NAIPAUL, V(IDIADHAR) S(URAJPRASAD)

born Aug. 17, 1932, Trinidad Trinidadian writer of Indian descent known for his pessimistic novels set in the Third World nations. Descended from Hindu Indians who had immigrated to Trinidad as indentured servants, Naipaul left Trinidad to attend the University of Oxford in 1950. He subsequently settled in England, although he traveled extensively thereafter. His earliest books (The Mystic Masseur, 1957; The Suffrage of Elvira, 1958; and Miguel Street, 1959) are ironic and satirical accounts of life in the Caribbean. His fourth novel, A House for Mr. Biswas (1961), also set in Trinidad, was a much more important work and won him major recognition. It centres on the main character's attempt to assert his personal identity and establish his independence as symbolized by owning his own house. Naipaul's subsequent novels used other national settings but continued to explore the personal and collective alienation experienced in new nations that were struggling to integrate their native and Western-colonial heritages. The three stories in In a Free State (1971) are set in various countries; Guerrillas (1975) is a despairing look at an abortive uprising on a Caribbean island; and A Bend in the River (1979) pessimistically examines the uncertain future of a newly independent state in Central Africa. Naipaul's other novels include The Mimic Men (1967) and The Enigma of Arrival (1987). Among Naipaul's nonfiction works are three studies of India, An Area of Darkness (1965), India: A Wounded Civilization (1977), and India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990); The Five SocietiesBritish, French, and Dutchin the West Indies (1963); and Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (1981). Naipaul was knighted in 1989.