The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief (Borzoi Books)

Like all of V. S. Naipaul’s “travel” books, The Masque of Africa encompasses a much larger narrative and purpose: to judge the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of civilization.From V. S. Naipaul: “For my travel books I travel on a theme. And the theme of The Masque of Africa is African belief. I begin in Uganda, at the center of the continent, do Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and end at the bottom of the continent, in South Africa. My theme is belief, not political or economical life; and yet at the bottom of the continent the political realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account.“Perhaps an unspoken aspect of my inquiry was the possibility of the subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world. The theme held until I got to the South, when the clash of the two ways of thinking and believing became far too one-sided. The skyscrapers of Johannesburg didn’t rest on sand. The older world of magic felt fragile, but at the same time had an enduring quality. You felt that it would survive any calamity.“I had expected that over the great size of Africa the practices of magic would significantly vary. But they didn’t. The diviners everywhere wanted to ‘throw the bones’ to read the future, and the idea of ‘energy’ remained a constant, to be tapped into by the ritual sacrifice of body parts. In South Africa body parts, mainly of animals, but also of men and women, made a mixture of ‘battle medicine.’ To witness this, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things.“To reach that beginning was the purpose of my book.”The Masque of Africa is a masterly achievement by one of the world’s keenest observers and one of its greatest writers.From BooklistNaipaul’s book about the “nature of African belief” is merely the latest expression of a long-held fascination, previously explored in such books as Among the Believers (1981) and Beyond Belief (1998). Erudite but not scholarly, it could be called a travelogue with dialogue; as he visits or revisits Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Gabon, and South Africa, he speaks with a wide range of people, from diplomats and royalty (being a Nobelist grants him greater access than most), to politicians and businessmen, to academics and medicine men. He hears from Christians, Muslims, and those who hold more ancient beliefs. We learn much, particularly how complex and layered these beliefs can be, but more from the speakers than from Naipaul, whose paper-dry narrative style allows for few digressions. He does muse, however, on belief as related to progress, and which beliefs promote or impede progress—though not too much about what constitutes progress. As ever, Naipaul can be prickly, and some offhand observations seem likely to rankle those he’s writing for. In an interesting side note, this book begins in Uganda, where Naipaul first met disgruntled former mentee Paul Theroux, who in Dark Star Safari (2003) retraces his own past in Africa. Naipaul’s safari, though perhaps equally informative, is less rugged and opinionated. And where Theroux rails against Africa’s promise gone unfulfilled, Sir Vidia looks, and listens, and makes few grand pronouncements. --Keir Graff Reviewpraise for V. S. Naipaul’s THE MASQUE OF AFRICA“This latest journey to the continent is part of a larger whole, the developing narrative of a single consciousness.... The Masque of Africa marks a startling evolution of that consciousness.... Still writing with the same spare, acerbic lyricism...Naipaul is willing to express a new attitude, one of self-doubt. This acknowledgement of human frailty—starting with his own—broadens his observational powers immeasurably.... [providing] a new capacity for wonderment [and a] new willingness to explore the authenticity of indigenous African belief.... The tone of this, his most recent foray into the search for life’s meaning, is respectful and sometimes even hesitant.... [W]e move from one voice to the next without really noticing that the speaker has changed. There’s not a lot of unnecessary scene-setting: what’s important is what’s being said.... Naipaul has always revealed a curious admixture of extrovert and introvert on the page.... Now...more adept at switching between these two ways of being with less violence...he has found a greater ability to poke fun at himself.... [With this] new kind of humor—one that, being softer, is even sharper [Naipaul] transcends the shadowy wryness to which his readers have long been accustomed.... [His is a] brilliant and elastic mind.” Eliza Griswold, The New York Times Book Review“A master still at his craft....Naipaul’s writing [is] simple, concise, engaging.... Like Flaubert and Hemingway, Naipaul uses less to say more, and here he has few equals.... [T]he obscurity of his inquiry makes it fresh.... Naipaul’s latest African journey is eyewitness reporting at its best.... [T]he writing [has] a texture, honestly and ground truth that makes high-minded criticism ring somewhat hollow.” Alex Perry, Time Magazine“[Naipaul] is attentive to and gives voice to people, all sorts of people.... In The Masque of Africa, Naipaul uses himself as a character only as a way for us to see others through his conflicts, moods, ears, eyes, and biases. And in between his scenes of sharply observed interactions, we are always surrounded by the people of the continent talking.” Binyavanga Wainaina, Boston Globe“Naipaul gets it. He is dry, often irked, sometimes enraged....But he is also patient (not a trait often associated with him), engaged, funny, self-reflective and thoughtful....in writing shorn of excess...he has a wicked way with syntax....The Masque of Africa is a book for outsiders, for those who may never visit Africa or may know it only superficially. But it is also a book in which Africans themselves may find something to learn. Naipaul is a difficult, imperfect narrator who does not care to be liked, but he is an honest one and doesn’t dissemble. Somehow, by the end of it all, and despite his best efforts, I have grown to like him.” Aminatta Forna, The Observer (London)“[O]ne of Naipaul’s most stirring books....[he] combines the objectivity of a disaster photographer and an understanding of history.” Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent (London)“[Naipaul] provide[s] a narrative order for people to make sense of what has happened to them....His honesty about his failures to connect with people makes us better able to appreciate his breakthroughs. Part of the pleasure of reading him is watching his frustration cool into comprehension....With extraordinary sensitivity, Naipaul registers the beauty of these traditions but also captures their cruelty.” Thomas Meaney, Bookforum“This beautiful and humane book is less Olympian than some of Naipaul’s earlier travel narratives, though the idea that underpins it is so basic that it achieves a kind of majesty. Cruelty to animals and to nature will destroy men too. ‘The ground around the abattoir goes on and on. When sights like this meet the eyes...there can be no idea of humanity, no idea of grandeur.’” Harper’s Magazine“[A] elegiac spiritual return to a landscape he once inhabited in 1966.... Ever fair-minded, soberly reflective, and conciliatory, Naipaul offers his sage observations in the hope that by learning more, we accept greater.” Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)“Naipaul narrates the journey with finely wrought detail, transporting the reader to the landscapes and city scenes he describes. Naipaul is witty, and his writing can be quite charming and delicate. He is also disarmingly frank in his assessments, a quality often not found in discussions of belief.... A sharply written and engrossing exploration of the effects of religious and spiritual belief on societies. Effective both as a vivid piece of travel writing and for its glimpses of belief in Africa.” Library Journal“Engaging.” Kirkus

