Literary Occasions

by V.S. Naipaul

Literary essays

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Literature, Writing, Criticism, Biography, Contemporary

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

V. 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.

Reviews

[Murtaza · Rating 1 out of 5]

Regardless of his merit as an individual, V.S. Naipaul was undeniably a genius. On a personal level I find that he wrote some of my favorite books and travelogues. His work has had a lasting impact on me and I'd argue that it makes anyone who can absorb it a better writer. Having said that, Naipaul also wrote a lot in his life and perhaps not all of it really deserved to be published. This set of essays published around the time he won his Nobel Prize is an utterly tedious collection of writing that succeeds at being repetitive without coalescing around any memorable idea. Naipaul somehow manages to slide his blinkered anti-Muslim polemics about India into otherwise self-absorbed essays about the minutiae of living as a struggling writer in London. Several of the essays go over the same details again and again of his family history in Trinidad and his thoughts about gaining writerly success. This is Naipaul at his most unbearable.

The high-water mark of the whole book is Pankaj Mishra's introductory article. It's all downhill from there. Everyone should read Naipaul, in my opinion. But you're better off sticking to his most famous works and not going too far off the beaten path.

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology was assembled shortly after Naipaul won the Nobel Prize. Its repetitiveness suggests that the publishers wanted to get something new -- or "newish"-- out while the award was still fresh. You get many retellings of Naipaul's life story, his determination to become a writer, and his relationship with his father, essays written over the span of several decades. By the time he repeats the same material in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, you may feel that you have attended too many parties where no one dares to tell the literary eminence that we have heard that one before.

But the story is fascinating and the prose impeccable.

[James Igoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

From what I have read about him, Naipaul is a harsh person, so I approached this cautiously, but I found his prose thoroughly enjoyable, although I have currently shelved his fiction writing. I was interested in his perceptions as an outsider, an Indian immigrant in Trinidad, and then later as an immigrant to England on scholarship. In this I was completely gratified, as I felt it worked the empathy muscles extensively, expressed in clear prose.

[Maria M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

El libro es una recolección de varios ensayos, que desarrollan principalmente los relatos y percepciones sobre su camino como escritor y nos introduce en la búsqueda de lo que muchos llaman el "gran tema" en su literatura.
Y nos muestra sus primeros acercamientos al oficio, a través de la figura de su padre: su principal mentor en el arte de escribir. .
Algo que me dejó reflexionando, es que para #Naipaul «Todo gran escritor es producto de una serie de circunstancias especiales».
Se sentía lejano a toda la 'alta' literatura, siempre establecida en sociedades ordenadas, con historia milenaria. Pero lo que en un momento pensó como obstáculo, era en realidad esa cualidad especial: Reconoce los primeros hilos de su gran tema en un viaje a Londres, al escribir sobre sus raíces, su herencia cultural y su pueblo: Chaguanas, en Trinidad y Tobago poblado mayormente por inmigrantes provenientes de la India, en un lugar y cultura de la que nadie nunca había escrito.
Así comienza a explorar en estilos: investiga, viaja, recopila y descubre que tiene una mirada privilegiada de un lugar desconocido.

En cuanto a la edición, es de considerar que al tratarse de una recolección de ensayos, el libro como producto final redunda en temas y hechos que Naipaul relata, pudo haber resultado mejor en la elección de los ensayos. Cierra con su discurso al recibir el Nobel, sumamente inspirador y lleno de referencias.

Este conjunto de memorias refleja a un escritor siempre férreo a la búsqueda de una expresión singular, con esa nueva mirada que se refleja en técnicas literarias, en el "gran tema" o en el tono de escritura.

[Amanda Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book with hesitation. A writer writing about himself and his writing? I wasn’t sure. And to make matters worse, I don’t like Naipul’s books. Would it be self-serving or egotistical? Or just plain dull?
It wasn’t.
Naipaul has pulled off something special with this slim volume. Every author going through the writing journey will see the self-doubt that accompanies that fierce drive to write, the wonder of the writing process and the acceptance of the talent and the acknowledgement of the discipline.
I could almost see an ironic smile on this talented author’s face when he acknowledges his failings and criticizes himself. When he admits that perhaps the lower side of the art that is writing has won over the higher literary aspirations. It is rare to find a writer who sees himself so clearly.
But then again Naipul has been awarded a knighthood for services to literature and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001, and perhaps he knows better than anyone what this frustrating and beautiful art is all about.

[Carlos Rubens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sir Vidia Naipaul shares a very honest approach of his background Trinidad and reports on the efforts for discovering the real motivation for a mysterious wish of becoming a writer. For prospecting writers, enthusiasts of Naipaul in general and those who read "The Writer and the World" essays, this will be delightful reading indeed

[Mientras Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una lectura estupenda para cualquier interesado en el tema. Muy accesible

[нєνєℓ ¢ανα · Rating 5 out of 5]

An real event of literary description... slow but phenomenal, boring but substantial....

[John Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

V.S. Naipaul won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001. In 2003, he published this collection of essays, which focus on the process by which he became a writer.

