3.7
In a Free State
In a Free State deals in displacement. It tells first of an Indian servant in Washington, then of an Asian West Indian in London who is in jail for murder. Then the story moves to Africa, to a fictional country something like Uganda or Rwanda. The two main characters are English. They once found Africa liberating, but now it has gone sour on them. At a time of tribal conflict they have to make the long drive to the safety of their compound. In the background, the threat of violence looms.The voices in this novel are breathtakingly vivid, while the characters are portrayed with an intelligence and sensitivity that is rarely seen in contemporary writing. Dennis Potter described the book as one 'of such lucid complexity and such genuine insight, so deft and deep, that it somehow manages to agitate, charm, amuse and excuse the reader all at the same pitch of experience'. This is one of V.S. Naipaul's greatest novels, hard but full of pity.
FictionAction & AdventureJuvenile FictionPeople & PlacesUnited States
RELEASED2002
PUBLISHERPan Macmillan
LENGTH247
LANGUAGEEN
Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, won an Open National Scholarship from Queen's Royal College and went on to become a world famous novelist, winning the Nobel Laureate for Literature in the year 2001. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts from University College, Oxford in 1953, and four years later published his first book The Mystic Masseur, made into film by Ismail Merchant in 2001. In 1961 he published A House for Mr. Biswas, a novel autobiographical in its nature. Some of his other works include The Guerillas(1975),The Middle Passage(1962) A Bend in the River(1979), Among the Believers(1981), The Enigma of Arrival (1987), India: A Million Mutinies Now(1990),Beyond Belief(1998) and Half a Life(2001). In 1990 he was knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth and in 1992 Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was awarded the Trinity Cross for services to the nation.
3.7
In a Free State
In a Free State deals in displacement. It tells first of an Indian servant in Washington, then of an Asian West Indian in London who is in jail for murder. Then the story moves to Africa, to a fictional country something like Uganda or Rwanda. The two main characters are English. They once found Africa liberating, but now it has gone sour on them. At a time of tribal conflict they have to make the long drive to the safety of their compound. In the background, the threat of violence looms.The voices in this novel are breathtakingly vivid, while the characters are portrayed with an intelligence and sensitivity that is rarely seen in contemporary writing. Dennis Potter described the book as one 'of such lucid complexity and such genuine insight, so deft and deep, that it somehow manages to agitate, charm, amuse and excuse the reader all at the same pitch of experience'. This is one of V.S. Naipaul's greatest novels, hard but full of pity.
FictionAction & AdventureJuvenile FictionPeople & PlacesUnited States
RELEASED2002
PUBLISHERPan Macmillan
LENGTH247
LANGUAGEEN
Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, won an Open National Scholarship from Queen's Royal College and went on to become a world famous novelist, winning the Nobel Laureate for Literature in the year 2001. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts from University College, Oxford in 1953, and four years later published his first book The Mystic Masseur, made into film by Ismail Merchant in 2001. In 1961 he published A House for Mr. Biswas, a novel autobiographical in its nature. Some of his other works include The Guerillas(1975),The Middle Passage(1962) A Bend in the River(1979), Among the Believers(1981), The Enigma of Arrival (1987), India: A Million Mutinies Now(1990),Beyond Belief(1998) and Half a Life(2001). In 1990 he was knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth and in 1992 Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was awarded the Trinity Cross for services to the nation.
