An Area of Darkness

V.S. Naipaul

‘Brilliant… true autobiography arises when a man encounters something in his life which shocks him into the need for self-examination and self-explanation. It was natural that a sojourn in India should provide this shock for Naipaul… The experience was not a pleasant one, but the pain the author suffered was creative rather than numbing… [An Area of Darkness] is tender, lyrical, explosive and cruel’ – John Wain in the Observer

‘His narrative skill is spectacular. One returns with pleasure to the slow hand-in-hand revelation of both India and himself… there is a kind of displaced person who has a better sense of place than anybody: Mr Naipaul is an outstanding example’ – The Times

‘A highly skilful writer… he spins his webs, his patterns, not so much to entrap the reader, as to make him think for himself’ – Nicholas Mosley in the Listener

‘Naipaul writes like a painter… whatever his literary form, [he] is a master’ – Ian Buruma in The New York Review of Books