A Study On V.S.Naipaul's Travel Writing

Western travel writing has a long history.With the Western geographical discovery and the arrival of the global communication,it was booming accordingly.During the period of imperialism-colonialism expansion,travel books,as a kind of literary genre,have become the main way for Western writers to describe the ex-colonial countries,and thus the coloniality was the typical characteristic of these works.While in the postcolonial period,postcolonial writers mainly from ex-colonial countries try to carry out “the Empire Writes Back” in their own ways in order to re-shape the Third World which was covered under the Western description.As one of the postcolonial writers,V.S.Naipaul's travel writing began under this circumstance.As “nomadic writer”,Naipaul's travel writing is not only his life necessity but also his inevitable choice.His family background,migration,cultural pain and his requirement in economy,anxiety relief and writing career both forced him to travel and write travel books.As an ex-colonial resident,Naipaul's travelling around the Third World for almost all his life is closely related to his background.Among these regions,he observed and thought a series of important and cultural question in post-colonial period and his travelling is also a self-discovery.This dissertation depicts Naipaul's travel map from the Caribbean area,India,American South to Islamic countries and Africa.Naipaul visited many countries among three continents and wrote The Middle Passage,“India Trilogy”,A Turn in the South,Among the Believers and Beyond Belief,A Congo Diary and The Masque of Africa respectively.In these nine works,the writer not only focused on his identity,but also analyzed the development of the Third World at present and in the future under their “half-cooked culture”.After close reading to these works,this paper analyzed the maturity of Naipaul' travel writing.From imitating the Victorian travel books to forming his unique style,his way of visiting has changed a lot from “watching”,“listening” to “thinking”,reflecting the writer's adjustment in writing posture and style,as well as witnessing his own spiritualexperience.From these works,we can also see the complexity of Naipaul,and thus the criticism to him should be various.In these travel books,his life and writing are highly integrated.The author of this paper believes that these works,to some extent,are also his autobiography and helpful to make up his missing background knowledge.They witnessed the process of the writer going closely to the colony gradually.He has both inside and outside perspectives in writing due to his complicated background;however,these two perspectives are not equal and will be changed greatly with the changing of countries.The hybrid of“fictional” technique in the documentary genre is his successful attempt in breaking through the genre limit,which made his travel books possess the advantages of two kinds of genres.The significances of his travel writing lie in many aspects.Its literary significance is not only in his creation of a special literary world,but also in his innovative thinking about genres and distinctive style of travel literature.Its social significance on the one hand is presented in his concern about the great issues of these countries,such as the conflict in tradition and modernity,stagnation and development,religious and secular problems.Its significance on the other hand is in Naipaul's specific insight as a writer not a socialist to explain social problems.Its profound philosophical significance is that the writer tried to bring his thought about “annihilation” and “impermanence” in Indian philosophy and “absurdity”,“anxiety” and “fear” in modern Western existential philosophy in his thinking of the existence of human beings,which is between the lines of his travel writing.Writing to some extend is Naipaul's “existential” way of life.It is obvious that the writer's travel,writing and life are highly correlative.Travelling helps his writing;while writing is almost equal to his life.Since there is no arrival for life,Naipaul will continue to travel and write.All in all,his travel,writing and life will bring an interactive effect.