Agree that he's a complete prick, totally disagree that he's a great author. His writings are based on caricatures, on twisted and flawed views of history and the world, such as his obsession with vilifying and discrediting Islam as a religion. If he were writing a lot of this kind of stuff about Judaism or Christianity, there's no way he would be welcomed into the literary elite. The fact that he's so worshipped reveals a lot about the cultural and political biases within our intellectual culture.

"I don't mean this in an unkind way."

Confirming, yet again, that he is an insufferable ass.

When it comes to butthole Trinidadian/British writers of postcolonial fiction, Naipaul is easily in my top 12.

This should put to rest those persistent "Naipaul is dead" rumors.