The World Is What It Is

The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul is a biography of the Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French. It was published in 2008 (by Picador in the UK and Knopf in the USA). The title is the opening sentence from Naipaul's book A Bend in the River:

The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.

The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul

Author	Patrick French
Language	English
Subject	V. S. Naipaul
Genre	Biography
Publication date	January 1, 2008
Pages	554
ISBN	9781400044054 Hardcover

French deals with Naipaul's family background and his life from his birth in 1932 until his second marriage in 1996.^[1]

Reception

The biography has been reviewed by The New York Times,^[2] Literary Review,^[3] The Independent,^[4] and The Times,^[5] among others. The reviewers include Paul Theroux, who wrote an earlier book about Naipaul.^[6]

The biography won unanimous praise from all quarters including Naipaul experts Teju Cole and James Wood in the New Yorker.^[7]

Awards and honors

The biography was selected by the editors of the New York Times Book Review as one of the Times' "10 Best Books of 2008."^[8] It won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography,^[9] and the British literary award the Hawthornden Prize.

References

1. French suggests that there may be a sequel.
2. Packer, George (21 November 2008). "A Life Split in Two". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
3. Massie, Allan. "Living for Literature". Literary Review. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
4. Hussein, Aamer (4 April 2008). "The enigma of survival". The Independent. Archived from the original on April 8, 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
5. Carey, John (30 March 2008). "The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of VS Naipaul by Patrick French". Times Online. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
6. Theroux, Paul (April 6, 2008). "Paul Theroux claims new biography reveals the true monster in V S Naipaul". Times Online. Archived from the original on June 24, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
7. Wood, James (2008-11-24). "Wounder And Wounded". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2023-01-03. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
8. "The 10 Best Books of 2008". The New York Times. 3 December 2008. Archived from the original on 22 September 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
9. "2008". National Book Critics Circle. Archived from the original on 2022-01-25. Retrieved 2022-01-25.