Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
An Area of Darkness : A Discovery of India - V. S. Naipaul

An Area of Darkness

A Discovery of India

By: V. S. Naipaul

Paperback | 9 July 2002

At a Glance

Paperback


$33.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $8.44 with

 or 

Ships in 10 to 15 business days

The Nobel Prize-winning author's profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India.

"Whatever his literary form, Naipaul is a master." --The New York Review of Books

Traveling from the bureaucratic morass of Bombay to the ethereal beauty of Kashmir, from a sacred ice cave in the Himalayas to an abandoned temple near Madras, Naipaul encounters a dizzying cross-section of humanity: browbeaten government workers and imperious servants, a suavely self-serving holy man and a deluded American religious seeker. An Area of Darkness also abounds with Naipaul's strikingly original responses to India's paralyzing caste system, its apparently serene acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. The result may be the most elegant and passionate book ever written about the subcontinent.

Industry Reviews
"Whatever his literary form, Naipaul is a master." -The New York Review of Books "This is India. I don't know any other book that comes so near to capturing the whole crazy spectrum. . . . Brilliant." -John Wain, The Observer

"His narrative skill is spectacular. One returns with pleasure to the slow hand-in-hand revelation of both India and himself. . . . There is a kind of displaced person who has a better sense of place than anybody: Mr. Naipaul is an outstanding example." -The Times (London)

"[Naipaul's] penetrating, opinionated travel writing . . . makes up a remarkable running commentary on the clash of civilizations." -The New York Times

More in Travel & Holidays

Trip in a Van's Bucket List Experiences - Bec Lorrimer

RRP $49.99

$34.95

30%
OFF
Belize : Lonely Planet Travel Guide : 10th Edition - Lonely Planet
Cuba : Lonely Planet Travel Guide : 12th Edition - Lonely Planet

RRP $36.99

$26.75

28%
OFF
Ultimate Campsites Australia : 2nd edition - Penny Watson

RRP $45.00

$34.95

22%
OFF
North Africa : Lonely Planet Travel Guide : 2nd Edition - Lonely Planet
Contours : The Courses Behind Remarkable Golf Adventures - William Watt
Central Asia : Lonely Planet Travel Guide : 8th Edition - Lonely Planet
Egypt : Lonely Planet Travel Guide : 16th Edition - Lonely Planet

RRP $36.99

$26.75

28%
OFF
A Thousand Feasts : Small Moments of Joy ... A Memoir of Sorts - Nigel Slater
Tunisia : Lonely Planet Travel Guide : 6th Edition - Lonely Planet
Best in Travel 2026 : Lonely Planet - Lonely Planet

RRP $32.99

$26.95

18%
OFF
Lonely Planet Art Destinations : Lonely Planet - Lonely Planet

RRP $65.00

$49.95

23%
OFF
The Mediterranean : Lonely Planet - Lonely Planet

RRP $70.00

$59.95

14%
OFF
This Way Up : When Maps Go Wrong (and Why it Matters) - Jay Foreman
Storm : Chasing Nature's Wildest Weather - Hank Schyma

RRP $65.00

$59.75

Ultimate Family Holidays : Australia - Catherine Best

RRP $45.00

$34.95

22%
OFF
Ultimate Australia Travel List : 1st Edition - Lonely Planet

RRP $39.99

$27.99

30%
OFF
Experience Egypt : Lonely Planet Travel Guide : 1st Edition - Lonely Planet
The Cuckoo's Lea : The Forgotten History of Birds and Place - Michael J. Warren
The Cocktail Diaries : A Spirited Adventure - Sam Heughan

RRP $39.99

$28.75

28%
OFF
The Noma Guide to Building Flavour - Rene Redzepi

RRP $80.00

$62.99

21%
OFF