searches for a house of his own. The experiences of Mr. Biswas bring to light such universal themes as the individual versus society and the search for self-identity.</p>

A House for Mr. Biswas with Related Readings

V.S.Naipaul

Literature & Fiction

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill

V.S. Naipul describes his literary predicament as a West-Indian-born Indian writer, living in England, and reflects upon the social aspects of colonialism

The Overcrowded Barracoon

Penguin Books, Ltd.

This incandescent novel chronicles both an internal journey and a physical trek into the heart of Africa, a place caught between the dangerously alluring modern world and its own tenacious past and traditions. Exploring political and individual corruption, it expresses skepticism about the ability of newly decolonized nations to forge independent identities. Salim, a Muslim Indian merchant, opens a store in a sleepy small town at a bend in the river, whose inhabitants include a Belgian priest, a witch, and a white intellectual named Raymond. The president of the new country is a demagogue called the Big Man who hires Raymond as his speechwriter. Salim loses control of his store to the commercially inexperienced Citizen Theotime, who hires Salim to manage it. Gradually, the town's veneer of civilization begins to crumble.

A Band In The River

Contemporary

Penguin??Books

<p>A record of Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul's travels through the Islamic east.</p>

Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey

Travel

"Among the Believers" is V. S. Naipaul's classic account of his journeys through Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia; 'the believers' are the Muslims he met on those journeys, young men and women battling to regain the original purity of their faith in the hope of restoring order to a chaotic world. It is a uniquely valuable insight into modern Islam, and the comforting simplifications of religious fanaticism. 'The edgy exactitude of Naipaul's writing is both effortlessly classical and yet at the same time brilliantly contemporary, as sharp and lucid as a spear of glass...He is inimitable, truly great and truly deserving of the Nobel' - "Observer".

Among the Believers

Travel Writing

The book that first brought Naipaul worldwide acclaim, this richly comic novel tells the moving story of a man without a single asset who enters a life devoid of opportunity, and whose tumble-down house becomes a potent symbol of the search for identity in a postcolonial world.

A House for Mr. Biswas (Penguin Modern Classics)

IAN BURUMA

Penguin

The early masterpiece of V. S. Naipaul’s brilliant career, A House for Mr. Biswas is an unforgettable story inspired by Naipaul's father that has been hailed as one of the twentieth century's finest novels.In his forty-six short years, Mr. Mohun Biswas has been fighting against destiny to achieve some semblance of independence, only to face a lifetime of calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning death of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr. Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. But when he marries into the domineering Tulsi family on whom he indignantly becomes dependent, Mr. Biswas embarks on an arduous–and endless–struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own. A heartrending, dark comedy of manners, A House for Mr. Biswas masterfully evokes a man’s quest for autonomy against an emblematic post-colonial canvas.

A house for Mr. Biswas

A. Deutsch

Revisiting Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan and Malaysia - the countries he visited for Among the Believers (1981), Naipaul reviews his impressions of the Islamic world. He explores the life and culture, and the current ferment which exists inside the nations of Islam.

Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples

Religion & Spirituality

Random House]

An Area of Darkness (Picador Travel Classics)

Asia

Picador

This wonderful collection of essays by V.S. Naipul features pieces taken from his earlier books - The Overcrowded Barracoon, The Return of Eva Peron and Finding the Centre - and also includes several previously uncollected essays. Concentrating mainly on V.S. Naipaul's writings about India, the Americas, Africa and the Diaspora, it is a clear-eyed and magnificent introduction to the writer's extraordinary world. 'How few writers there are, if any, who share his sense of mission and moral authority, who have his willingness to learn and to travel and his miraculous gift of language. Is there no one who could persuade him to go on one last journey?' Observer 'As these essays lavishly demonstrate, he is a true citizen of the world, and he richly deserves the Nobel prize he was awarded last year' Scotland on Sunday

Essays : The Writer and the World

Pan/Macmillan

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Books by V.S.Naipaul