Between father and son : family letters / V.S. Naipaul ; edited by Gillon Aitken.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Naipaul, V. S. (Vidiadhar Surajprasad), 1932-2018.

Contributor:

Aitken, Gillon R.

Naipaul, V. S. (Vidiadhar Surajprasad), 1932-2018.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Naipaul, V. S. (Vidiadhar Surajprasad), 1932-2018--Correspondence.

Naipaul, V. S.

Naipaul, V. S. (Vidiadhar Surajprasad), 1932-2018--Family.

Naipaul, V. S. (Vidiadhar Surajprasad), 1932-2018.

Authors, Trinidadian--20th century--Family relationships.

Authors, Trinidadian.

Authors, Trinidadian--20th century--Correspondence.

Fathers and sons--Trinidad and Tobago--Trinidad.

Fathers and sons.

Families.

Trinidad and Tobago--Trinidad.

Genre:

Correspondence.

Autobiographies.

Personal correspondence.

Physical Description:

xi, 297 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 2000.

Summary:

In 1950, after winning a scholarship from the government of Trinidad, V. S. Naipaul, aged seventeen, left home for the first time. Following a two-week journey by steamer, he arrived in Oxford, England, a world utterly removed from the one he had longed to escape and to which he would never really return. This extraordinary collection of letters gives us, as nothing published previously has, an intimate view of Naipaul's formative years.

It is a story of family members oceans apart, clinging to one another against the sadness of dislocation and isolation: The young Naipaul, desperate not for a degree but to become a writer and make his way in the world. His beloved sister Kamla, anxious and bewildered, away at school in India. And his melancholy but loving father, whose own broken dream of succeeding as a writer would be realized in the singular achievement of his son.

With the satisfactions of a novel, Between Father and Son portrays a deeply affecting family drama, even as it bears witness to the flowering of one of the great literary geniuses of the century.

Contents:

Family Trees xiii

I September 21, 1949-September 22, 1950: Port of Spain to Oxford 1

II October 5, 1950-January 1, 1951: First Term at Oxford 21

III January 1, 1951-April 11, 1951: Lent Term, Easter Vacation 47

IV April 14, 1951-September 13, 1951: Spring Term, Long Vacation 81

V September 20, 1951-January 8, 1952: Michaelmas Term, Christmas Vacation 117

VI January 16, 1952-April 4, 1952: Lent Term, Easter Vacation 139

VII April 21, 1952-September 28, 1952: Spring Term, Long Vacation 169

VIII October 3, 1952-August 8, 1953: Final Year 199

IX August 10, 1953-December 8, 1953: Family Tragedy 245

Postscript May 3, 1954-June 20, 1957: The Writer 275.

Notes:

"Originally published in Great Britain as Letters between a father and son by Little, Brown and Company, London"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Related Work:

Naipaul, V. S. (Vidiadhar Surajprasad), 1932-2018. Letters between a father and son.

ISBN:

0375407308

OCLC:

41278514