I agree completely i general and in detail - me too stopped reading
him after 'The believers'. I was also regarding my time too
precious for reading such rubbish. Where would this guy be published,
acclaimed and read (!!!) if not in the White World where racism is
so deep rooted for hundreds of years? Where? Maybe in India where you
also find a deep rooted racism but which did not make as much
damage in the world as White Supremacy - 'only' against its own
people
and the indigene peoples.
I even do not regard him as a good writer - there are plenty of
African
writers who are much better. But be sure - a man like Ngugi will never
be awarded the Nobel.
By the way - give a damn in the Nobel - it can't be taken serious any
more.
Einar Schlereth
On 1 Sep, 03:44, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
> dear cornelius
> i do not have time for deep reflections now as 2
> course preps for tomorrow are still to be undertaken.
> first, i read the early, trinidad novels of
> naipaul, and then on to bend in the river, among
> the unbelievers. after that i pretty much stopped.
> i will rely on your reflections to answer the
> question i posed: what would a racist author look
> like? i am not really interested in obtaining the
> answer from the nobel committee, but rather from
> the engaged scholars here on this list, and other
> experts in naipaul. you know his work much more than i do. enlighten us.
>
> he wrote of 3d world intellectuals as attempting
> to become civilized by imitating the real thing,
> english intellectuals who were not afraid to
> assert the primacy of their venerable
> civilization. he bought the crap lock stock and
> barrel, and those who were not up to the task
> were mere mimic men. africa then became the site
> for the feebleness of imitation, the failed
> assimilation policies of the colonizers who never
> really meant it, and of a barbarism closer to
> conrad's imagery than say achebe's. there is no
> humanity in the naipaul africans; the indians of
> africa were cynics out for a buck, making their
> way through the savages; naipaul opened a cynical
> eye onto the political scene, and that was enough
> for the superior tastes of europeans who don't
> know a thing about actual african people to be wowed by him.
> there was nothing left; no love, no beauty, no
> humanity, no possibility except to follow his own
> path to the hallowed halls of oxford, or was it cambridge.
> he was interviewed by an ayatollah in Among the
> Believers, and asked where he came from. he
> stated, the islands. but, he tells the reader,
> the real answer would have been england, oxford,
> the real home for an intellectual like himself.
> the islands were long since left behind.
> i could have continued reading his entertaining
> books, but my time was limited. was i to spend
> the valuable time on him, or on soyinka's latest,
> on the newest nigerian stars, on the latest
> senegalese film? stories of naipaul's horrific
> views of black people continued to be circulated,
> comments that a colleague from the netherlands
> relayed to me, confirming the worst impressions
> of racist beliefs. i do not have time to devote
> to him while i still have an unread assia djebar
> novel to read. i commend djebar to us all; she is
> beauty itself; he is the opposite
> ken
>
> At 06:37 AM 8/31/2010, you wrote:
>
> >Professor Harrow & Co,
>
> >I'm seeking some more direction from you.
>
> >At this very moment I'm strangely reminded of Ulli Beier of whom I
> >heard an anthropologist joke that he was he was leaving Nigeria for
> >Papua New Guinea, which he described as “ another area of darknessâ€
>
> >Some people see, have seen Naipaul and Rushdie as the Wild West's
> >literary attack dogs who in fiction and non-fiction peer into our
> >backwardness, to wage war on cherished religious and cultural values
> >and the life lived outside of the pale of Western Civilisation, the
> >Western Civilisation of which when asked, Mahatma Gandhi said “I
> >think it would be a good idea.â€
>
> >I erroneously referred to “Among the Believers†as post -Salman
> >Rushdie, because it has been around for so long; perhaps it even paved
> >the way for “ The Satanic Verses†and enjoyed even greater popularity
> >after Rushdie's controversial novel.
>
> >We all agree that V.S. Naipaul is an engaging writer, perhaps a great
> >writer, one that we do not neglect and some of us seem to be forced to
> >read, just because he visits some of our natural habitats. Is that not
> >so?
>
> >The Nobel Prize committee awarded Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
> >the Nobel Prize in Literature for largesse of spirit, not for for
> >being a racist or for being “one of the great racist writers of our
> >time “ but "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible
> >scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed
> >histories".
>
> >http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2001/naipaul....
>
> >After the award he has not rested on his laurels but suitably
> >encouraged and rewarded has continued in the same vein, turning his
> >lights on and exposing other areas of darkness with even greater
> >intensity ( insensitivity?) and gained an even greater audience.
>
> >Can he also be accused of rank dishonesty in his “Beyond Belief:
> >Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples†?
>
> >I got a copy of his “ Half a life†from his Swedish literary agent for
> >Christmas, 2001 or 2 .She was at the Noble Banquet and may have a
> >soft heart for him and seems to to think that he's a nice bloke.
> >That's women for you, can have a soft spot for every kind of
> >scoundrel. Beauty and the Beast.
