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The Enigma of Arrival
"A subtly incisive self-reckoning." --The Washington Post Book World
The story of a writer's singular journey - from one place to another, and from one state of mind to another. At the midpoint of the century, the narrator leaves the British colony of Trinidad and comes to the ancient countryside of England. And from within the story of this journey - of departure and arrival, alienation and familiarity, home and homelessness - the writer reveals how, cut off from his "first" life in Trinidad, he enters a "second childhood of seeing and learning."
Clearly autobiographical, yet woven through with remarkable invention, The Enigma of Arrival is as rich and complex as any novel we have had from this exceptional writer.
"The conclusion is both heart-breaking and bracing: the only antidote to destruction--of dreams, of reality--is remembering. As eloquently as anyone now writing, Naipaul remembers." --Time
"Far and away the most curious novel I've read in a long time, and maybe the most hypnotic book I've ever read." --St. Petersburg Times
Book Details
- Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Publish Date: Apr 12nd, 1988
- Pages: 368
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 7.99in - 5.19in - 0.71in - 0.66lb
- EAN: 9780394757605
- Categories: • Literary• Biographical & Autofiction• Cultural Heritage
More books to explore
About the Author
His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.
In 1990, V.S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He died in 2018.
More books by V. S. Naipaul
What people are saying
The New York Review of Books is a literary-intellectual magazine.
Recalling his student years in New York, Ishion Hutchinson writes that V.S. Naipaul’s “The Enigma of Arrival became part of my internal rhythm of resistance in the city, my bulwark against losing the gift of fantasy.” https://t.co/r8E2mr0Z2D
The Department of African and African American Studies at @DukeU
'When I moved from Kingston to New York, V.S. Naipaul’s The Enigma of Arrival became part of my internal rhythm of resistance in the city, my bulwark against losing the gift of fantasy.' -- Ishion Hutchinson https://t.co/MEWzfI2M60
MLS @I_UMD | BA @Morehouse | Civil Servant: Urban explorer | Access/Equity - Libraries - Technology (Views are my own) ... @james3neal.bsky.social ...
"Far Away by Ishion Hutchinson--- When I moved from Kingston to New York, V.S. Naipaul’s The Enigma of Arrival became part of my internal rhythm of resistance in the city, my bulwark against losing the gift of fantasy" @nybooks https://t.co/RYehXvtfq7 https://t.co/L9uaLCR1sT
Praise for this book
"An elegant memoir, a subtly incisive self-reckoning." --The Washington Post Book World
"Far and away the most curious novel I've read in a long time, and maybe the most hypnotic book I've ever read." --St. Petersburg Times
"The conclusion is both heart-breaking and bracing: the only antidote to destruction--of dreams, of reality--is remembering. As eloquently as anyone now writing, Naipaul remembers." --Time
"V.S. Naipaul is a man who can inspire readers to follow him through the Slough of Despond and beyond.... Like a computer game [this book] leads the reader on by a series of clues, nearer and nearer to an understanding of the man and the writer. Few memoirs can claim as much." --Newsday
What people are saying
The New York Review of Books is a literary-intellectual magazine.
Recalling his student years in New York, Ishion Hutchinson writes that V.S. Naipaul’s “The Enigma of Arrival became part of my internal rhythm of resistance in the city, my bulwark against losing the gift of fantasy.” https://t.co/r8E2mr0Z2D
The Department of African and African American Studies at @DukeU
'When I moved from Kingston to New York, V.S. Naipaul’s The Enigma of Arrival became part of my internal rhythm of resistance in the city, my bulwark against losing the gift of fantasy.' -- Ishion Hutchinson https://t.co/MEWzfI2M60