Bibliofile

A French Diss

Among his many gifts, Naipaul has perfected the knack of demolishing his enemies with a few well-chosen words. In a recent interview in the Times Magazine, Naipaul’s rapier wit wasn’t directed at long-time rival Salman Rushdie alone (“His memoir will probably establish him as a serious writer”). Naipaul took a few thrusts at his “authorised” biographer Patrick French as well (“the book was a calamity, it was a great error”). Lady N did the rest, in trademark style: “It’s Patrick who will suffer, not Vidia.. Vidia doesn’t give a toss.” Really? 

Pathetic Fallacy

All those years of claiming V.S. Naipaul as our own seem to be working on him. India will be his final resting place, as Lady Naipaul declared in the interview, even as she and the writer complained about India’s obsession with “money, money, money, money, money”, Delhi’s lack of cultural life and the “pathetic” way Hindu nationalists came to pay respect to Naipaul when he visited. “I will take him back to India one day, you know,” Lady N said. “They don’t deserve to have him here....What have they done for him? He gets the Nobel and there’s not even a letter from Downing Street.”