In a Free State

“A Tolstoyan spirit…. The so-called Third World has produced no more brilliant literary artist.” — John Updike“Naipaul is a master of English prose.” — J. M. Coetzee, New York Review of Books“V. S. Naipaul has a substantial claim as a comic writer…. This humor, conducted throughout with the utmost stylistic quietude, is completely original.” — Kingsley Amis, The Spectator“Mr. Naipaul travels with the artist’s eye and ear and his observations are sharply discerning.” — Evelyn Waugh“For sheer abundance of talent there can hardly be a writer alive who surpasses V. S. Naipaul. [He is] the world’s writer, a master of language and perception.” — The New York Times Book Review