V.S.Naipaul’s Identity Pursuit In The Enigma Of Arrival

As one of the most representative post-colonial writers in the 20 th century, V. S.Naipaul won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001, and The Enigma of Arrival(1987)was regarded as one of his most important works by Swedish Academy. In this book,Naipaul pursues for different identities and tries to find his final belonging. This thesis will make a detailed study on three different cultural backgrounds presented in The Enigma of Arrival in order to analyze the three identities in the text with identity theory and reveal the author’s multiple and hybrid identity as a post-colonial writer traveling around the Third World. In the meanwhile, his traveling experiences, developing understanding of the identity problem and the relationship between colonies and suzerains all demonstrate that Naipaul’s final destination is not a certain country or cultural background, but a balanced state with multiple and hybrid identities.The thesis is divided into five parts. The pursuit for the three different cultures in The Enigma of Arrival is explored based on identity theory of post-colonialism.The introduction part introduces V. S. Naipaul and the whole development of post-colonial literature under the post-colonial background. The brief narration of Naipaul’s life, main works and awards received will provide historical background for my research and be helpful for the intensive study about his works, especially The Enigma of Arrival, at home and abroad, and then point out the research significance of my thesis. Secondly, the theoretical foundation Identity and Cultural Imperialism are provided.The first part discusses Naipaul’s estrangement towards Indian identity in The Enigma of Arrival. As the third generation of immigration, the native land India is distant and mysterious for Naipaul. But his Indian ancestors and folks have tried their best to replicate a pure Indian community in the resettlement destination overseas and to copy every aspect, such as ideology, religious rites, lifestyle and so forth, from India.The destined and distorted cultural atmosphere of the native land has greatly influenced Naipaul so that he has taken a heavy toll in the pursuit of Indian identity and the slow recovery from spiritual homelessness when he has indeed arrived in the real India andhas compared it with the imagined one in his mind.The second part analyzes the Naipaul’s ambivalent attitude towards the Trinidadian identity in The Enigma of Arrival. Among the three cultural identities, the most shameful, to Naipaul, is the marginalized Trinidadian identity. Even when he has gone to England as he wishes, he still could not get rid of his colonial identity, which has brought him endless misery and shame. Satirically, just his Trinidadian novels become the breakthrough of his writing career and start point of his reputation as a post-colonial writer. After he has become successful as a celebrated writer in England, Naipaul begins to be on intimate close with his birthplace and Trinidadian identity with a reconciliatory attitude, helping establish his multiple identities.The third part examines Naipaul’s voluntary and proactive pursuit for the British identity. Trinidad is a colony permeated in British culture. On account of omnipresent British culture, wiring becomes a practical approach to express his identity puzzlement and his reason and impetus to leave for England, the suzerain and the center of Western civilization. With the continuous success of Naipaul’s writing career, his identity as a writer remits the rootless sense and his anxiety about identity. Therefore, compared with his early-to-mid works, The Enigma of Arrival reveals more of the author’s acceptance of rootlessness and multiple and hybrid identity for granted.The conclusion part summarizes the previous chapters. This chapter points out Naipaul’s idea course in the process of pursuing different identities and the result of pursuit in The Enigma of Arrival. The evolution of internal psychology is inseparable with the development of Naipaul’s writing career and the transmutation of post-colonial era. The accurate grasp of the psychology of the people from ex-colonies and suzerains in the whole post-colonial environment enables Naipaul to explore a psychological construction conforming to his own multiple and hybrid identity, which also provides helpful implication and reference for people’s better adapting the post-colonial era with similar backgrounds.