V.S. Naipaul’s India: A Reflection

The book “V.S. Naipaul’s India – a Reflection” is an interesting and comprehensive analysis of India presented by V.S. Naipaul, Nobel laureate in his books An Area of Darkness, India – a Wounded Civilization and India-Million Mutiries Now. This book reflects the views and approach of V.S. Naipaul to Indian Life and Culture. The book presents a remarkable and thorough socio-political analysis. The book also gives an analysis of V.S. Naipaul;s style. The Swedish Academy awards him the Nobel Prize for writing about ‘Peripheral People’ with ‘suppressed histories’. The book shows that he is primarily concerned with displaced individuals, with uprooted immigrants without ‘home’ but longing for home. This book thoroughly examines socio-political forces that threaten the very existence of Indian democracy and secularism in India. In addition, his observation is apt and largely expectable. What other writers may narrate in a dozen of pages Naipaul;s can do in just a paragraph or a page. Naipaul uses minimum sentences to produce maximum effect. In short, this book on Naipaul’s non-fiction on India is comprehensive and effective. It is in no way laudatory, it points out the drawbacks of Naipaul’s misunderstanding of Indian leaders, be he Gandhiji or Jay Prakash Narayan. Fifth Chapter, ‘Some Errors in Naipaul’s Observations on India’ is very insightful and factual. This book will be useful for the teachers, students and all those who are interested in understanding V.S. Naipaul and Indian culture of today.