The Enigma of Arrival - Paperback

by V. S. Naipaul (Author)

From the Nobel Prize-winning author comes his " finest work" (Chicago Tribune)--and most autobiographical--taking us from the British colony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England. - "An elegant memoir, a subtly incisive self-reckoning." --The Washington Post Book World

The story of a writer's singular journey--from one place to another, from Trinidad to England, and from one state of mind to another--this is perhaps Naipaul's most autobiographical work. Yet it is also woven through with remarkable invention to make it a rich and complex novel.

Front Jacket

The autobiographical novel of a journey from the British colony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England.

Author Biography

V.S. NAIPAUL was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950. He spent four years at University College, Oxford, and began to write, in London, in 1954. He pursued no other profession.

His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.

In 1990, V.S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He died in 2018.