Introduction

When V. S. Naipaul was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 few readers doubted that he deserved the honour for a lifetime’s achievement as novelist and for his travel writings; there was, however, a highly vocal group of critics who detested Naipaul for what they perceived as his political views. It was said that for decades the Nobel literary awards committee would turn from him to someone less controversial, someone with a less impetuous tongue, someone more progressive in politics. The award of the 1992 Nobel Prize to the St Lucian poet Derek Walcott seemed to seal Naipaul’s fate; the committee was unlikely to award the prize soon to another Caribbean writer in English. As other English language writers, Toni Morrison and Seamus Heaney, were given Nobel awards, Naipaul’s case seemed forgotten, but it was not. He continued to be nominated and he continued to write.