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In a Free State

Book by V. S. Naipaul

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ASIN : B003GK21L2 Publisher : Picador; Main Market edition (March 22, 2012) Publication date : March 22, 2012 Language : English File size : 494 KB Text-to-Speech : Enabled Screen Reader : Supported Enhanced typesetting : Enabled , The central novel from V.S. Naipaul’s Booker Prize-winning narrative of displacement, published for the first time in a stand-alone edition. ‘ 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, many 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. Read more

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Containing five narratives: two short vignettes, two short stories, and the title novella. The two vignettes are good, if insubstantial. The two short stories focus on men cut adrift on foreign shores, searching for identity and finding their rage. You know, the standard Naipaul themes. They are well written, but for some reason I could never find a rhythm while reading them, and they just seemed to drag for me. But then we get to the title novella, and it is vintage Naipaul, with the stark, brutal prose; sharp social commentary; and above all, the suffocating atmosphere. This is what I came here for. Bobby and Linda are two English officials driving across a recently independent unnamed African country. Most of the story takes place inside the car, and the atmosphere is tense and uncomfortable from the very beginning. There is political unrest unfolding in the background, but the real turmoil is happening inside the heads of our characters. Through Bobby and Linda, and a handful of other characters we meet along the way, Naipaul eviscerates the British imperial mindset. Linda is outwardly dismissive of, and disgusted by, Africans. Bobby thinks he’s better than that, hates Linda for her attitude. But he is not better; he is in fact, arguably worse. At least Linda is honest in her prejudices. Bobby however, thinks he understands Africa and it’s people, thinks he belongs here. But he is a predator, using the whiteness of his skin and the money in his pocket to dominate. He is a weak and pathetic man come to Africa to make himself feel superior. And he never misses an opportunity to show off his supposed superiority. In a Free State won the Booker Prize, and is one of Naipaul’s better known works. It might not be quite on the same level as Biswas or A Bend in the River, but it’s close, and definitely worth the read. 5 stars for the title novella, 3 stars for everything else.

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In a Free State