The problems of reader’s experience and the search for style in V. S. Naipaul's essayistic writing

Abstract

This article conducts a chronological reconstruction of the key milestones of the reading path of V. S. Naipaul, as well as reviews the problems of his reader’s experience and the search for writing style. Emphasis is placed on the creative and personal relationship between V. S. Naipaul and his father S. Naipaul, who was his teacher and mentor, developed his literary taste, aptitude and style of the future Nobel laureate. Their collaboration draws the interest of researchers based on the fact that namely S. Naipaul introduced world literature to his son, affected his choice of books, and helped to understand a different sociocultural context. The author reveals the impact of the Russian writers (Gogol, Tolstoy) and the Spanish picaresque novel (“Lazarillo de Tormes”) upon writing style of V. S. Naipaul; as well as determines the reading preferences of V. S. Naipaul at a mature age. Among the authors who considerably influenced V. S. Naipaul in different periods of his creative path, the author names R. Kipling, D. Defoe, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. Conrad. The analytical overview of the “writer's library” and his reading preferences allows carrying out a more systematic, consistent, and logical examination of V. S. Naipaul's works. The idea of the circle of authors and writings that considerably influenced the creative personality of V. S. Naipaul gives the key to the analysis of quotations, borrowings, allusions and reminiscences, i.e. the problems of intertextuality in his prose fiction. V. S. Naipaul's essayistic writing has not been published in the Russian language; this article introduces it into the Russian scientific discourse in literary studies.