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The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief Paperback – 17 June 2011

by Sir V. S. Naipaul (Author)
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 57 ratings
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Moving beyond travelogue, V. S. Naipaul's The Masque of Africa considers the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of African civilization. Beginning in Uganda, at the centre of the continent, Naipaul’s journey takes in Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and ends, as the country does, in South Africa. Focusing upon the theme of belief – though sometimes the political or economical realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account – Naipaul examines the fragile but enduring quality of the old world of magic. To witness the ubiquity of such ancient ritual, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things. To reach that beginning was the purpose of this book. ‘The quality of Naipaul’s writing – simple, concise, engaging – rarely varies . . . Above all, Naipaul’s latest African journey is eyewitness reporting at its best’ Time
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  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Picador
  4. Publication date
    17 June 2011
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    13 x 2 x 19.7 cm
  7. ISBN-10
    0330472046
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0330472043
  9. See all details
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Review

Compelling, insightful, often somberly beautiful. Source: Sunday Telegraph

Naipaul travels, he asks, he listens attentively and, above all else, he notices, often seeing what others do not or cannot. That acute gift has never left him . . . he is sustained by the old ideal of unadorned truth-telling. Source: New Statesman

The quality of Naipaul’s writing – simple, concise, engaging – rarely varies . . . Above all, Naipaul’s latest African journey is eyewitness reporting at its best. Source: Time

From the Author

V. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950. He spent four years at University College, Oxford, and began to write, in London, in 1954. He pursued no other profession. His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now. In 1990, V. S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He lived with his wife Nadira and cat Augustus in Wiltshire, and died in 2018.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador (17 June 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0330472046
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0330472043
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 223 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 2 x 19.7 cm
  • Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ India
  • Generic Name ‏ : ‎ BOOK
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 57 ratings

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V. S. Naipaul

V. S. Naipaul

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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
57 global ratings

Top reviews from India

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Its great book to know their beliefs and how colonial rules ...
Reviewed in India on 1 March 2016
Verified Purchase
It cover Uganada,Nigeria,Ghana .Its great book to know their beliefs and how colonial rules affect their religion and disbelief about their own ancestors.Black magic, witch doctor and some other deep explanations about Africa.
Africa is great continent.Its not poor but only poorly managed
One person found this helpful
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Sonika
3.0 out of 5 stars Loved it.
Reviewed in India on 5 November 2016
Glimpses of africa but a finely sketched ones. Loved it.
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pranabindu acharya
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on 20 June 2015
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Nice purchase
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Akshay
5.0 out of 5 stars joy and magic
Reviewed in India on 14 May 2016
Explore Africa the way you never imagined! Pain, anguish, joy and magic; everything combined to make this into a wonderful travel companion. In short I would say a good way to understand Africa and it's way of life.
One person found this helpful
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Kodaikanal Club
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in India on 8 March 2017
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fraud
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Lara
5.0 out of 5 stars Naipaul at his best
Reviewed in Canada on 27 October 2018
Verified Purchase
Naipaul, in this fascinating book, explores the deep underbelly of modern Africa. An honest account written as if by an an anthropologist. It resonated with my own childhood and youth.
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ganase indra
3.0 out of 5 stars L'Afrique mes souvenirs
Reviewed in France on 7 August 2017
Verified Purchase
Je trouve sa description de la vie actuelle dans ce sens pays sont parfois trop négatif et injuste, mais pour moi qui connaissit bien ces pays auparavant , cela me rappelle des bons souvenirs.
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H. Shaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Formatting
Reviewed in the United States on 14 January 2011
Verified Purchase
Perfect formatting, a pleasure to read. Thank you Knopf.

