‘Banality of oppression’ enrages Naipaul

THE Nobel laureate VS Naipaul, who has a penchant for controversy, flew into a rage at an Indian literary festival yesterday, saying he had no patience with talk about colonialism and oppression.

Lashing out as the leading Indian writer Nayantara Sahgal led a discussion about the impact of colonialism on the country’s writing, the literary giant said such abstractions were futile for writers.

"This thing about colonialism, this thing about gender oppression, the very word ‘oppression’ wearies me," the Trinidad-born author, aged 69, told the audience at the high-profile International Festival of Indian Literature.

"Fifty years have gone by. What colonialism are you talking about? Give me a date. Otherwise it’s like dancing in the air," he said as a hush descended on the conference being held in a 15th-century fort 75 miles from New Delhi.

The issue of colonialism was especially topical as a new film, Lagaan (Land Tax), which tells the story of a spirited group of Indian peasants confronting British colonial oppressors in a cricket match, last week became the third Indian film to bag an Oscar nomination for best foreign film.

Vikram Seth, famous for works such as The Golden Gate and A Suitable Boy, tried to pacify Naipaul as he shook with rage during the discussion, entitled "Midnight’s Children: The Weight of History."

"Banality irritates me. My life is short. I can’t listen to banality," said Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, known as Sir Vidia after being knighted in 1990. "If writers only talk about oppression, then they are not going to do much writing. Writing for me is not about abstraction. I have made a living from writing."

Naipaul won the $1 million Nobel prize for literature last year. His works, including A House for Mr Biswas and The Enigma of Arrival, blur the distinction between fiction and reality and report the forgotten histories of the vanquished.

Some of India’s leading writers, including Amitav Ghosh, Khushwant Singh, Vikram Seth, Nayantara Sahgal and Pico Iyer, were attending the week-long festival organised by the government’s Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

Sahgal, who remained silent after Naipaul’s outburst, is the niece of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. She is best known for a hostile study of the politics of her cousin, Indira Gandhi, and condemnation of the former prime minister’s imposition of emergency rule in 1975.

The outspoken Naipaul, who once said he was without rival, has increasingly courted controversy in recent years and his views on religion, in particular, have raised eyebrows.

His early books on India, An Area of Darkness and India: A Wounded Civilisation, drew howls of protest in the country because of the disdain he showed for what he thought was intolerance, fanaticism and self-satisfaction there.

The author’s non-fiction works include Among the Believers: an Islamic Journey, published in 1981, which was slammed by some Muslim readers who said it had a narrow vision of Islam.

Last year, the novelist caused a huge outcry when he said Islam had a "calamitous effect on converted peoples" as it had both enslaved and attempted to wipe out other cultures.