Beyond Belief: Amazon.co.uk: V. S. Naipaul: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

With the publication of Paul Theroux's devastating memoir of his broken friendship with V.S. Naipaul, Sir Vidia's Shadow, Naipaul's reputation has been seriously revised in recent years. His early, lyrical novels like A House for Mr. Biswas quickly gave way to a darker, increasingly pessimistic and conservative vision of postcolonial chaos and cultural dislocation, reflected in novels like Guerillas and Naipaul's early travel books, such as India: A Wounded Civilisation.

One of the problems with dismissing Naipaul as a patrician cultural mandarin is that he tends to tussle with uncomfortable issues which lesser writers either avoid or romanticise. It is this desire to confront painful questions about religion, belief and belonging which characterises Naipaul's travel writing, and was a particular feature of his highly acclaimed study Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (1981), which chronicled his travels and observations through Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaysia. Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples should be read as a sequel to Among the Believers, as it relates the story of Naipaul's five-month journey to the countries he visited, and often the people he interviewed, nearly 20 years earlier. Beyond Belief is a fascinating, unrelenting story of Naipaul's travels through countries which have been subject to what Naipaul calls Islamic "conversion", and the people he encounters and their complex, problematic relations with their faith. Written with Naipaul's usual precision and elegance, Beyond Belief is a controversial and uncompromising read, which has been angrily denounced by the Muslim community. However, it is an excellent antidote to so much current travel writing which uncritically reproduces myths of the exotic orient, and should be read by anyone who wants to begin to travel throughout the non-Arabic Muslim world. --Jerry Brotton

Review

'He remains our most exhilarating explorer, with a corpus of travel writing which now surpasses that of D.H. Lawrence or Graham Greene' MARTIN AMIS 'One of the greatest living writers in the English language' ELIZABETH HARDWICK 'Naipaul writes at his precise, observational best ... brilliant' OBSERVER 'Jewel-like individual profiles are set in a filigree-work of acute physical, cultural, historical and psychological detail' FINANCIAL TIMES 'With the publication of Paul Theroux's devastating memoir of his broken friendship with V.S. Naipaul, Sir Vidia's Shadow, Naipaul's reputation has been seriously revised in recent years. His early, lyrical novels like A House for Mr. Biswas quickly gave way to a darker, increasingly pessimistic and conservative vision of postcolonial chaos and cultural dislocation, reflected in novels like Guerillas and Naipaul's early travel books, such as India: A Wounded Civilisation. One of the problems with dismissing Naipaul as a patrician cultural mandarin is that he tends to tussle with uncomfortable issues which lesser writers either avoid or romanticise. It is this desire to confront painful questions about religion, belief and belonging which characterises Naipaul's travel writing, and was a particular feature of his highly acclaimed study Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (1981), which chronicled his travels and observations through Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaysia. Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples should be read as a sequel to Among the Believers, as it relates the story of Naipaul's five-month journey to the countries he visited, and often the people he interviewed, nearly 20 years earlier. Beyond Belief is a fascinating, unrelenting story of Naipaul's travels through countries which have been subject to what Naipaul calls Islamic "conversion", and the people he encounters and their complex, problematic relations with their faith. Written with Naipaul's usual precision and elegance, Beyond Belief is a controversial and uncompromising read, which has been angrily denounced by the Muslim community. However, it is an excellent antidote to so much current travel writing which uncritically reproduces myths of the exotic orient, and should be read by anyone who wants to begin to travel throughout the non-Arabic Muslim world.' - Jerry Brotton, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW

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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

Still as honest and insightful as ever 2 Oct 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

...I do not think that there is any sign of declining powers in Naipaul's most recent travel book. He continues to focus on the key intellectual and social dilemmas of the societies he visits, and successfully draws out people who are at the heart of these confusions. I kmow that it is unfashionable to expose the weaknesses of non-Western societies to public view, but Naipaul's message has always been that it is the ordinary people of these countries who suffer from the evasion of harsh truths. They are just as entitled to opportunities for educational advancement, freedom of expression and the like as we are in the West.

As for Naipaul's personal mindset, he does not approach the Islamic countries as a lapsed Brahmin, but as a rather patrician Westerner. I cannot think of another travel writer who is more perceptive about different types of religious experience while being seduced by none

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Interesting and rational view of Islam from a non believer 2 Jan 2007

By Jay

This book rocks !!! And does it rock the propagation of Islam and its intentions amongst non Arab nations. Being a 5th generation Indian, the section on Pakistan interested me, and the concept of the nation forged upon a poetic dream. I agree That Islam is a very disciplined religion that has been grossly misinterpreted by many of its followers; Created by the word of God; hopelessly misinterpreted by many who don't deserve to mention God.

I wont be surprised if this publication has been banned in certain Islamic nations because it really goes for the upper cut.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

The Death of the Intellect 1 April 2000

Format:Hardcover

Naipaul is arguably the greatest novelist writing in English today and his mastery of style and composition is no less marked in his non-fiction works. This present volume must rank as one of the best of the latter and reading it sends one back to the earlier work that inspired it, "Among the Believers", in which he detailed a similar journey in 1979. In some cases he even describes meetings with the same people as previously. The changes in the two decades since have seldom been for the better, to the extent to which the alternative title of the present book might well be "The Death of the Intellect". Naipaul deploys his brilliant powers of observation and description to the full in bringing to life the experiences of individuals from a wide variety of social classes and ethnic backgrounds, yet all trapped within a constricting web of dogma. The overall effect is depressing in the extreme as one encounters one life after another stunted by inability to reconcile religious beliefs with the realities of scientific discoveries, technological progress and human potential. It is Naipaul's particular genius to give the reader the very feel of the environments he portrayed, often by no more than mention of a few significant, though apparently inconsequential details. One puts this book down longing for another "A Bend in the River" and hopes that the ground covered in "Beyond Belief" might just provide a worthy theme.