A House for Mr Biswas
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A House for Mr. Biswas
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A tragicomic novel set in Trinidad at the turn of the century through the 1950s; published in 1961.
by V. S. Naipaul
Synopsis
An East Indian searches for meaning, identity, and a sense of place in colonial Trinidad.
The Novel in Focus
Events in History at the Time of The Novel
The descendent of East Indian indentured servants, Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born August 17, 1932, in Chaguanas, Trinidad. His father, Seepersad Naipaul (1906-53), was a journalist and an aspiring writer whose literary ambitions spread to his sons Vidiadhar and Shiva. A bright student, Vidiadhar Naipaul gained admission to Queen's Royal College-one of just four secondary schools on the island-and in 1948 won a coveted government-sponsored scholarship to study abroad. He entered University College at Oxford in England as a literature student in 1950, graduated in 1953, and began working for the British Broadcasting Corporation, hosting the program Caribbean Voices. He also wrote for the New Statesman literary journal and published his first novel, The Mystic Masseur, in 1957. Two novels followed, earning him a reputation as a formidable new novelist, but it was with the publication of A House for Mr. Biswas in 1961 that Naipaul's work achieved masterpiece status. Not part of the colonial ruling establishment, nor of the native culture, the protagonist is an East Indian in Trinidad, an ethnic outsider searching for a sense of self and place. Through this protagonist, the novel focuses on a displaced people reinventing themselves in a foreign and often inhospitable land.
For More Information
Chapman, Jeff, and Pamela S. Dear, eds. Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Vol. 51. Detroit: Gale, 1996.
Kakutani, Michiko. "Naipaul's Letters Reveal True Nature of Mr. Biswas and Son." Seattle Post Intelligencer. 16 Feb. 2000. http://www.seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/booxl66.shtml (20 Jan. 2001).
Klass, Morton. East Indians in Trinidad. Prospect Heights, III.: Waveland Press, 1961.
Knight, Franklin W. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Naipaul, V. S. A House for Mr. Biswas. New York: Press, 1961.
_____. Between a Father and a Son. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
Rodman, Hyman. Lower-Class Families. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Rogozinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean. New York: Facts on File, 1999.
Saft, Elizabeth, ed. Trinidad & Tobago. Boston: APA, 1993.
Schmitt, Deborah A., ed. Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 105. Detroit: Gale Group, 1998.
Williams, Eric. Inward Hunger: The Education of a Prime Minister. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969.
Williamson, Bill. The Temper of the Times. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990.
Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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A House for Mr Biswas
| A House for Mr Biswas | |
|---|---|
 1st edition cover |
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| Author(s) | V. S. Naipaul |
| Country | Trinidad |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Contemporary fiction |
| Publisher | André Deutsch |
| Publication date | 1961 |
| Media type | |
A House for Mr Biswas is a 1961 novel by V. S. Naipaul, significant as Naipaul's first work to achieve acclaim worldwide. It is the story of Mohun Biswas, an Indo-Trinidadian who continually strives for success and mostly fails, who marries into the Tulsi family only to find himself dominated by it, and who finally sets the goal of owning his own house. Drawing some elements from the life of Naipaul's father,[1][2] the work is primarily a sharply-drawn look at life that uses postcolonial perspectives to view a vanished colonial world.
In 1998, the Modern Library ranked A House for Mr Biswas #72 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Time magazine included the novel in its "TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005"
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Contents
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Plot
Mohun Biswas is born in rural Trinidad to parents of Indian origin. His birth is considered inauspicious as he is born "in the wrong way" and with an extra finger. A pandit prophesies that the newly born Mr Biswas "will be a lecher and a spendthrift. Possibly a liar as well", and that he will "eat up his mother and father". The pundit further advises that the boy be kept "away from trees and water. Particularly water". A few years later, Mohun leads a neighbour's calf, which he is tending, to a stream. The boy, who has never seen water "in its natural form", becomes distracted watching the fish and allows the calf to wander off. Mohun hides in fear of punishment. His father, believing his son to be in the water, drowns in an attempt to save him, thus in part fulfilling the pundit's prophecy. This leads to the dissolution of Mr Biswas's family. His sister is sent to live with a wealthy aunt and uncle, Tara and Ajodha, while Mr Biswas, his mother, and two older brothers go to live with other relatives.
Mr Biswas is withdrawn prematurely from school and apprenticed to a pundit, but is cast out on bad terms. Ajodha then puts him in the care of his alcoholic and abusive brother Bhandat which also comes to a bad result. Finally, Mr Biswas now becoming a young man decides to set out to make his own fortune. He encounters a friend from his days of attending school who helps him get into the business of sign-writing. While on the job, Mr Biswas attempts to romance a client's daughter and his advances are misinterpreted as a wedding proposal. He is drawn into a marriage which he does not have the nerve to stop and becomes a member of the Tulsi household.
With the Tulsis, Mr Biswas becomes very unhappy with his wife Shama and her overbearing family, which bears a slight resemblance to the Capildeo family into which Naipaul's father married. He is usually at odds with the Tulsis and his struggle for economic independence from the oppressive household drives the plot. The Tulsi family (and the big decaying house they live in) represents the traditional communal world, the way life is lived, not only among the Hindu immigrants of Trinidad but throughout Africa and Asia as well. Mr Biswas is offered a place in it, a subordinate place to be sure, but a place that's guaranteed and from which advancement is possible. But Mr Biswas rejects that. He is, without realizing it or thinking it through but through deep and indelible instinct, a modern man. He wants to BE, to exist as something in his own right, to build something he can call his own. That is something the Tulsis cannot deal with, and that is why their world—though that traditional world, like the old Tulsi house which is its synecdoche, is collapsing—conspires to drag him down.[3] Nevertheless, despite his poor education, Mr Biswas becomes a journalist, has four children with Shama, and attempts (more than once, with varying levels of success) to build a(s) house that he can call his own. He becomes obsessed with the notion of owning his own house and it becomes a symbol of his independence and merit.
Significance
This novel is generally regarded as Naipaul's most significant work and is credited with launching him into international fame and renown. The prose is often cited as some of the best writing in contemporary English studies[citation needed] and cemented Naipaul's reputation as one of the finest writers in the language..
Time magazine included the novel in its "TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005".[4]
Adaptations
The novel was later adapted as a stage musical, with compositions by Monty Norman. One of the songs written for the play, "Good Sign, Bad Sign", was later rewritten as "The James Bond Theme", according to the documentary Inside Dr. No.
A two-part radio dramatisation, featuring Rudolph Walker, Nitin Ganatra, Nina Wadia, and Angela Wynter ran on BBC Radio Four on March 26 and April 2, 2006.
External links
References
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Copyrights:
Gale Notable Literature & Its History
Literature and Its Times © 1997 Joyce Moss and George Wilson © 2007 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
Mentioned in
Naipaul, Sir V(idiadhar) S(urajprasad)
(Trinidadian-born British writer)
The Mystic Masseur
(novel)
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