Naipaul's strangers / Dagmar Barnouw.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barnouw, Dagmar.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Naipaul, V. S.

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

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

Travel.

Trinidadians--Foreign countries--History--20th century.

Trinidadians.

Travelers' writings--History and criticism.

Travelers' writings.

Cultural pluralism in literature.

Intercultural communication in literature.

Strangers in literature.

Islam in literature.

Foreign countries.

History.

Criticism and interpretation.

Islamic countries--In literature.

Islamic countries.

Pakistan--In literature.

Pakistan.

Iran--In literature.

Iran.

Physical Description:

xv, 176 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2003]

Summary:

From his reporting on Islamic true believers to his descriptions of the postcolonial world, V. S. Naipaul has been a controversial figure in contemporary letters. Winner of the Nobel Prize, Naipaul has traveled throughout the world, looking at its varied cultures and seeking out others' stories, recording and transforming them. His engagement with postcolonial cultures informs his novels, such as Guerrillas and A Bend in the River. However, it is his documentaries Among the Believers and Beyond Belief and his works that combine actual and fictional histories and memories (Finding the Center, The Enigma of Arrival, and A Way in the World) that best exhibit Naipaul's growing awareness of the complexities of cultural difference -- and the incompleteness and uncertainty of understanding "strangers." In this book, Dagmar Barnouw explores the sophisticated strategies and experimentations that Naipaul employs in his cultural critique and in his enterprise of learning about and documenting the enduring strangeness of this world.

Contents:

Introduction : cultural plurality and cultural value

Understanding strangers

Postcoloniality and historicity

Stories of other lives : novels

Stories of other lives : documentaries : Among the believers : an Islamic journey

Stories of other lives : documentaries : Beyond belief : Islamic excursions among the converted peoples : Iran

Stories of other lives : documentaries : Beyond belief : Islamic excursions among the converted peoples : Pakistan

Uncertain histories : Finding the center and The enigma of arrival

Uncertain histories : A way in the world.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [151]-171) and index.

ISBN:

0253342074

025321579X

OCLC:

50622914