I return to another of my idols of thirty years ago, only to find that I no longer find the old magic in evidence.
Over the years but not for the last fifteen years, I have read most of Naipaul's fiction and nonfiction.
But since I began to travel and see things for myself, I now begin to regard him as one who likes to stir troubled waters.
There are three essays in this book, one about certain clueless Black Power advocates in Trinidad, another about Argentina during some of its worst days in the last century the return of Juan Peron and the military dictatorship that followed, and about Zaire under Mobuto Sese Seko.
Finally, there is a curious short piece on Joseph Conrad, whom Naipaul finds somewhat mystifying,
My choice to reread this book was because of its centerpiece essay, "The Return of Eva Peron," to which I would give four.
On the plus side, he does an excellent job of describing the poisonous atmosphere of the Peron return, the inept rule of his widow Isabelita, and the dictatorship of the generals and admirals under Videla, who is now serving a life sentence for mass murder.
On the minus side, he blames the Argentinian people for their plight, slamming even Jorge Luis Borges for his unrealistic view of the country's history, without thinking that Borges sought a kind of metaphysical escape in his stories such as "The Aleph," "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," and "The Zahir.
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But then if Naipaul is mystified by Conrad, he would be even more off the beam with Borges.
It seems almost as if Naipaul were living in a kind of bubble caused by his intense background in Trinidad and England.
I still think he is an excellent writer, but now I begin to wonder about his perceptions, This is one of the rarer books of Naipaul, out of print and not read by many other than serious Naipaul fans.
But it is also a very interesting book for a number of reasons,
A couple of the essays in this collection read as prelude to Naipual's novels, One might even read them as companion pieces, The first essay, the Black power killings in Trinidad, is a prelude to Naipual's Guerillas, Naipaul traces the life and career of Micheal X, a prominent Black activist and henchman through his years in London, Guyana and Trinidad till the two murders he was convicted for.
Those who haven't read Guerillas might be disappointed that the piece wasn't longer and doesn't dwell into more details like an investigative piece would.
But this is not an investigative article, It is more of a cautionary tale about opportunistic men taking advantage of minority activism turning minority suffering into profit and social/political capital.
The third essay about King Mobutu of Zaire/Congo is a prelude to Naipaul's in my opinion best postcolonial novel, A Bend in the River.
In the novel, Naipaul without naming the African country, traces how a post colonial nation copes up with the crisis when it becomes free from an unnamed European nation.
Of course, reading the third essay, you immediately identify this Nation as Congo/Zaire, It is fascinating to read the parallels between this nonfiction and the novel to see a master at work and how we constructed the world of the novel.
The second essay is about Argentina and its own turbulent contemporary history, Unlike Zaire, the imperialists of Argentina didn't leave, They wiped out the native Indians and made it their own nation, And in this transposed European occupiers, Naipaul sees the emptiness and decadence of Colonialism, You almost wish Naipaul had done a full length nonfiction or a novel about Argentina,
His critics often think Naipaul is too critical on the natives of the postcolonial nation, But sometimes, the harshest criticism in his writing is reserved for the imperialists themselves, Michael X in Trinidad, Peronism in Argentina, the cult of Kingship in Mobutu's Zaire the author brings his novelist's questioning to bear upon the "halfmade" societies, those still suffering from the profound deprivations of colonialism and prey to corruption.
A story told in fantastic V, S. Naipaul fashion, overtly, of what happened to the ohsorevered body of Evita, the true leader of the people, the shirtless ones, after she, well her life spirit, let's say, departed this mortal coil.
But of course within the within, there are stories of all the others who needed her 'alive' or at least around, unforgotten, present, in order to rule effectively and those whose loathing of her knew no bounds.
Personal anecdote: a woman i trained with we did our fellowships at the same medical university together and became great, permanent friends from a welltodo family in Buenos Aires, has a leg very misshapen and weak residua of polio.
But she "got" polioyears after the vaccine became available It just so happened that ALL of the polio vaccine in Argentina had been stamped with "EP" for Eva Peron so when Juan Peron was finally ousted and the oligarchs once again had control, the depths of their hatred declared that everything with her initials or name on it had to be destroyed.
So, no polio vaccine for my friend a significant number of polio cases in years after the disease was declining significantly in neighboring countries.
End of i hope relevant anecdote,
If you've been to La Recoleta you know where Evita's remains finally ended up with another poke at the oligarchs, but paternity is paternity, even if outside the bond of matrimony.
The wacky, convoluted, voyage of those priceless remains is truly unbelievable,
I focus on a small part of this book, and some editions apparently haveessays, not just thethat are in the edition i have.
But there is much more about Argentina, including an interesting bit about Borges who actually supported the military
junta during the Dirty War.
The Killings in Trinidad is also engaging, but since i have no relevant anecdote, i'll just say it's all a very good read.
i believe i've read it at leasttimes, cover to barely taped on cover, And i will probably do it again, Wie het werk van V, S. Naipaul een beetje volgt, weet dat hij zich maar al te gretig stort op het fundamentalisme in alle mogelijke vormen.
De terugkeer van Eva Perón bestaat uit drie delen, Het eerste deel, Michael X en de Black Panther moorden op Trinidad is het beknopte relaas van Michael de Freitas, die zich dankzij Britse steun een imago kon aanmeten dat de Amerikaanse Black
Power beweging, die het wel ernstig meende, in een slecht daglicht stelde.
Met het imago dat hij met machts en mediageilheid in Londen opbouwde wist hij bij zijn terugkeer in zijn eigen geboorteland Trinidad een commune op te richten die bestond uit mannen uit de diverse etnische groepen die het eiland rijk is.
Blind fanatisme deed deze mannen geloven in en werken voor een man die alleen op egotripperij uit was en voor geen enkele misdaad terugdeinsde.
Het tweede deel, De terugkeer van Eva Perón, en het derde deel, Het einde van John Sunday, draaien rond het Perónisme in Argentinië.
De twee delen zijn met een tussenperiode van twintig jaar geschreven, In het eerste gedeelte is dictator Perón samen met het gebalsemde stoffelijk overschot van zijn Evita in ballingschap in Spanje.
Naipaul bekijkt op alle mogelijke manieren het Perónisme en de invloed die Eva Perón daarop heeft gehad.
Evita werd de mascotte van het gewone volk omdat zij het met de gedrevenheid van een sociaal werkster opnam voor de armen, terwijl zij zélf in weelde leefde.
Terwijl Perón zijn mascotte door de massa tot heilige liet bombarderen bracht hij het land in een stroomversnelling naar een economische en morele afgrond.
Subliem is de introductie door Naipaul van de schrijver Borges, Hij geeft een totaal andere visie op het Perónisme,
In het derde deel maken we de terugkeer van Perón naar Argentinië mee in het gezelschap van zijn nieuwe mascotte Isabel.
De terugkeer van Argentiniës dictator aller tijden, John Sunday, zoals de Amerikanen hem noemden, heeft Argentinië helemaal verloederd.
Voor wie niet gelooft in het Latijns machisme is volgens Naipaul Perón daar het prototype bij uitstek van.
De terugkeer van Eva Perón is een schitterende driedelige documentaire over machtswellust, misschien wel de meest extreme vorm van fundamentalisme.
André Oyen
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