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India Trilogy #1-3
India: An Area Of Darkness, A Wounded Civilization & A Million Mutinies Now
Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul first visited India in 1962 at the age of twenty-nine, hoping to settle the ghosts of a painful ancestral past. That journey was the first in what would become a decades-long project. An Area of Darkness chronicles the author’s initial visit as estrangement gives way to connections and conversations. Prompted by the Emergency of 1975, India: A Wounded Civilization presents an intellectual portrait of a country whose people are no longer so willing to speak or bear witness. India: A Million Mutinies Now captures a panorama of voices and stories fifteen years later, at another moment of national upheaval.
Born of Naipaul’s wish to see for himself the homeland from which he was twice displaced, India emerges as an invaluable account of a nation in times of dramatic change: acutely observant, tender, at once brilliantly composed and vividly clear-sighted.
Born of Naipaul’s wish to see for himself the homeland from which he was twice displaced, India emerges as an invaluable account of a nation in times of dramatic change: acutely observant, tender, at once brilliantly composed and vividly clear-sighted.
1104 pages, Paperback
Published July 9, 2020
53 people are currently reading
435 people want to read
About the author
V.S. Naipaul
190 books1,792 followersV. S. Naipaul was a British writer of Indo-Trinidadian descent known for his sharp, often controversial explorations of postcolonial societies, identity, and displacement. His works, which include both fiction and nonfiction, often depict themes of exile, cultural alienation, and the lingering effects of colonialism.
He gained early recognition with A House for Mr Biswas, a novel inspired by his father’s struggles in Trinidad. His later works, such as The Mimic Men, In a Free State, and A Bend in the River, cemented his reputation as a masterful and incisive writer. Beyond fiction, his travelogues and essays, including Among the Believers and India: A Million Mutinies Now, reflected his critical perspective on societies in transition.
Naipaul received numerous accolades throughout his career, including the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded for his ability to blend deep observation with literary artistry. While praised for his prose, his often unsparing portrayals of postcolonial nations and controversial statements sparked both admiration and criticism.
He gained early recognition with A House for Mr Biswas, a novel inspired by his father’s struggles in Trinidad. His later works, such as The Mimic Men, In a Free State, and A Bend in the River, cemented his reputation as a masterful and incisive writer. Beyond fiction, his travelogues and essays, including Among the Believers and India: A Million Mutinies Now, reflected his critical perspective on societies in transition.
Naipaul received numerous accolades throughout his career, including the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded for his ability to blend deep observation with literary artistry. While praised for his prose, his often unsparing portrayals of postcolonial nations and controversial statements sparked both admiration and criticism.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 20, 2020
There is no way not to give this trilogy at least 4 stars.
Naipaul was indeed an excellent and sharp-witted observer who so skillfully describes scenery and characters, you feel you know them personally. Whatever one may think of his general stances, his Nobel price was very well deserved.
That being said, however, the first two parts of the trilogy were so excessively unforgiving and negative, it took me forever to get through them. Naipaul having grown up in the diaspora as a young man travels to India and starts writing on it. Every page screams of his anguish and disgust stemming from the disconnect he feels from what should be the country of his heritage. At the point of writing he doesn't understand that there is a good chunk of shared history and lived reality that he just doesn't share with other Indians, a fact that prevents him from really understanding and appreciating the condition he finds the country and the people in short after independence. Whatever is going badly in India at that time he sees rooted in an intrinsic defect of India and Indians. In short, he is very much regarding India through a colonial lens.
How much disgust seeps through the lines describing the numbness of the poor, the condition of the infrastructure, completely disregarding that he's in a country that has basically been bled out for its resources for the last few centuries.
How little appreciation he sees in any effort put forth by the locals to cater to him and please him. A moment that stuck most in my mind is how he talks down on a young Shiv Sena activist who hosts him in their meeting office. Big effort is being taken to serve him a Coke (a Western drink, back then certainly only served to important guests). The Soda is too artificial tasting for him and warm on top. He proceeds to tell about the young activists life. How the young man from a village managed to come to Mumbai and after several other occupations attained a job in the AC area of the airport. A remarkable and unlikely achievement for a relatively uneducated villager at the time. Naipaul can only think to bemoan how little motivation Indians have to achieve more in life, baffled that the young man is proud and content with his occupation, and completely blind to the fact that the young man most likely has risen farther than he could ever have dreamed of.
In the first two parts of the trilogy Naipaul is very much the guest at a humble wedding who complains about how the wedding spread is not varied enough, how the flowers are not expensive enough, how the table cloths are not white enough and how there is no live band but only a stereo system. All while the humble couple low on money is doing their level to entertain their honored guest.
Naipaul himself, btw. admits to his early harshness in the third part of the trilogy. Visiting India in the 90s he is astonished at the leaps the country made technologically, in infrastructure and in science. And towards the end he does reflect a lot on his inner struggles as part of the diaspora having affected his early impressions and judgements of India significantly. He realizes that the damage of hundreds of years of colonialism couldn't be undone just in a few decades. India needed time to recover, and still does, but it's on its way.
For anybody with a serious interest in India and Indian modern history this trilogy is a must-read. The first two parts, however, are both to be taken with a large grain of salt. While literary excellent, they do reflect more of Naipaul's diaspora psychology, rather than fairly evaluating the situation of the country and its people. In the last part of the trilogy, with Naipaul being a lot more matured as a person and as a writer, and more reflective of himself, he finally finds a more leveled-headed view of the country.
Naipaul was indeed an excellent and sharp-witted observer who so skillfully describes scenery and characters, you feel you know them personally. Whatever one may think of his general stances, his Nobel price was very well deserved.
