The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul

This chapter focuses on Patrick French's colourful biography of Sir Vidia Naipaul. The biography exposes Naipaul as an egotist, a domestic tyrant and a sadist to a degree that would be farcical if it were not for the consequent distress suffered over many years by his first wife, Pat. Descended from destitute Indian labourers sent to Trinidad to cut sugar cane, he was made to feel inferior even within his own extended family by the failures and mental breakdowns of his beloved father. To survive these setbacks, he had to cling to a belief in his inherent superiority. French's character analysis is not flattering, but it does justice to its subject's complexity.