Colonial anxieties: The psychological importance of place in the writing of V. S. Naipaul (Trinidad and Tobago)

This dissertation focuses on Naipaul's treatment of the psychological realities of colonialism, particularly in regard to the relationship between self and place. It argues that this relationship between self and place is a particularly complex one for the colonial, and that this is due to the colonial's sense of him or herself as peripheral or "other" in relation to the mother country. Naipaul's writing is discussed from a biographical perspective; his own complex response to place as a colonial writer is examined as a source of anxiety and tension expressed throughout his work. This "internal adventure of anxieties" becomes a major theme in itself.; The first chapter, "East Indian West Indian," is a detailed study of Naipaul's background, the colonial history which brought his ancestors to Trinidad, his early family life in the Indian community in Trinidad, and his early colonial education. The historical and biographical details in this chapter draw attention to the sense of alienation which dominates Naipaul's vision. A central dichotomy is seen as emerging in Naipaul's life and work: an inability to be at ease with his colonial background, yet an inability to relinquish its hold upon his literary imagination.; The other five chapters are close studies of individual works by Naipaul in which the ideas of self and place are examined from both a biographical and psychological perspective. The works are: Miguel Street, A House for Mr. Biswas, An Area of Darkness, and The Enigma of Arrival. These works each represent significant phases in Naipaul's development as a writer, and each shows changes in the writer's style and view in regard to the interrelation of self and place.