The Method of V. S. Naipaul’s Fiction (1955-1963)

Abstract

In this study I examine V. S. Naipaul’s first five books of fiction, which I see as comprising a cycle in his oeuvre, in the order of their composition. Taking “meaning” and “content” to cover the totality of effects a book creates, and “method,” “technique” and “style” to include the entire range of choices made by the author, I attempt to discover how the choices constitute the effects. My concern is to give close attention to the language of the fiction as well as to the broad narrative strategies, and to make such attention yield an appreciation of each book’s achievement. I try to relate some of the smallest choices to some of the largest effects in order to arrive at an understanding of Naipaul’s way of writing, to produce a coherent analysis of both shortcomings and successes, and thus to provide a basis for overall evaluations.

A brief introduction describes some of the critical approaches employed by others in dealing with Naipaul and outlines the method of this study. Since my first object is the elucidation of each work as a whole, for the most part I focus on one book at a time, devoting one chapter each to Miguel Street, The Mystic Masseur and The Suffrage of Elvira, two to A House for Mr Biswas, and one to Mr Stone and the Knights Companion.

Much tracing of common elements has already been done by others, and important connections often stand out clearly on their own once the texts have been examined; I therefore concentrate, when considering the books together, on pointing out relations between the ways parts relate in each book, rather than relations between parts of one book and parts of another. I turn to Naipaul’s short fiction and non-fiction only when they seem especially relevant to my main purposes. The space required for adequate attention to detail and for development of general evaluations based on the detailed analyses precludes all but passing reference to fiction by other authors.

In a concluding retrospective chapter I examine an early story of Naipaul’s that casts light on Mr Stone and the Knights Companion and thus on the shape of the first cycle in the oeuvre, and examine part of what the first five books of fiction taken together contribute to our concept of the author.