Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Book Review: Naipaul’ s THE MASQUE OF AFRICA - Glimpses of African belief

as the superior man, the advocate for the superior civilization, the
figure of naipaul represents all that is worst in colonial thought.
his pity for kittens matches his disdain for people with dark skins,
people who do not kowtow to his sense of privilege being lauded in the west.
i hate broadsides against the west that are thoughtless or unsubtle.
but, dear cornelius, what is there to forgive in this naipaul?? he
views the world from a tower of privilege and power, not his
personally, but that of a certain england, a certain europe, a certain west.
we have seen this all our lives. why would we forgive it if it marks
the perspective of a writer, no matter what his talent?? hitler had
great architects and filmmakers working for him; did their talent
excuse their politics? i cannot fathom an exegesis of this man's work
that blindly ignores the elephant in the room, his fundamental racism.
and it was there in biswas, from the start. not something that developed later.
ken

At 02:46 PM 10/22/2010, you wrote:
>Poor Sir Vidiadhar has been almost universally condemned in this
>forum, all along the same lines
>
>http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article7167342.ece
>
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Kenneth W. Harrow
Distinguished Professor of English
Michigan State University
harrow@msu.edu
517 803-8839
fax 517 353 3755

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