Nobel Prize for Literature goes to ‘Sir Vidia’
Sir Vidia, as he is called in Britain, didn’t want to come to the telephone when the Nobel committee called on Thursday to inform him that he had won this year’s prize for literature. Whatever they have to say, whoever they are, they can tell you, he reportedly told his wife. It was only when she protested, But it’s from the Nobel committee, that V. S. Naipaul picked up the phone. He subsequently declared himself utterly delighted, observing at the same time that he doesn’t represent anything but himself. Born in Trinidad to a family of immigrants from India, Naipaul studied in Britain, settling in Wiltshire in the 1970s. V.S. Naipaul has written 20 novels, many with autobiographical elements. Separation, exile and an inability to adapt are his main themes. His books have been published in Greek by the Glaros and Nea Synora-Livanis publishing houses. Louisa Zaoussi, the owner of Oceanida publishers, was congratulated at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which this year honors Greece, for having acquired the translation rights to his latest book Half A Life, written after a gap of seven years, from which the photograph with his cat is taken. It is to be translated into Greek by Leonidas Karatzas and will appear early next year. The hero is the son of a learned Brahman who arrives in London during the 1950s to devote himself, as Naipaul did, to literature. All 17 closed-end funds are trading at a discount
