Naipaul passes away
London : Tributes poured yesterday for Nobel prize-winning author VS Naipaul, who has died aged 85, including from many of those who clashed with him. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his death was a “major loss to the world of literature”, despite the controversy he stoked. One of the many writers he argued with, Salman Rushdie, also mourned his passing.
“We disagreed all our lives, about politics, about literature, and I feel as sad as if I just lost a beloved older brother. RIP Vidia,” he tweeted. Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born in Trinidad into a migrant family who left the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh as indentured labourers more than a century ago. He won a scholarship to study at Oxford University and stayed in England the rest of his life, but travelled widely.
His books focused on the impact of colonialism around the world, blurring fiction with reality and elements of his own life. Naipaul was best known for works including “A House for Mr Biswas”, which partly drew on the experience of his father, and his Man Booker Prize-winning “In A Free State”.
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