V.S. Naipaul. First edition (stated). Dust Jacket: Fine. In a mylar protective wrapper. Jacket design by Herb Lubalin Associates. Hardcover: Fine. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980. Black cloth with gold lettering on spine and front panel. No writing or markings in the book, like new, 227 pp.
"Pulitzer Prize and Booker award-winning author, Naipaul, presents four essays about the "half-made" societies, those still suffering from the profound deprivations of colonialism and prey to corruption." He examines the role of Eva Peron as the catalyst for violence in Argentina, with its yearning for a European culture and the physical, historical, cultural reality of the land in which the native Indians were wiped out and the colonialists took over. He writes of the infamous Michael X in Trinidad whose pretensions to power and destiny led to the man's insanity and execution following two pointless murders. Shorter essays address nihilism in the Congo and Naipaul's take on Joseph Conrad and the Heart of Darkness.
The author published more than 30 books over a 50 year period before passing away in 2018.
