2,124 words
V. S. Naipaul was a prolific Indian writer from the West Indies who remains of interest to dissidents today largely due to the respect he afforded Western Civilization, as well as his often insightful race realism. Both qualities appear starkly in his 1979 novel, A Bend in the River.
The story takes place in an unnamed town in an unnamed country in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa, and focuses on the thoughtful yet unambitious Salim, an ethnically Indian Muslim shopkeeper. The town is located at a bend in the river (also unnamed), which makes it an ideal place for trading. (more…)