S. Naipaul
S. Naipaul
writing wish would-be
I wish my prose to be transparent—I don't want the reader to stumble over me; I want him to look through what I'm saying to what I'm describing. I don't want him ever to say, Oh, goodness, how nicely written this is. That would be a failure.
deny
You can't deny what you've learned; you can't deny your travels; you can't deny the nature of your life.
way reputation curmudgeon
In a way my reputation has become that of the curmudgeon.
abandoned novel
I've never abandoned the novel.
people speak authority
I don't feel I can speak with authority for many other people.
taken civilization dying
A civilization which has taken over the world cannot be said to be dying.
darkness world kind
The world outside existed in a kind of darkness; and we inquired about nothing.
made trinidad
Nothing was made in Trinidad.
people gold done
The Europeans wanted gold and slaves, like everybody else; but at the same time they wanted statues put up to themselves as people who had done good things for the slaves.
trying situation universal
One must always try to see the truth of a situation - it makes things universal.
simple may trinidad
Trinidad may seem complex, but to anyone who knows it, it is a simple, colonial, philistine society.
army winning men
In the beginning, before the arrival of the white men, I had considered myself neutral. I had wanted neither side to win, neither the army nor the rebels. As it turned out, both sides lost.
appreciate gone done
You need someone to see what you've done, to read it and to understand it and to appreciate what's gone into it.
needs
Africans need to be kicked, that's the only thing they understand.