Making a rare public appearance, Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul, now wheelchair-bound, on Wednesday broke down during a session at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival to celebrate 53 years of his acclaimed novel A House for Mr. Biswas .
Writers Hanief Kureishi, Amit Chaudhuri, and Paul Theroux discussed the 1961 novel at the session chaired by Farrukh Dhondy.
The novel tells the story of Mohun Biswas, an Indo-Trinidadian, who continually strives for success, but mostly fails. He finally sets himself the goal of owning a house, which he realises.
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Mr. Naipaul was then asked to come up on stage to address the audience that gave him a standing ovation. However, Mr. Naipaul, accompanied by his wife, could barely say ‘Thank You.’
Paul Theroux described the novel as the most complete book after the works of Charles Dickens. “I have not read any modern writer having done such a complete work. The book is tremendously complete, revolving round a family, human nature, relationships and about becoming a man one wants to be.”