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India: A Wounded Civilization
 
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India: A Wounded Civilization (Paperback)

by V. S. Naipaul (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 161 pages
  • Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (6 Sep 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0330487604
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330487603
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 226,899 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #82 in  Books > Study Books > Undergraduate & Postgraduate > Arts & Humanities > Area Studies > Asian Studies

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Product Description

Review

'A devastating work' The Times; 'Brilliant' Spectator


Product Description

In 1964 V.S. Naipaul published An Area of Darkness, his semi-autobiographical account of a year in India. Two visits later, prompted by the Emergency of 1975, he came to write India: A Wounded Civilization, in which he casts a more analytical eye over Indian attitudes. In this work, he recapitulates and further investigates the feelings that the vast, mysterious and agonised continent has previously aroused in him. What he sees and what he hears - evoked so superbly and vividly in this book - only reinforce in him his conviction that India, wounded by a thousand years of foreign rule, has not yet found an ideology of regeneration.

'A devastating work' The Times

'Brilliant' Spectator

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Word of mouth, 19 Jul 2002
This review is from: India: A Million Mutinies (Paperback)
"India" describes Naipaul's anti-clockwise journey around the metropoles of India in 1988, from Bombay to Srinagar via Bangalore, Madras, Calcutta, Delhi and Amritsar. His theme is that India, seen from the distance of his Trinadadian childhood, appeared as a single, unified entity. Close-up in 1988, however, he saw how it decomposes into a collage of religions, castes and classes. That diversity, for Naipaul, is India's strength. He sees each social group's struggle for security as the motor of India economic, political and social advances since the 1960s.

Reading between the lines, however, you can tell that Naipaul has mixed feelings about India. Apart from the revulsion at the filth and decay, he can not hide his despair of the Indian character. He sees Indians as self-destructive, always letting unnecessary foibles and squabbles obstruct progress. For Naipaul the class-warriors of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu have replaced a wise culture with a wasteland, the self-regarding idleness of Bengalis has turned Calcutta into a sewer and the Sikhs of Northwest India are persecuted because, deep down, that is their raison d'être.

It's a point of view.

The format of "India" is almost oral history or anthropology. He lets Indians, mostly middle- and upper-class, tell the stories of their lives. Gradually these tales coalesce in the reader's mind and Naipaul's collage of caste, class and ethnicity emerges. The language is clear and engaging; it is hard to imagine a more entertaining introduction to the social processes at work in modern India. Naipaul's own viewpoint emerges gradually between the lines. And he is honest about his own place in the book, not glamorising his trip with chichi exoticism like your average poncey travel-writer, but just making himself a man who travels from hotel to hotel and talks to Indians.

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must read' for any one wanting to know more about India, 22 Dec 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: India: A Million Mutinies (Paperback)
Beyond the popular images of Taj Mahal, the bengal tiger and the curry, researchers and visitors to India had to settle for either the travel guides variety giving a lot of 'nuts and bolts' information ('don't drink tap water - carry enough mosquito repellent') or esoteric tomes specialising on specific philosophical, religious or cultural dimensions. Not any more. Naipaul's book 'India- a million mutinies now', is a good account of life in India from a thousand voices - honestly reported by the author without being judgemental. To me that is the beauty of this book - to remind the reader that the greatest asset of India is not the set of things it possesses but its people. So very humane. A joy to read.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for India rediscoverers, 15 Aug 2002
By Rohit Tiwari "rohittiwari" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: India: A Million Mutinies (Paperback)
This book was written during the political and social upheaval of late eighties India.Naipaul has been extremely successful in interpreting those changing times in Indian history. Naipaul has magnificently deciphered the role of class, caste, religion,and region in making of a new and stronger India. Contrary to belief this book establishes the argument that diversity is this new India's biggest srength and perhaps a major cause of democratic success. This is a book for any one who wants to get deeper into knowing India. It is not a backpacker's account of mysticism of India.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Look down at India ..The whole world is looking up
V S Naipaul is one of the best writers that I have known. However being of Asian origin , I feel that he has a tendency to 'look down' on his ancestry. HEY Mr Naipaul ! Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2007 by Jay

5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous introduction to India
This is an excellent and thoughtful introduction to what India means to its population of Jains, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and others: the book comprises extended conversations with... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2006 by Birdfriendly

5.0 out of 5 stars Deals Frankly with the Difficult Issues of Modern India
I found this book very useful in helping to explain the unpleasant side of things in India which I kept seeing day after day in the course of several (otherwise wonderful) trips... Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars Lighten Up, Mr Naipaul
Naipaul knows India better than most. He also won a Nobel, in part for his style of writing, and it is amazing at times. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2002

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