A Study Guide for V.S. Naipaul's "Half a Life"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for V.S. Naipaul's "Half a Life," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Jun 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535824392

Book preview

12

Half a Life

V. S. Naipaul

2001

Introduction

Vidiadhar Surajprasad (V. S.) Naipaul is one of the most prominent living writers and the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Literature. Naipaul's 2001 novel Half a Life is based on a historical event during the 1930s, when the English novelist Somerset Maugham visited an Indian holy man (sadhu), an incident he turned into fiction in The Razor's Edge. Naipaul uses this event as a springboard for a study of the aftermath of the British colonial empire that unraveled after World War II. Naipaul courts controversy by eschewing any form of political correctness, and approaches the problem of imperialism from a position that he considers neither conservative nor liberal, but practical. Naipaul recognizes that there has been imperialism in other parts of the world as well, and finds no use in dwelling on recrimination over past events. He realizes that the world has to move forward on the basis of cooperation between nations. The main characters of Half a Life are unable to live satisfactorily or to achieve anything useful because they prefer to feel wounded and to offer imperialism as an excuse for their insufficiency. The title suggests that their lives are devalued because they refuse to live fully. The novel is autobiographical to the extent that its main character, Willie Somerset Chandran, lives a life similar to that of Naipaul up to a crucial point, but then chooses a different course than Naipaul did by actively refusing his opportunities in London, rather allowing himself to fall into the colonial morass.

Author Biography

In India, Naipaul's family was of the high Brahmin caste, but fell into extreme poverty. His ancestors accepted indentured servitude in exchange for the chance of immigrating to Trinidad. Naipaul's father, Seepersad, managed, through a socially advantageous marriage, to become a newspaper reporter in Trinidad and published a collection of short stories locally but still could not raise his family out of poverty.

Naipaul was born on August 17, 1932, in Chaguanas, Trinidad. He won an academic scholarship to Oxford University and, after graduation, struggled to establish himself as a writer, writing fiction and working as a journalist, including for the British Broadcasting Corporation Overseas Service. He published several novels before A House for Mr. Biswas (1961) established his critical reputation and his financial security. Throughout the 1960s, Naipaul gained increasing recognition and won a series of prestigious British literary awards, including the Somerset Maugham Award in 1960, culminating in the Booker Prize in 1971 for his collection In a Free State. He was knighted in 1990.

Naipaul's brother Shiva followed him to Britain and followed a nearly identical career path, though without attaining the elder Naipaul's level of success. Shiva died of a