Magisterarbeit
Universität Trier Fachbereich II – Anglistik

Order and Chaos in Colonial Trinidad: V. S. Naipaul′s Novel A House for Mr Biswas

von Dietrich Arlart
2004

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit dem ersten großen Roman des aus Trinidad stammenden, in England lebenden Literaturnobelpreisträgers Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas. Naipaul schildert aus der Erinnerung den Lebensweg seines eigenen Vaters im spätkolonialen Trinidad, der gekennzeichnet ist vom Kampf um Unabhängigkeit und Eigenständigkeit, von der Suche nach Orientierung und einer gültigen Ordnung in einer von gesellschaftlichen Umwälzungen geprägten Umgebung.
Biswas′ individualistische Suche spielt sich ab vor dem Hintergrund einer traditionellen hinduistischen Großfamilie. Das einzigartige gesellschaftliche Gefüge der Westindischen Inseln in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts und insbesondere das Vorhandensein einer zahlenmäßig beträchtlichen indischen Minderheit bedarf zunächst einer knappen geschichtlichen Herleitung. Die Strukturen und Ordnungsprinzipien der indischen Gesellschaftsgruppe – und die Entwicklungen, denen diese unterworfen sind – werden dann anhand der Tulsis, der Großfamilie, in die Biswas einheiratet, näher beleuchtet.
Im Anschluss daran folgt eine Auseinandersetzung mit Biswas selbst. Zum besseren Verständnis seines Charakters erfolgt zunächst eine Untersuchung seines eigenen familiären Hintergrunds. Dieser bildet eine Erklärungsgrundlage für Biswas′ Orientierungsversuche. Verschiedene Orientierungsangebote, die sich ihm im Laufe seines Lebens eröffnen, werden auf ihre Gültigkeit für Biswas hin untersucht. Abschließend wird neben dem Versuch einer Klärung der Ausgangsfrage – konnte Biswas′ Sehnsucht nach Ordnung gestillt werden? – auch den Besonderheiten des Autors Naipaul, der Leser und Rezensenten in Ost und West gleichermaßen fasziniert wie polarisiert, einige Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet.

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ... 3

2. EAST INDIANS IN TRINIDAD: A BRIEF HISTORY ... 8

3. THE TULSIS ... 11
3.1 THE ORDER OF TULSIDOM ... 11
3.1.1 Ritual ... 13
3.1.1.1 Religious Rituals ... 13
3.1.1.2 Secular Rituals ... 16
3.2 CHANGES ... 19
3.2.1 The Weakening of Inherited Notions: The Example of Caste ... 19
3.2.2 The Decline of the East ... 22

4. M. BISWAS, OUTSIDER ... 28
4.1 BISWAS′S FAMILIAL BACKGROUND ... 28
4.1.1 The Veil of Memory ... 29
4.1.2 Behind the Veil ... 30
4.2 IN SEARCH OF HIS BEARINGS ... 34
4.2.1 A Second Chance, or: Can′t the Tulsis Be a Substitute Family? ... 35
4.2.2 Religion ... 42
4.2.3 The Role of Education ... 47
4.2.3.1 School ... 47
4.2.3.2 Literature ... 48
4.2.4 Journalism ... 52
4.2.5 ′When Huts of Mud and Grass Are Pulled Down They Leave No Trace′: A House for Mr Biswas ... 56

5. CONCLUSION ... 61

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 64

1. Introduction

At the firm of André Deutsch, which has published all of his books in England, Naipaul′s editor, Diana Athill, says: "He′s such a fusspot! If you change so much as an inverted comma, he′ll spot it and change it back." Once she recalls, the prize catch nearly got away. Hurt by what he thought was an unsympathetic response at Deutsch to his 1975 novel, Guerrillas, Naipaul signed on with a new publisher. Then he saw that publisher′s catalog with a blurb hailing him as a "West Indian writer." He immediately canceled the contract and came back to Deutsch. "I′ve been breaking away from that tag all my life," says Naipaul. "′West Indian′ is a political word. It′s all the things I reject. It′s not me." ¹

Nothing could better illustrate what makes up Naipaul than this little anecdote. It is all there: His obstinacy, his hunger for appreciation and respect, his unwillingness to compromise, his meticulous obsession with detail, his preoccupation with questions of self and identity, his reluctance to let himself be labelled.
To get a grasp of Naipaul and his work, it is imperative to know something about his background, and, although a fictional variation, his first major novel, A House for Mr Biswas, gives perhaps the most profound account of it. Here Naipaul devises a version of his own father′s short life as a West Indian of East Indian descent in colonial Trinidad.
There might hardly be any situation further removed from the experience of a 21st century Central European. Yet the ostensible obstacle might in the end prove beneficial. A remote observer is obliged to acquire a knowledge of the historical and sociological background of the novel a West Indian insider would take for granted – and leave unquestioned. Lack of personal involvement at best results in an awareness of the political delicacy of the matter in question, and his very remoteness might serve to make the foreigner impartial. It remains true that "readers of Naipaul are at a disadvantage without a clear understanding of not only the general West Indian scene but also the East Indian segment of that society." An objective of this paper is thus defined: To attempt an insight into the singular Caribbean East Indian West Indian surroundings so crucial in forming Naipaul′s – and Mr Biswas′s – character.
In order to gain this insight, it is arguable not if, but to what extent anthropological and historical sources have to be consulted. It is a Naipaulian peculiarity that, renowned novelist though he is, his greatest gifts are not invention or imagination but precise observation and impeccable honesty. His publications so far include almost as many non-fictional as fictional works. The dividing line is not always easy to draw, an anthropological reading of A House for Mr Biswas thus not particularly daring. In some respects it might be even more reliable than ethnographic studies.

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1 Charles Michener: "The Dark Visions of V. S. Naipaul", pp. 63-74 in: Jussawalla, Feroza (ed.), Conversations with V. S. Naipaul. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1997, p. 67 f. Emphases, unless indicated otherwise, are always those of the original texts.
2 Dolly Zulakha Hassan: V. S. Naipaul and the West Indies. New York: Peter Lang, 1989, p. xiii.