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A review by txa1265
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
3.0
Last year I re-read Naipaul’s ‘Guerillas’ which was the first of his books I read on recommendation from a high school teacher in ~1980. The prose and storytelling remain good, but the way the author’s misogyny in particular leaks into the narrative was distracting.
‘A Bend in the RIver’ from 1979 is regarded along with 1961’s ‘A House for Mr Biswas’ as his greatest novels. Told from the perspective of Salim, a merchant and Indian transplant to an unnamed Central African country with similarities to the former Zaire. There are post-colonial themes of the struggles in Africa and the plight of outsiders as the continent seeks to reestablish its identity.
The narrative and growing and spreading tension are all extremely well done - Naipaul is a master in setting up grand scenes that maintain a singular human perspective.
Yet it is in that perspective that I find Naipaul’s greatest weaknesses, things that tell me just as I consider 2022 my final re-read of Guerillas, I will never pick up this novel again - the stunted human views are simply not worth enduring.
Naipaul is well known as a horrible misogynist - some things, like his assertion that all women writers are inherently inferior to men, were known shortly before his death. But his physical abuse and domination and poor treatment of women came out more recently. These revelations make certain scenes in his books more stark and disturbing.
Also disturbing was the inherent base violence and malevolence attributed to African men as if part of some inescapable racial characteristic not found in outsiders. By writing off violence as inherently African, and inferiority as inherently a characteristic of women … Naipaul undercuts any other insights he makes throughout the book.
I was conflicted as I finished and closed my more than 40 year old first edition paperback - Naipaul was an incredibly gifted writer, but an incredibly flawed and limited human. Those things are more broadly on display here than in Guerillas (which is viewed as one of his worst novels, but which I greatly prefer). I will eventually re-read ‘A House for Mr. Biswas’ but need a palate cleanser (or several) first!
‘A Bend in the RIver’ from 1979 is regarded along with 1961’s ‘A House for Mr Biswas’ as his greatest novels. Told from the perspective of Salim, a merchant and Indian transplant to an unnamed Central African country with similarities to the former Zaire. There are post-colonial themes of the struggles in Africa and the plight of outsiders as the continent seeks to reestablish its identity.
The narrative and growing and spreading tension are all extremely well done - Naipaul is a master in setting up grand scenes that maintain a singular human perspective.
Yet it is in that perspective that I find Naipaul’s greatest weaknesses, things that tell me just as I consider 2022 my final re-read of Guerillas, I will never pick up this novel again - the stunted human views are simply not worth enduring.
Naipaul is well known as a horrible misogynist - some things, like his assertion that all women writers are inherently inferior to men, were known shortly before his death. But his physical abuse and domination and poor treatment of women came out more recently. These revelations make certain scenes in his books more stark and disturbing.
Also disturbing was the inherent base violence and malevolence attributed to African men as if part of some inescapable racial characteristic not found in outsiders. By writing off violence as inherently African, and inferiority as inherently a characteristic of women … Naipaul undercuts any other insights he makes throughout the book.
I was conflicted as I finished and closed my more than 40 year old first edition paperback - Naipaul was an incredibly gifted writer, but an incredibly flawed and limited human. Those things are more broadly on display here than in Guerillas (which is viewed as one of his worst novels, but which I greatly prefer). I will eventually re-read ‘A House for Mr. Biswas’ but need a palate cleanser (or several) first!