The essays are very well written, as one would expect. They reveal an unusual man: one who claims he wanted to be a writer from the time he was a small child, though he did not try to actually write anything when he was young. The author also claims he was not much of a reader when he was in school, and had no affinity for or understanding of the literature he did read.

Naipaul also takes pains to separate himself from virtually all of the rest of the world. Naipaul grew up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad when it was a British colony. He claims he felt cut off from his Indian heritage by distance, isolated from the rest of the colonial population by race and culture, and cut off from Englishmen, who benefited from a sophisticated "metropolitan" culture which he could neither share in nor understand.

Naipaul accentuates his self-proclaimed isolation by denigrating others, sometimes in pointed and ungenerous terms. In one essay, he mocks the pretentiousness and poor English grammar of a fellow Bengali he met on an airline flight in Europe. In another, he describes Indian Muslims as violent criminals and overlords, though this essay was published many years before 9-11 made this hostility fashionable. And of course, white Britons and Americans come in for more than their share of criticism.

Naipaul seems to imply that his literary talent almost was an accident of nature, which did not begin to manifest itself until relatively late, though he worked hard at honing that talent when he finally began writing after college. Naipaul may simply be overly modest in depicting himself this way. This description may also give hope to persons who, like Naipaul in his younger years, had an unformed ambition to become a writer, but have not yet gotten started.

One the whole, these essays are clearly and lucidly written, and deserve the high rating I have given them. At the same time, there is little in this book showing the depth that one would expect of a Nobel laureate. Whether Naipaul possesses that depth, or won more because he was perceived to be the politically correct choice, still remains to be determined after one has read this book.

[Lee Kofman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is yet another case of a collection of scraps that only ultra-famous writers get to turn into a proper book (although I suspect often this is their publishers’ initiative). Most essays are repetitive, recycling same material – the story of Naipaul’s failed father, the story of Naipaul’s becoming a writer, the story of the unique place he came from – the colonial island Trinidad, the story of Naipaul’s complex relationship with India. In themselves, all these stories are interesting, even if I didn’t like the author’s voice. The latter didn’t come to me as a surprise as I tried a novel of his once and there too the voice was off-putting – cold, self-satisfied and earnest. The earnestness is interesting as throughout several essays Naipaul keeps complimenting himself by saying how good he is at writing comedy. Maybe he is, but I doubt this after reading this book. Plus, what genuinely funny writer will call his vocation a ‘writing career’?
Having said all this, I’m glad I read this book. There are some lines of wisdom there about human condition and about literature, and I learned many interesting things about the history and culture of Caribbean islands and about India. I also enjoyed Naipaul’s literary criticism – these essays where he discusses others’ books were my favorites even if often I struggled to understand some of his more abstract statements.

[Benu B · Rating 5 out of 5]

The master of English prose, Sir VS Naipaul, who is often hailed as the greatest living English writer tells about how he first had the inspiration he would become a writer, how he first started to substantiate his dream of becoming 'famous' through writing, and how he gathered his materials. The writer provides a rare vista through which any Naipaul-fan, or for that matter literature lover, can get to understand how this language magician emerged as a steadfast star in the literary universe.

The flow of the prose is what makes Naipaul irresistible as a writer, but his wit and intellect are all the more irresistible. The preface he wrote for his father's collection of his stories is intensely moving and nostalgic.
Reading this book of his, I understood how this literary giant made to the acme without being perturbed.

[Quân Khuê · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I didn’t feel competent as a reader until I was twenty-five."

[Satyajeet · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring. slow moving. moreover I didn't like his criticism of Rk Narayan, for his writings revolving around a village.

[Shane Rajiv · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m sure many people would disagree with me, but in my view this is Naipaul��s best book. Being of a similar background to him, the book really resonated with me. It’s his humblest work as he recounts how he became a writer, his fears and anxieties, his upbringing and how he came to understand the areas of darkness from his childhood and excise those into the magnificent depth of the work he produced across the tome of works across his career. There is so much great advice for writers, and for all of us.

[Agustina Lucardi · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Momentos literarios" es la trayectoria de Naipaul como escritor, a través de textos que forman parte de discursos o relatos que hablan de más escritores, en quienes se inspiró y quienes de alguna manera lo formaron.
Textos para ir tomando nota de títulos y autores para agregar a la lista de libros pendientes.

[Tessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got half way through this. It’s going nowhere and Naipul makes an irksome narrator. Reads as if he wrote it in about two weeks and never bothered to edit. Already repetitive and not particularly “intellectual”, as the blurb boasts. Eh.

[Avishek Bhattacharjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Redundant and at the same time over analytical.
Best chapter-The last of Aryans.(That should be in school syllabus)

[Babu Gandhi · Rating 2 out of 5]

A gift from a friend about 7-8 years ago 😍🙈

[Daniel Polansky]

A series of essays primarily interesting as offering a formal autobiography of the author’s Trinidadian background. I’m doing a Naipaul re-read, so far it’s been fruitful.

[Simon Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Everything of value about me is in my books"

[Seán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, a serendipitous pluck from the pile! In his Latest Readings Clive James remarks "we read Naipaul for his fastidious scorn, not for his large heart" and more specifically talks up this very good (though a bit repetitive) collection of prefaces and essays:

I have taken from my shelves a copy of his Literary Occasions that I bought in New York in 2004, in the days when I could scarcely visit the Strand bookshop without spending a thousand dollars. (By the time the parcels of books reached London I had forgotten what was in them, so the whole deal worked out like Christmas squared.)

One of the occasions is a wonderful essay about Conrad, called 'Conrad's Darkness and Mine.'

Naipaul talks about Conrad's analysis of the colonial experience. In doing so, Naipaul talks about his own colonial experience. And in reading Naipaul on that subject, I am faced with my colonial experience, and brought to realize how complex it has all been, this birth, growth, and breaking up of an empire. And most of it happened so abruptly. After a few hundred years' practice in subjugating Ireland, the British subjugated most of the world in the blinking of an eye. Now there is nothing left except a language, a golden coach, and a few pipers marching and countermarching in the courtyard of Edinburgh castle. Eventually we might even have to say goodbye to Scotland, and there will be nothing of the old imperial world left except ten square yards of sand in Belize. Naipaul at his best, as a writer of factual narrative, gives you the sense that the language itself is the imperial inheritance that matters. Whether I shall read A House for Mr. Biswas again remains to be seen. More than fifty years ago it filled me with admiration, but reminded me too much of the house where I was born.

[M Firaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Naipaul's prose is uncluttered, direct and evocative; he seldom resorts to wordy descriptions. This quality of his writing makes one roll over with the narrative and clung to the book till the last page. I found no page of this book singing anodyne tunes nor did I find the author leaving us for unnecessary turgid and verbose detours. The only reason I gave it 3 stars instead of deserving 4 is because, for me, repetition or too much repetition feels odd: he talks about the same thing, albeit with different tone and style, in many essays. For example, about his fathers journalistic background and about his certain experiences in Trinidad. These repetitions, given the fact these essays were written at different times, may have been inevitable or even unwittingly allowed to creep into this book, but yet it creates a certain sense of displeasure. For aspiring novelists this book offers significant lessons; especially the latter essay Conrad's Darkness and Mine, which, though picking through Conrad's oeuvre, provides incisive and insightful account of novel writing and tells us what we should not do when we write.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I thought of Aristotle's "Poetics", then I did not know what to think as the author seemed to be indulging in a lot of self analysis. I guess his comments about being a colonial from a place of little or no consequence were insightful. I believe that he was overstepping with regard to some of his interpretations of the thoughts and actions of others. His seemingly never ending discussion of Indian authors certainly affirmed my ignorance. Perhaps a writer needs to dissect the work of other writers so he/she can improve. However, I just could not get into his discussion and analysis of Conrad. I think a reading of the first essay and then skipping to the last , the last being his Nobel Prize speech, might be a good idea. Of course one must remember that this is a compendium of works selected from the author's many offerings before assigning any point of view with this book.

[AB Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until this work, I’d not yet read any of Naipaul’s specific reflections on the art of writing. I’d seen public talks and examined commentary by critics, but hadn’t examined what the man himself had written about his process. Below are several takeaways I found inspiring:

“Half a writer’s work…is the discovery of his subject.”

“Literary talent doesn’t exist by itself; it feeds on a society and depends for its development on the nature of that society.”

“…never to let the words get too much in the way, to be fast, to add one concrete detail to another, and above all to keep the tone right.”

And from his Nobel Lecture: “[the] element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing.”

4 stars. Already I’ve taken great solace in several of the lessons learned in reading this. Within the wisdoms it contains, I find much to inspire and challenge me. Back to the writing, it seems…

[Monia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second book for the Read Harder 2015 reading challenge as a book written by someone when they were over the age of 65. The book is rightly reviewed as "An engaging guide to the writing life, full of interest for the would-be novelist". More so for me as I relate to the darkness around his childhood about his own history that he writes about. And how this later helped him find his subjects for his initial works.

[Sambasivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well written. Perceptive. Short sentences. Essays written over a long period of time (between each other). Gives a brief overview of his early life and how he came to be a writer. Contrary to my expectations, he does not seem to have been a bibliophile. Created his own world by writing about the world he came from. His nobel award acceptance speech is the best where he comes out with with his pithy statement : 'I am the sum of my books'. Go for it.

[Hugo Pineda O'Neill · Rating 3 out of 5]

La buena literatura hay que envolverla junto a mucha información que respalde al escritor de la obra que ha dado a luz, luego se abre el regalo que ha escrito para nosotros, y posteriormente, se comparte.

Se necesitan biografías, videos, memorias, diarios, artículos, todo lo que sustente la grandeza de la obra para dar fe de ella.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to see him riff over and on how his childhood shaped his career, and interesting to learn about the way Trinidad's population was shaped, but a pretty poor excuse for a book. Maybe it is like Prince and he had some contract he was trying to finish.

[Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read 8 essays.

[Cami Hamilton]

recommended by Doyald Young