Shiva Naipaul
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Shiva Naipaul (; 25 February 1945 – 13 August 1985), born Shivadhar Srinivasa Naipaul in
Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...
,
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
, was an
Indo-Trinidadian Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845. Indo-Trinidadians and ...
and British novelist and journalist.


Life and work

Shiva Naipaul was the younger brother of novelist V. S. Naipaul. He went first to Queen's Royal College and St Mary's College in Trinidad, then emigrated to Britain, having won a scholarship to study Chinese at
University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...
. At Oxford, he met and later married Jenny Stuart, with whom he had a son, Tarun.Geoffrey Wheatcroft
"Sardonic Genius - Geoffrey Wheatcroft recalls his friendship with the writer Shiva Naipaul, who died 20 years ago"
''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', 13 August 2005.
With Jenny's support, Shiva Naipaul wrote his first novel, ''Fireflies'' (1970), which won the
Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize The Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize was presented from 1967 until 2003 by the Royal Society of Literature for the best regional novel of the year. It is named after the novelist Winifred Holtby who was noted for her novels set in the rural scenes ...
from the Royal Society of Literature for best regional novel. It was followed by '' The Chip-Chip Gatherers'' (1973). He then decided to concentrate on
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
, and wrote two non-fiction works, '' North of South'' (1978) and ''
Black & White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. H ...
'' (1980), before returning to the novel form in the 1980s with '' A Hot Country'' (1983), a departure from his two earlier comic novels set in Trinidad, as well as a collection of fiction and non-fiction, '' Beyond the Dragon's Mouth: Stories and Pieces'' (1984).


Death

On the morning of 13 August 1985, at the age of 40, Naipaul had a fatal
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
while working at his desk. In an essay V. S. Naipaul wrote for
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
, published in 2019, his older brother reports that he wasn't surprised at the time to hear about Shiva's death, that Shiva was a drinker, and that a year prior to his death (at a funeral for their younger sister that both had attended) V. S. describes having already seen the look of death in his brother's face.”


Legacy and posthumous reputation

''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' magazine, for which his wife Jenny had worked as a secretary, and which had published many of his articles, established the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize. Writing for ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' in 2008, Christopher Hitchens called his debut novel ''Fireflies'' "one of the great tragicomic novels of our day". In
Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, '' The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...
's ''Sir Vidia's Shadow'', a memoir of Shiva's elder brother, V. S. Naipaul, Theroux described Shiva as a "sot", shrunken by the towering figure of his successful brother, with a penchant for drunken partying and a need to have his meals made for him. Theroux also took issue with Naipaul's skills as a writer, particularly as a travel writer. ''Sir Vidia's Shadow'' has come under attack for what are described as inaccuracies, and the novelist
Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...
wrote that "Shiva Naipaul was one of those people who caused your heart to lift when he entered the room ... in losing him, we have lost thirty years of untranscribed, unvarnished genius". An ''
Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
'' documentary on his brother V. S. Naipaul reproduced footage of Shiva from an earlier documentary from the early 1980s, in which Shiva returned to Trinidad to see his mother. Shiva Naipaul's literary archive is held at the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
. The collection
The Shiva Naipaul Archive
"consists of autograph and typescript drafts of Shiva Naipaul's fiction novels, non-fiction and travel writing. It also includes research and drafts relating to his articles, short stories and prose. There is a run of autograph notebooks, largely with notes and research gathered on his travels in India, Trinidad and Tobago, Surinam, Guyana, America, South Africa, Africa, and Australia. There is correspondence dating form his university days, with his family, his wife and a run of business correspondence."


Works

Novels *''Fireflies'' (1970) *'' The Chip-Chip Gatherers'' (1973) *'' A Hot Country'' (1983), published in the U.S. as ''Love and Death in a Hot Country'' Nonfiction *'' North of South'' (1978) *''
Black & White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. H ...
'' (1980), published in the U.S. as ''Journey to Nowhere'' *''
An Unfinished Journey ''An Unfinished Journey'' is a posthumous collection of essays by Shiva Naipaul, published by Hamish and Hamilton in 1986. The foreword is written by the author's father-in-law, Douglas Stuart, who creates a short biographical sketch of the autho ...
'' (1986). Collections *'' Beyond the Dragon's Mouth: Stories and Pieces'' (1984) *''A Man of Mystery and Other Stories'' (1995), a selection of stories taken from ''Beyond the Dragon's Mouth''.


See also

*
Capildeo family The Capildeo family () is an Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian family of Hindu pundits, politicians, and writers. The most notable members are 2001 Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul and mathematician and politician Rudranath Capildeo. The ancestral ho ...


References


External links


Bibliography
at fanstasticfiction.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Naipaul, Shiva 1945 births 1985 deaths Alumni of Queen's Royal College, Trinidad Alumni of University College, Oxford British male journalists British people of Indo-Trinidadian descent Trinidad and Tobago people of Indian descent John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners Male novelists
Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
Trinidad and Tobago Hindus Trinidad and Tobago male writers Trinidad and Tobago novelists 20th-century British male writers 20th-century novelists