Thank you also for lowering the price to $9.99 -- more than enough for everyone to make a nice profit.
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Ivanko
5.0 out of 5 stars A Refreshing Look at Africa
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 December 2010
Verified Purchase
I read the reviews of the latest Naipaul book in The Times and The Sunday Times and was immediately intrigued. Both reviews villified the book and went as far as accusing the author of racism. I thought this was such a far-fetched and outlandish opinion ov V.S Naipaul, that I had to find out truth for myself. The book was completely fascinating and original. The author revisits places he had spent time in, in the past, comparing Africa of today with what he remembers it to be in 1966. The present day Africa is overpopulated, decayed, with non-existent flora (all chopped down) and fauna (all eaten out, including the domestic cats, which are usually killed by being boiled alive in a bag). Infrastructure and public works are non-existent, apart from some viral western innovations, such as mobile telephones. The author is excited beyond belief when he encounters a working stretch of train track in Gabon.
His ostensible topic of enquiry is traditional African belief and initiation ceremonies. This gives the author an excuse to talk to people and build a picture of how they see themselves and their respective countries in the modern world. It is not a flattering picture and at times it is a completely appalling one. At no time, however, did I get the impression that the harsh picture emerging was the result of a racist prejudice. Naipaul is a completely honest, trustworthy and credible observer of the African reality. He is very entertaining too. I laughed out loud when I read his description of his visit to one of many witch doctors. The witch doctor had on a table in front of him a school jotter, which Naipaul described as "sensationally dirty". His tour of the semi-secret muti market in South Africa, where they has breasts of white women for sale among other offal and animal parts, was completely riveting reading. But the finest portrait-interview in the book is the one with Winnie Mandela. It told me everything which I believed to be the truth about this fascinating leader of Black South Africa but had not been able to hear or read spelled out quite so clearly by anyone. Naipaul managed to cut straight to the heart of the matter and elicit the truth from Winnie Mandela. In the same chapter he threw light on the "lost" period in Ghandi's life, which he spent in the pay of a rich South African Indian family. This was an illuminating history, showing Ghandi in the process of forming his own philosophy, still concurring with the general racist views of society and viewing himself as a superior kind of person to the black population of the country.
I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone who is tired of the prevailing sanctimonius, exoticist and guilt-ridden post-collonial tone of the media gush about Africa. V.S.Naipaul is one of the sharpest minds of our times. Lend him your ears and eyes. You will learn a lot and you will enjoy the time you spend learning.
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August Party
2.0 out of 5 stars さよならナイポール！
Reviewed in Japan on 12 November 2010
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　四二年ぶりにカンパラを訪ねるところからこの本(2010年刊)は始まる。前にここで教師をしていた時は、自分の小説を書くことから頭が離れず(『自由の国で』かも知れない)アフリカやアフリカの人々への関心はあまりなかったのだと書く。再訪した土地は嘗ての面影はなく、またこの土地に来るかも知れないと思いながら植物園で買ったチューリップ・ツリー(?)の苗木を植えたことを回想する。アミンによる悲惨を思いながら、アフリカの人々の信仰のあり方に(イスラムやキリスト教の到来以前からあるプリミティブな信仰)、歴史的な大虐殺を誘引してしまう影をナイポールは見ているようにも受け取れる。

　ウガンダから始めた旅は、西アフリカへと続く。ナイジェリアのラゴスの空港の混乱ぶりをナイポールは語る。いよいよポストコロニアル社会への苛立ち・不信・怒りが極点に達しいつものナイポール節が始まるはじまるのではないかと期待していたのだが、どうもそういう方へは行かない。嘗ての怒れるナイポールはどこに行ってしまったのだろう。むしろ極度の貧困から苦学しながら会計学を学び社会的地位を得るまでに到ったあるアフリカ人の半生が、ある種の尊敬を交えて語られてゆくのだ。あるいは、きわめて興味深いハーレムの女性からの聞き語りにしても、扱いかたは偏見を排した人間性に裏打ちされていて、何と言うかナイポールの毒は完全に消え失せている。さらに、捕らえたピグミーをペットとして所有しているアフリカ人の聞き書きにしても、人間をペットとすることへのアフリカ人の闇について何の洞察も示されず、ただ聞き流している風なのだ。・・・嘗てのナイポールに濃密にあった毒は失せ、文章は軽く(これもすごく気になった)、もう僕はナイポールの新しい本を読むことはないだろう、と思う。
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