LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:5 May 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Self-Identity and Globalization in V. S. Naipaul’s
Half a Life and Magic Seeds

K. Mehanathan, M.A., M.Phil., PGDTE

Rootlessness and Crisis of Identity

The theme of rootlessness and consequent crisis of identity has been a recurring one in the literature of Diaspora and V.S. Naipaul seems to be a champion of this issue. In awarding Naipaul the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001, the Swedish Academy citation admires his work "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories”. He is regarded a prophet, a soothsayer, a doom watcher and a teller of unpalatable truths. His heroes are always in search of a more dignified life and they become acutely aware of their helplessness in achieving the goals they set for themselves. They remain unhoused, displaced, uprooted with no distinct place called ‘home’ to be proud of, and are therefore located on the margins of sifting identities.

A Writer with Universal Appeal

Naipaul grows out from a regional writer to one with a more universal appeal. His works take the reader on a journey of experiences from the local to the global and from a narrow perspective to a broader and more encompassing vision. In the early novels The Mystic Masseur, The suffrage of Elvira , Miguel Street and A House for Mr. Biswas, Naipaul deals exclusively with the colonial society of Trinidad, where he was born and brought up. In these novels the characters, mostly Hindu of Indian origin are continually in search of an identity and home amidst an alien culture. He just records his personal experience in the island. In the novels of second phase The Mimic Man, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River and In A Free State, he emerges as a novelist of post-imperial crisis. These novels draw on his travel writing and are analytical in approach. Here, he makes it clear that political independence has changed nothing. The attempt of decolonization and nation building meets a lot of setback. In the novels of last phase, Half a Life and Magic Seeds, Naipaul demonstrates the existential predicament of the individuals in the contemporary meaningless world. This study attempts to examine the issues of identity in Naipaul fictions during the period of globalization and his growing concern for predicament of man searching for meaning in an absurd universe.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

K. Mehanathan, M.A., M.Phil., PGDTE
Associate Professor of English
A. V. C. College (Autonomous)
Mannampandal
Mayiladuthurai - 609501
Tamilnadu
India
mehamavc@gmail.com
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