[savanaly]

I got interested in V.S. Naipaul after reading this essay-- well technically a book review of a Naipaul biography-- by Christopher Hitchens-- Cruel and Unusual [0]. It explains and summarizes Naipaul's literary significance as well as the fascinating fact that he acted very badly in his personal life. I read his Middle Passage travelogue after that after I read that and it did not disappoint as far as callousness goes. Although I wouldn't exactly say that it is what we should aspire to I did like it in its own way.

[0] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/cruel-a...

[2sk21]

One that becomes clear is that V. S. Naipaul is probably the least sympathetic literary figure ever.

[cambalache]

Good authors write good literature. An adult should not look for more in a writer. Give me Celine, Houellebecq and Naipaul one million times before the well-behaved, PC, generic , boring writer who tend to populate current prizes and recommended lists.

[erikpukinskis]

Is “well-behaved, PC, generic, and boring” really the central alternative to “entirely unsympathetic”?

[prepend]

Frequently, yes. Theoretically, you can have an artist that is well-behaved and interesting. But we don’t get to make that choice and you can’t custom order creativity to take the good bits and leave the bad bits (although crispr gets better and better).

Especially since if you start blocking out the unsympathetic artists early in their career due to being jerks and criminals and whatnot, this would have prevented many of the great artists.

For example a letter in 1968 shows John Lennon as a wife beater amongst other deplorable things [0]. Stopping him at this point would have deprived the world of many creations.

[0] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lennon-was-a-bully-and-ch...

[erikpukinskis]

Would it have deprived the world, or would the world have turned its attention to another artist? What reason do we have to think no one else would’ve stepped into Lennon’s niche?

[prepend]

I think it’s impossible to know, but 50 years later and there’s no Lennon. If you don’t care about art or beauty being uniquely special,it doesn’t matter.

[droopyEyelids]

Is it too much to ask that a writer respect women?

[ggm]

For a distressingly large cohort of writers of note (think Kingsley Amis) and their adoring fans, alas yes.

[Tloewald]

He has a lot of competition.