'"In a Free State" was conceived in 1969 as a sequence about
displacement. There was to be a central novel, set in Africa, with
shorter surrounding matter from other places. The shorter pieces
from these varied places were intended to throw a universal light
on the African material.
But then, as the years passed and the world changed, and I felt
myself less of an oddity as a writer, I grew to feel that the
central novel was muffled and diminished by the surrounding
material and I began to think that the novel should be published on
its own. This is what, thirty-seven years after its first
publication, my publisher is doing in this edition.' V.S.
Naipaul
"In a Free State" is set in Africa, in a place like Uganda or
Rwanda, and its two main characters are English. They had once
found liberation in Africa. But now Africa is going sour on them.
The land is no longer safe, and at a time of tribal conflict they
have to make a long drive to the safety of their compound. At the
end of this drive - the narrative tight, wonderfully constructed,
the formal and precise language always instilled with violence and
rage - we know everything about the English characters, the African
country, and the Idi Amin-like future awaiting it.
This is one of V.S. Naipaul's greatest novels, hard but full of
pity. It won the Booker Prize, in its original edition, in
1971.
General
Imprint: |
Picador
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
August 2011 |
First published: |
August 2011 |
Authors: |
V. S. Naipaul
|
Dimensions: |
197 x 130 x 14mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - B-format
|
Pages: |
180 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-330-52290-8 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-330-52290-6 |
Barcode: |
9780330522908 |
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