Book description
The Mystic Masseur
, V. S. Naipaul’s first published novel, is the story of Ganesh, who at
the beginning of the novel is a struggling masseur at a time when, as
the narrator puts it, ‘masseurs were ten a penny in Trinidad’. He soon
begins a meteoric rise, from failed primary school teacher and masseur
to author, revered mystic and MBE. This is a journey equally memorable
for its hilarity as its bewildering success.
Naipaul’s clarity of style, humorous touch and powerful
characterization are all in evidence in one of the author’s finest
creations. Inventive, touching and perceptive, this novel is a wonderful
introduction for readers new to Naipaul’s writing. V. S. Naipaul was
born in Trinidad in 1932. He went to England on a scholarship in 1950.
After four years at University College, Oxford, he began to write, and
since then has followed no other profession. He has published more than
twenty books of fiction and non-fiction, including Half a Life, A
House for Mr Biswas, A Bend in the River
and most recently The Masque of Africa
, and a collection of correspondence, Letters Between a Father and Son
. In 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
