''The Loss of El Dorado'', by the Nobel Prize winner

V. S. Naipaul Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (; 17 August 1932 – 11 August 2018) was a Trinidadian-born British writer of works of fiction and nonfiction in English. He is known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad, his bleaker novels of alienati ...

, is a history book about

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

. It was published in 1969. The title refers to the

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

legend. Naipaul looks at the Spanish/British colonial rivalry in the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

basin, drawing on contemporary sources written in Spanish and English. The book examines the obsessive quest for gold which was typical of the first Europeans to explore the region. In particular,

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

's voyages are examined with a psychological depth more typical of novels than historical works. In the second half of the book, the focus shifts to Trinidad under British colonial rule. Naipaul gives a lot of attention to the trial of Sir

Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible t ...

, the Governor of Trinidad. He also looks at Venezuela's struggle for independence from Spain in the early 19th century. Like most of Naipaul's work, "The Loss of El Dorado" has received considerable critical recognition. On publication its admirers included the Cambridge historian

John H. Plumb Sir John (Jack) Harold Plumb (20 August 1911 – 21 October 2001) was a British historian, known for his books on British 18th-century history. He wrote over thirty books. Biography Plumb was born in Leicester on 20 August 1911. He was educat ...

. However, the author has confessed to not being completely happy with his book. He reworked some of its material in a later book, ''

A Way in the World ''A Way in the World'' is a 1994 book by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul. Although it was marketed as a novel in America, ''A Way in the World'', which consists of linked narratives, is arguably something different.Spice, N., 1994. Inspector of th ...

'', where historical narrative is treated in a different way, and is in part rendered as fiction.

Translation

* ''La pérdida de El Dorado'' (Spanish translation by Flora Casas, Madrid 2001).José María Lassalle Ruiz (12 May 2001)
''La Trinidad caribeña de V. S. Naipaul''
ojosdepapel.com (review of Spanish translation)

References

1969 non-fiction books Books by V. S. Naipaul André Deutsch books {{postcolonialism-stub