RIP: V.S. Naipul

[Matthew Taylor]

Naipaul took the English language from his masters, as we all do, turned it
upside down to fit the form of his colonised soul. He indeed wrote the
English prose masterfully, but of the slavery of a mind suspicious of
triumphant resistance. James Baldwin also wrote English prose beautifully,
as did Edward Said, but reading them ennobles our souls, reading Naipaul is
an exercise in self-flagellation.

Naipaul was an Indian Uncle Tom catapulted to the Trinidad corner of
British colonialism - exuding the racist stereotypes and prejudices his
British masters had taught him to believe about himself and his people.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/naipaul-colonialism-fact-fiction-flesh-180813114051602.html

On Tue, Aug 14, 2018 at 9:46 AM, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
wrote:

> sounds like bot talk
>
> On Tue, Aug 14, 2018 at 9:32 AM, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Wow. Some people. Sheesh.
> >
> > Jerky
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 4:03 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > This first below is moving. See Rushdie inside it as well.
> > > https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/opinion/vs-naipaul-my-
> > wonderful-cruel-friend.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytopinion
> > >
> > > I remember this review. Started the novel. Never finished it because
> life
> > > and distraction
> > > https://twitter.com/michikokakutani/status/1028426265957683201
> > >
> > > https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/11/vs-naipaul-
> > nobel-prize-winning-british-author-dies-aged-85
> > >
> > > Can one believe that his earliest fiction drew comparisons with
> Chekhov!
> > > For his compassionate understanding of regular folk.
> > >
> > > A simple Naipul profundity worth a lifetime of reflection:
> > > https://twitter.com/holdengraber/status/1028607627151003648
> > >
> > > And a not untypical (albeit over the top), very angry female writer
> about
> > > him:
> > >
> > >    1.
> > >    2. More
> > >
> > >    Breaking my Twitter fast to observe that VS Naipul was a vile,
> racist,
> > >    misogynist, bag of festering putrescence, who inflated himself by
> > torturing
> > >    women and dehumanizing Black people. The world smells cleaner today,
> > on the
> > >    heels of his long~overdue departure. #*Naipul*
> > >    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Naipul?src=hash>
> > >    11 replies85 retweets181 likes
> > >    Reply
> > >     11
> > >
> > >    Retweet
> > >     85
> > >
> > >    Like
> > >     181
> > >
> > >    Direct message
> > >    Show this thread
> > >    <https://twitter.com/shailjapatel/status/1028648379377696768>
> > >    3.
> > >
> > >    <https://twitter.com/JoelBackwell>
> > >    Like
> > >     2
> > >
> > >    Direct message
> > >    4.
> > >    *Shailja Patel*‏Verified account @shailjapatel
> > >    <https://twitter.com/shailjapatel> 4h4 hours ago
> > >    <https://twitter.com/shailjapatel/status/1028651904761556992>
> > >    More
> > >
> > >    Stop calling men writers brilliant, important, or even useful, when
> > >    they're incapable of seeing most of humanity as human. And incapable
> > of
> > >    writing without brutalizing those they categorize as sub~human.
> > #*Naipul*
> > >    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Naipul?src=hash>
> > >    1 reply31 retweets73 likes
> > >    Reply
> > >     1
> > >
> > >    Retweet
> > >     31
> > >
> > >    Like
> > >     73
> > >
> > >    Direct message
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 3:49 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > >> The fierceness of his own self-creation made him see this all over the
> > >> place, I suggest.
> > >>  That's the meaning of Mimic Men, broadly,
> > >> whole countries of men who had no character or purpose of their own, I
> > >> extrapolate.
> > >>
> > >> Pitiless about it, he was. Nietzschean.
> > >>
> > >> Walcott wasn't alone.
> > >>
> > >> On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 3:41 PM Thomas Eckhardt <
> > >> thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> I am not familiar with Naipaul's work but know that Derek Walcott
> never
> > >>> forgave him for this (about the West Indies):
> > >>>
> > >>> "There are no people there in the true sense of the word, with a
> > >>> character and a purpose of their own."
> > >>>
> > >>> "The Middle Passage", 29.
> > >>>
> > >>> RIP
> > >>>
> > >>
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>