>
> > But does the Selection committee of the Swedish Academy need to have
> >their heads examined ? Do they see the “racism†that you see in the
> >unrepentant Naipaul or do you think that conscious as he is, he is
> >simply unaware of it ? Was it a mistake to award him the Nobel Prize
> >and should we tolerate the Swedish Academy awarding such prizes to
> >writers such as Sir Vidia or should the prize be withdrawn now or even
> >posthumously?
>
> >http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK257&q=No...
>
> >On Aug 30, 4:43Â pm, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
> > > i need to simplify in responding here, to
> > both friends cornelius and ikhide:
> > > the problem is not that naipaul mounted
> > > criticisms of africa or africans. but that all he
> > > sees of africa and africans is evil. perhaps we
> > > can say that there were real flaws in black
> > > culture after the american civil war, and that
> > > depicting the legislatures in the south as
> > > dysfunctional was an accepted critique. but  if
> > > all one sees are subhumans in those who represent
> > > the flaws, one is generating racist stereotypes,
> > > not simply critiquing. there has to be a
> > > difference between the two, between a critique
> > > generated from the perspective that those being
> > > critiqued are still human like all humans, and
> > > another that evokes their animality and evil
> > > natures as those of inferior beings, as meriting
> > > being spit upon, as those whose vaginas merit
> > > being spit upon....naipaul's scene, not mine, in bend in the river.
> > > if naipaul is not a racist, maybe griffith's
> > > birth of a nation isn't, and the greatest emblems
> > > of racism are merely humorous criticisms.
> > > maybe not.
> > > tell me how to read someone who consistently
> > > represents dark skinned people as inferior, if not as a racist.
> > > ken
>
> > > At 08:40 AM 8/30/2010, you wrote:
>
> > > >I have not yet read Naipaul's latest but from the comments on this
> > > >page and the Guardian's review, my expectations are great:
>
> > > >http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/29/vs-naipaul-masque-of-afri...
>
> > > >  Jonathan Franzen may write with the principle in mind, that “The
>
> > > >reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator.† - and perhaps
> > > >this is also Naipual's operative approach, since  we can tell by his
> > > >book sales that he does have a very large and appreciative readership.
> > > >Is it safe to conclude then that he panders to the appetite and
> > > >expectations of his faithful fans/readers who want some more of the
> > > >same or must we credit him with being absolutely faithful to his own
> > > >experience, his own perceptions, like the true literary artist and
> > > >essayist he is?
>
> > > >Or is there no such thing?
>
> > > >I remember in 2001, when it was announced that V.S. had been awarded
> > > >the Nobel Prize in Literature. I called up two friends, one a great
> > > >intellectual from Guadeloupe and the other from Jamaica, to
> > > >congratulate them  They both said exactly  the same thing, one
> > > >word:†Collie-man†, which is a
> > Carribean's 's derogatory description of an
> > > >Indian. Naipaul had already pissed them off.
>
> > > >In as far as biographical heresy can be applied to throw light on Mr.
> > > >Naipaul's literary output, Paul Theroux's
> > “Sir Vidiaia's Shadow† has
> > > >given the most unkindest cut of all.
>
> > > >Paul Theroux should know. Had Sir Vidia written his ( Theroux's) “
>
> > > >Fong and the Indians† someone would have seen racismm in the depiction
> > > >of Africans in that novel and perhaps cried, where I laughed at what I
> > > >thought was funny
>
> > > >Whether it is with V.S.'s “An Area of
> > Darkness↠- written about his
> > > >visit to his ancestral India, or his post-Salman Rushdie  â€œAmong the
> > > >Believers†about Islam and Islamists or the much referred to and in my
> > > >opinion innocuous “ A Bend in The
> > Riverââ‚€  one of  Naipaul's functions
> > > >then is to prick us to some critical self-examination as  Lord Ikhide
> > > >has just done. And for that should Naipaul  - or his brother Shiva
> > > >Naipaul ( North of South†) be blighted?
>
> > > >Professor Harrow sounds remarkably like my dear Dr. Valentine Ojo when
> > > >he says what he says about V..S: Naipaul.
>
> > > >Perhaps, if Naipual had been Black instead of Brown, African, instead
> > > >of an Indian British Lord examining other cultures from the
> > > >perspective of a higher (the standards of  Western Civilisation), and
> > > >seeing Africa and India through the lens of his higher culture, we
> > > >would not be accusing him of racism.
>
> > > >What then would we be accusing him  on the basis of his written woord?
> > > >Arrogance?
> > > >The sort of cynicism that Evelyn Waugh has been accused of?
> > > >What?
> > > >I pause for a reply.
>
> > > >On Aug 29, 10:07Â pm, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > Naipaul is irredeemable, a lost cause.
> > The man cannot even cultivate and
> > > > > sustain personal relationships with his
>
> ...
>
> läs mer »
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