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V S Naipaul, A House For Mr. Biswas, London: Andre Deutsch, 1961, first edition

531 pages; bound in publisher's original rose paper-covered boards with spine lettered in gilt with dust jacket designed by Stephen Russ.
10 x 8 in (25 x 20 cm)

First edition of the author’s masterpiece. Signed by V.S. Naipaul on the title page.

The work's narrative incorporates biographical aspects from Naipul's father's experience. Discussing the book in an article for the New York Review of Books in 1983, Naipaul wrote "of all my books, A House for Mr. Biswas is the one closest to me. It is the most personal, created out of what I saw and felt as a child. It also contains, I believe, some of my funniest writing". Jarvis A4; The New York Review of Books, Volume 30, Number 18, 24 November,- 1983.

On the 5th of November 2019, BBC News named this book one of the 100 most influential novels, and it was the author's first effort to receive international attention. The narrative of a man clawing his way out of abysmal poverty, fighting his in-laws at every point, is told in Naipaul's 1961 novel, which is lively, witty, and nasty. It's an exhilarating depiction of Caribbean living. Naipaul went on to win the Booker Prize for In A Free State, but A Bend in the River was even more well-received, earning him the Nobel Prize in Literature. In addition to fiction, he wrote remarkable travelogues and topical observations, including his trilogy on the evolution of India after WWII. A House for Mr. Biswas is the scarcest and most sought-after of his works.

"For sheer abundance of talent there can hardly be a writer alive who surpasses V.S. Naipaul. Whatever we may want in a novelist is to be found in his books: an almost Conradian gift for tensing a story, a serious involvement with human issues, a supple English prose, a hard-edged wit, a personal vision of things...[He is] the world's writer, a master of language and perception" (The New York Times Book Review). Listed on both Modern Library and Time Magazine’s Top 100 All-Time Novels (1923-2005).