India: Injured Civilization

Author: (British) V.S. Naipaul
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Naipaul's technique and courage are unquestionable; his writing is polished, and his observations are sharp. — The Times Literary Supplement
This book is highly provocative, but it also proves that a novelist like Naipaul can point out problems more quickly and effectively than a group of World Bank economists and various experts. — Louis Heren, The Times, 1975
In 1975, around the time Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the "Emergency," Naipaul revisited his ambiguous ancestral homeland, India. Unlike the shock, anger, shame, and contempt he felt in A House for Mr. Biswas (The Darker Nations), this time he felt his journey "could not be just about sightseeing." Beneath the scars of reality, he saw India as a product shaped by its colonial history, thousands of years of religious and cultural traditions, the caste system, and Gandhiism. As a conquered nation, India's "intellectual civilization had become parasitic," so after independence, it appeared to lack creativity, intellectual stagnation, and the ability to defend itself—a country already defeated long ago. On this visit, Naipaul invested in India and Indian culture a more complex rationality and emotion. Sharp satire gave way to somber and even tragic analysis and description. The problems of the ancient nation were revealed one by one, but the modern nation had yet to find a point of renewal. Naipaul's dilemma is India's dilemma, and it is also our dilemma. This book is highly provocative, but it also proves that a novelist like Naipaul can point out problems more quickly and effectively than a group of World Bank economists and various experts.