As a concept, it is not an entirely new one because these are the very people who our writers have written about in various stories and novels down the ages. But since it comes from Naipaul, one can always look forward to some new insights into the lives of these people.
So when Willie Chanrdan, the protagonist, sets out his journey in the world, he claims our attention for his mixed ancestry, odd and improper circumstances under which he grows up, his conflicts as a missionary school student and his attempts to get out of his tormenting background.
The scene shifts to London where he goes for higher studies on a scholarship. Now, with the bitter memories of home left behind, he begins his search for a new identity. He moves around a lot, makes friends with the rich and intellectual and becomes a man about the town. He gets to be a published author along the way. But what jars his otherwise smooth forward journey is his utter failure in his first and subsequent sexual adventures. This, alas, makes him sort of crazy and he now devotes most of his time and energy to improve his sexual prowess.
Next scene is Africa where he comes down to live with Ana, a half-Portuguese girl, who happens to be the first woman he makes love to successfully. Here he lives as long as eighteen years - much of an easy and secured life on Ana's inherited estate. But during this period he also sows his wild oats. Willie becomes a frequenter to the underbelly of sex and soakes up the bodily pleasure in every possible form. Sex becomes his pastime and obsession. His involvement with Graca, wife of an estate-manager, is his ultimate pleasure point where he discovers a brutal way of the sex game.
Half A Life is quite a shocking novel that comes from one of the great novelists of our times. Beginning brilliantly and with promise, the novel meanders into various sex routes and ends up at an exhausting point. Is lust the only material our half-and-half people are made of? Do they have only sexual unfulfilment and no other deprivations? Or is sex the tool that compensates for other lapses of their lives? These questions keep coming to you as you go through the novel, and give you an uneasy feeling. At best it is only the half story of half-and-half people.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Mrinal Bose's Indo-Anglian Fiction topic, please visit the Discussions page.