Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 47

ESSAY

V. S. NAIPAUL'S
A BEND IN THE RIVER
a tr agic vision of evil
Jeffrey Folks

A

Bend in the River opens with a forthright statement of a sobering truth: "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who
allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it."1 To be
nothing, both in material terms and in terms of liberty, and to
have no place of one's own in the world have been the cruel lot
of most human beings over the course of history. As V. S. Naipaul
conceives it, it is only by way of an uncommon effort of mind,
will, and faith-the commitment required to create and sustain
a higher civilization-that one can truly exist. Indeed, it is only
under the fortunate conditions of democratic capitalism, with its
respect for personal liberty and property rights, that this effort is
likely to succeed. In much of the world, however, these freedoms
have been and remain limited at best.
Among Naipaul's finest novels, A Bend in the River most directly
Jeffrey Folks is the author of Heartland of the Imagination: Conservative
Values in American Literature from Poe to O'Connor to Haruf, among many
other books.
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Modern Age - Winter 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Winter 2016

Contents
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