Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by V.S. Naipaul

Quote by V.S. Naipaul

“I had never examined this fear of Trinidad. I had never wished to. In my novels I had only expressed this fear; and it is only now, at the moment of writing, that I am able to attempt to examine it. I knew Trinidad to be unimportant, uncreative, cynical. The only professions were those of law and medicine, because there was no need for any other; and the most successful people were commission agents, bank managers and members of the distributive trades. Power was recognized, but dignity was allowed to no one. Every person of eminence was held to be crooked and contemptible. We lived in a society which denied itself heroes.”

Quote by V.S. Naipaul

Book:The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited
Create image

Work

The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

V.S. Naipaul

Browse famous quotes and profile details for V.S. Naipaul. more

You May Also Like

“The Trinidad Carnival and the calypso are both theatres in and metaphors through which the drama of Trinidad’s social history is encoded and enacted, historically a celebratory mass/mas theatre of contested social space: the domain of the stick fighter, the Wild Indian, the Pierrot Grenade, the Midnight Robber, the chantwel and his descendant, the calypsonian, and the pan man of the emerging steelband movement into the 1960s.”

CultureTraditionTheatreCalypsoCarnivalTrinidad And TobagoWest IndianSteel Pan
Author:Gordon Rohlehr
Create image

“I treasured these slightly mad little escapades. They were part of the carnival spirit of the city, which seemed on the verge of breaking into a fiesta. Even the five-and-ten-cent stores, the epitome of national conformity, took on a local flavor with their displays of turquoise and silver, Aztec pottery, and hand-tooled leather simply screaming for the open marketplace, while the fake pearls crouched back in awe. But it was the gay little Mexican girls who, smiling sweet-tempered behind the counters, set the mood. Never rude, never dull, never tired, they lent a graciousness to the city that seemed to be in secret league with the sunny atmosphere to conjure up its lighthearted spell.”

TexasMexicoSan AntonioFiestaTxMargaret Brown KilikThe Duchess Of AngusSan Antonio TexasSan Antonio Tx
Book:The Duchess of Angus
Create image

“I didn't even feel quite comfortable about having a modestly good time. This guilt was a holdover from the bleak cold days of the Depression when the long gray lines quickly scratched through the hardly realized moments of color ... the long winter dream played out against an always nightmarish backdrop of black and white. Ironic indeed that it took another nightmare, the red and gold blast of war, to make us rub our eyes and become accustomed once again to a brilliant spectacle. The unfamiliar color dulled our senses to the horror. We were enjoying ourselves for the first time in a decade. This was the carnival time of life, and we intended to celebrate, and celebrate we did, although a bit uneasily and self-consciously.”

DepressionWorld War IiAmerican HistoryWwiiSecond World WarThe DepressionMargaret Brown KilikThe Duchess Of Angus
Book:The Duchess of Angus
Create image

“There must be some place in this burg with signs of life," he grumbled. This attitude of boredom toward our city by the soldiers and their wives irritated me to the point of scratching anger. "Someday you'll realize that you never had it so good," I predicted. But when I became older, I realized that most people are completely lacking in sensitivity to and harmony with the world in which they live. In a larger sense, that is. Unless they are surrounded by their own familiar possessions and a few habitual friends, all is meaningless. There is nothing under the sun to interest them.”

MilitaryPerspectiveTransienceSan AntonioMargaret Brown KilikThe Duchess Of AngusJane Davis
Book:The Duchess of Angus
Create image