That being said, however, the first two parts of the trilogy were so excessively unforgiving and negative, it took me forever to get through them. Naipaul having grown up in the diaspora as a young man travels to India and starts writing on it. Every page screams of his anguish and disgust stemming from the disconnect he feels from what should be the country of his heritage. At the point of writing he doesn't understand that there is a good chunk of shared history and lived reality that he just doesn't share with other Indians, a fact that prevents him from really understanding and appreciating the condition he finds the country and the people in short after independence. Whatever is going badly in India at that time he sees rooted in an intrinsic defect of India and Indians. In short, he is very much regarding India through a colonial lens.
How much disgust seeps through the lines describing the numbness of the poor, the condition of the infrastructure, completely disregarding that he's in a country that has basically been bled out for its resources for the last few centuries.
How little appreciation he sees in any effort put forth by the locals to cater to him and please him. A moment that stuck most in my mind is how he talks down on a young Shiv Sena activist who hosts him in their meeting office. Big effort is being taken to serve him a Coke (a Western drink, back then certainly only served to important guests). The Soda is too artificial tasting for him and warm on top. He proceeds to tell about the young activists life. How the young man from a village managed to come to Mumbai and after several other occupations attained a job in the AC area of the airport. A remarkable and unlikely achievement for a relatively uneducated villager at the time. Naipaul can only think to bemoan how little motivation Indians have to achieve more in life, baffled that the young man is proud and content with his occupation, and completely blind to the fact that the young man most likely has risen farther than he could ever have dreamed of.
In the first two parts of the trilogy Naipaul is very much the guest at a humble wedding who complains about how the wedding spread is not varied enough, how the flowers are not expensive enough, how the table cloths are not white enough and how there is no live band but only a stereo system. All while the humble couple low on money is doing their level to entertain their honored guest.
Naipaul himself, btw. admits to his early harshness in the third part of the trilogy. Visiting India in the 90s he is astonished at the leaps the country made technologically, in infrastructure and in science. And towards the end he does reflect a lot on his inner struggles as part of the diaspora having affected his early impressions and judgements of India significantly. He realizes that the damage of hundreds of years of colonialism couldn't be undone just in a few decades. India needed time to recover, and still does, but it's on its way.
For anybody with a serious interest in India and Indian modern history this trilogy is a must-read. The first two parts, however, are both to be taken with a large grain of salt. While literary excellent, they do reflect more of Naipaul's diaspora psychology, rather than fairly evaluating the situation of the country and its people. In the last part of the trilogy, with Naipaul being a lot more matured as a person and as a writer, and more reflective of himself, he finally finds a more leveled-headed view of the country.
October 8, 2022
I was recommended this book when listening to a discussion on Indian culture throughout the ages, and how the Indian psyche was changed due to one conquest after another by different cultures.
I will try to review all the three books in one write up, but it’s such an monumental task, because the varied experiences which Naipaul had when travelling through the length and breadth of the country are rich, and Naipaul manages to give us all these experiences in such rich language that you can identify with everything which he says to us.
He travels from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and gives us the aspirations and feelings of common people on the ground, by giving us the characters he meets throughout his journey. He meets lot of people in these states and manages to capture the crux feeling across this state about the identity of India and its culture and how different experiences makes a country as a whole.
The trilogy starts pretty negatively when Naipaul first visits India, and his fantasy completely broken by the fact which he experiences on ground as to the license raj which was rampant in the country during that time.
The next time he visits is when the green revolution has succeeded in the country and we have started the march to some self reliance, but make no mistake he does not sugarcoat anything, but sometimes goes overboard for criticising some ideas which he finds as repugnant.
My favourite book was the last book which he visited the country in 2010 and saw a changing India which was trying to balance its glorious past to the present scientific situations going on throughout the world.
My only complaint was the author didn’t travel to north east and gives us some experience there, but overall I was awed by this trilogy.
This is a must read book for anyone who wants to understand India as a whole, but be prepared for some harsh words.
I give this book 5 stars.
I will try to review all the three books in one write up, but it’s such an monumental task, because the varied experiences which Naipaul had when travelling through the length and breadth of the country are rich, and Naipaul manages to give us all these experiences in such rich language that you can identify with everything which he says to us.
He travels from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and gives us the aspirations and feelings of common people on the ground, by giving us the characters he meets throughout his journey. He meets lot of people in these states and manages to capture the crux feeling across this state about the identity of India and its culture and how different experiences makes a country as a whole.
The trilogy starts pretty negatively when Naipaul first visits India, and his fantasy completely broken by the fact which he experiences on ground as to the license raj which was rampant in the country during that time.
The next time he visits is when the green revolution has succeeded in the country and we have started the march to some self reliance, but make no mistake he does not sugarcoat anything, but sometimes goes overboard for criticising some ideas which he finds as repugnant.
My favourite book was the last book which he visited the country in 2010 and saw a changing India which was trying to balance its glorious past to the present scientific situations going on throughout the world.
My only complaint was the author didn’t travel to north east and gives us some experience there, but overall I was awed by this trilogy.
This is a must read book for anyone who wants to understand India as a whole, but be prepared for some harsh words.
I give this book 5 stars.
June 7, 2024
Beautiful, intriguing, insightful, resonates with my foreign eye on this country with the most intricate peoples and habits
May 2, 2025
Best Book
An eye opening book, everyone should read. It was written in 60s but rwlevent evwn toady in india. Ideological subversion should be studied.
An eye opening book, everyone should read. It was written in 60s but rwlevent evwn toady in india. Ideological subversion should be studied.
December 23, 2023
See my review of "India: A Million Mutinies Now"
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews