Naipaul essays

Naipaul essays In V.S. Naipaul's novel, Literary Occasions, he discusses how he came to be an author and what attracted him to this profession. As a result of choosing this occupation, he needed to find out more information on his heritage and his own personal identity. In the section "Prologue to an Autobiography," he recounts how he came to possess this knowledge, especially since his father's family was shrouded in mystery. In the very beginning of the book, in "Reading and Writing," Naipaul states that he wanted to be a writer ever since he was eleven (Literary Occasions 3). However, some may find this unusual considering Naipaul was never an avid reader. At this point, he hadn't developed a passion for writing either. Where did this literary interest come from? Naipaul attributes it to his father and says the involvement was "built up from the little things my father read to me from time to time (Literary Occasions 5)." Naipaul states later that he did not know his father well and the only time spent with him was during Naipaul's impressionable childhood years. The author recounts the manner in which his father read and how it later became his own style: He read in his own way... He read many books at once, finishing none, looking not for the story or the argument in any book but for the special qualities or character of the writer. That was where he found his pleasure, and he could savour writers only in little bursts (Literary Occasions 5). Throughout his schooling and the early years of his career, Naipaul adopted this same method of reading and often found he had trouble losing himself in a book. He doubted his abilities as a writer and struggled for several years with finding a topic that he could write about. Later, he was asked by an American publisher to contribute to a series for travelers on the colony of Trinidad. Realizing he knew very little about his family, he turned to history books and found little more (Literary Occasions...