Representing the “abject”: Dynamics of narration and self-fashioning in V.S. Naipaul’s An Area of Darkness

Abstract

There is a consensus among critics regarding V.S. Naipaul’s negative representation of India in An Area of Darkness: that, on his first visit, Naipaul could not identify with the land of his ancestors, because his western-educated metropolitan consciousness reinforced his sense of separation from India. As a consequence, India remains his radical other. However, the problems involved in the author-narrator’s attempts to qualify as a cultural authority have received less attention. This article analyses the rationale of Naipaul’s (mis)representation of India, with close attention to the textual dynamics of narration and self-fashioning. Employing a psychoanalytic framework drawing on Homi K. Bhabha’s reworking of the Freudian “uncanny” and Julia Kristeva’s notions of “the abject” and “abjection”, it argues that the text’s projection of a love-hate relationship between Naipaul and India serves two important purposes: it enables him to construct India as his “abject” other, and licenses him to pose as an authentic authority on its culture.