Sir Vidia's Shadow - A Friendship Across Five Continents

Paul Theroux

Summary

The acclaimed writer shares an intimate portrait of his former mentor V.S. Naipaul in this memoir of their thirty-year friendship and sudden falling out. 
 
Paul Theroux was a young aspiring writer when he met the legendary V.S. Naipaul in Uganda in 1966. There began a friendship that would span continents as both men ascended the ranks of literary stardom. Naipaul’s early encouragement of Theroux’s talent had a profound impact on him—yet the apprenticeship was not always easy. 
 
This heartfelt and revealing account of Theroux's thirty-year friendship with Naipaul explores the unique effect each writer had on the other. Built around exotic landscapes, anecdotes that are revealing, humorous, and melancholy, and three decades of mutual history, this is a personal account of how one develops as a writer and how a friendship waxes and wanes between two men who have set themselves on the perilous journey of a writing life. 
 
A New York Times Notable Book

Available since: 02/11/2014.

Print length: 379 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Improbable Journey An - Music...

Charles G. Lubar

The year was 1971. Thirty-year-old Charles Lubar, a Washington DC–born Harvard Law School graduate, opted to make his next home in the UK."Hired off the street" by two American lawyers in London, Lubar could never have predicted that his work would soon put him front and center at some of the biggest moments with some of the biggest names in showbiz. From the James Bond franchise to Linda Lovelace and Deep Throat; from Jim Henson and The Muppets to Michael Jackson and the Beatles; from behind the Iron Curtain to the islands of the Netherlands Antilles, Lubar's rare knowledge of the tax codes spanning Europe and the US made him an indispensable figure to creatives trying to make their financial lives work on both sides of the Atlantic.His list of clients goes on and on: Bill Graham, John Cleese, Santana, Diana Ross, Frank Oz, Chuck Traynor, Marilyn Chambers, Barbara Bach, Jane Seymour, Shakira, and Enrique Iglesias. Many turned to Lubar in real need of his assistance at the very prime (and sometimes, nadir) of their careers. Lubar's bona fides would even land him a spot on the US-UK Fulbright Commission, as president of the Yale Club of London, and a managing partner in London of one of the major international law firms. An Improbable Journey shows a risk-taker with his finger living right on the cultural pulse of a moment.

Show book

Controlled Chaos - Surgical...

David Galloway, Jenni Galloway

Chitokoloki Mission Hospital is a remote but remarkable facility in the North-Western Province of Zambia. This book comes from a compilation of daily reports about life in a remote African mission hospital. It is written from a personal and clinical angle and with a surgical emphasis because that formed the bulk of the activity that has been recorded. The detailed experiences of many patients has been captured and the authors convey the almost unbelievable reality that their experience reflects. Initially the reports formed a flowing clinical news blog and they have been assembled in book form to include the Christian context as well as insights into the reality of daily life in the local villages. Again and again these stories have been the focus of discussion and enquiry and it has been good to share the experiences to the point that others who become aware are ready to pray, support, give and even visit in order to contribute in some way to the work of the mission.

Show book

Essays Towards a Theory of...

Alexander Philip

An exploration of the fundamental realities of the existence  Is this the end? If not; how are we to discover and assure for stricken Humanity the vision and the possession of a Better Land?   In this volume plumbing the depths of human experience, Alexander Philip explores the nature of reality at its most basic level. Examining the ways that time, abstract thought, and physical sensation affect consciousness, this book posits that matter and energy are the foundations of all existence.   This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices. Alexander Phillip is the author of Essays Toward a Theory of Knowledge.

Show book

Top 10 Short Stories The - Born...

Herman Melville, Henry James,...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?

The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.

Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.

The Big Apple is rightly lauded as the place that if you can make it there you make it anywhere. It’s good advice for a writer. Many of these literary talents became world-wide behemoths, serving up their experiences and characters to a wide-eyed audience forever in their thrall. Genius has many names.

1 - The Top 10 - Born in New York - An Introduction
2 - The Great Good Place by Henry James
3 - Bartleby the Scrivener - Part 1 by Herman Melville
4 - Bartleby the Scrivener - Part 2 by Herman Melville
5 - The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving
6 - The Fullness of Life by Edith Wharton
7 - The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte
8 - Christmas Eve in War Times by Edward Payson Roe
9 - An Angel in Disguise by T S Arthur
10 - The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
11 - The Mysterious Card by Cleveland Moffet
12 - The Repairer of Reputations - Part 1 by Robert W Chambers
13 - The Repairer of Reputations - Part 2 by Robert W Chambers

Show book

My MS Story

Valerie Moffat

This is the autobiography of one woman’s life, beginning with her difficult childhood, the later devastating diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and the early effect it had on her, through to her discovery of a lifestyle that has had positive repercussions on her condition.She meets all obstacles with determination not to let them defeat her and regards these with a cheerful attitude seeing a positive side to them.

Show book

Missing - A Memoir

Lindsay Harrison

A beautifully written, intensely poignant memoir that looks at grief, family dynamics, and what happens when your world comes crashing down.A twenty-five-year-old recent graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program, Lindsay Harrison began writing Missing as a way to cope with a terrible loss. During her sophomore year at Brown University, Lindsay received a phone call from her brother that her mother was missing. Forty days later they discover the unthinkable: their mother’s body had been found in the ocean. Missing is at first a page-turning account of those first forty days, as it chronicles dealings with detectives, false sightings, wild hope, and deep despair. The balance of the story is a candid, emotional exploration of a daughter’s search for solace after tragedy as she tries to understand who her mother truly was, makes peace with her grief, and becomes closer to her father and brothers as her mother’s death forces her to learn more about her mother than she ever knew before.

Show book