Naipaul, Shiva (1945-1985), a West Indian-born novelist, wrote about the loss of Hindu culture among Trinidadians of Indian descent. He was highly critical of Trinidad’s colonial past.
Naipaul’s first novel, Fireflies, met with high acclaim when it was published in 1970. The novel, which is set in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, traces the decline of the fictional Khoja and Lutchman families. The book drew heavily on Naipaul’s own family experience. The Chip Chip Gatherers (1973) is also set in Trinidad and explores relationships between two families. A Hot Country (1983) is a bleak novel about an impoverished fictional South African state. Naipaul’s nonfiction work North of South (1978) gives an account of his travels in Africa. In Black and White (also published as Journey to Nowhere: A New World Tragedy, 1980), Naipaul showed exceptional social insight in dealing with the Jonestown massacre in Guyana, in 1978. Beyond the Dragon’s Mouth (1984) is a collection of fiction and travel writings. An Unfinished Journey (published in 1986, after Naipaul’s death) is a collection of memoirs and travel pieces.
Shivadhar Srinivasa Naipaul was born on Feb. 25, 1945, in Port-of-Spain. He was the younger brother of V. S. Naipaul, who won the 2001 Nobel Prize for literature. Shiva Naipaul was educated at Queen’s Royal College and St. Mary’s College. He won a scholarship in 1964 to Oxford University in England. Naipaul settled permanently in England. He died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 40 on Aug. 13, 1985.