Like all of V. S. Naipaul’s “travel” books, The Masque of Africa encompasses a much larger narrative and purpose: to judge the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of civilization.

From V. S. Naipaul: “For my travel books I travel on a theme. And the theme of The Masque of Africa is African belief. I begin in Uganda, at the center of the continent, do Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and end at the bottom of the continent, in South Africa. My theme is belief, not political or economical life; and yet at the bottom of the continent the political realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account.
“Perhaps an unspoken aspect of my inquiry was the possibility of the subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world. The theme held until I got to the South, when the clash of the two ways of thinking and believing became far too one-sided. The skyscrapers of Johannesburg didn’t rest on sand. The older world of magic felt fragile, but at the same time had an enduring quality. You felt that it would survive any calamity.
“I had expected that over the great size of Africa the practices of magic would significantly vary. But they didn’t. The diviners everywhere wanted to ‘throw the bones’ to read the future, and the idea of ‘energy’ remained a constant, to be tapped into by the ritual sacrifice of body parts. In South Africa body parts, mainly of animals, but also of men and women, made a mixture of ‘battle medicine.’ To witness this, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things.

“To reach that beginning was the purpose of my book.”

The Masque of Africa is a masterly achievement by one of the world’s keenest observers and one of its greatest writers.

The New York Times - Eliza Griswold

Still writing with the same spare, acerbic lyricism that earned him the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature, Naipaul is willing to express a new attitude, one of self-doubt. This acknowledgment of human frailty—starting with his own—broadens his observational powers immeasurably…Naipaul knows how to let a story build itself quietly through accretion, through accumulated observations of those he meets. His is neither a romantic's nor an anthropologist's tale. It is a collection of voices that make sense only in relation to one another. When this mode of storytelling works, we move from one voice to the next without really noticing that the speaker has changed. There's not a lot of unnecessary scene-setting: what's important is what's being said.

A remarkable work of African reportage by the Nobel Prize-winning author that surveys the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of civilization. “Neither a romantic’s nor an anthropologist’s tale. It is a collection of voices that make sense only in relation to one another....[Naipaul’s is a] brilliant and elastic mind.”— The New York Times Book Review From V. S. Naipaul: “For my travel books I travel on a theme. And the theme of The Masque of Africa is African belief. I begin in Uganda, at the center of the continent, do Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and end at the bottom of the continent, in South Africa. My theme is belief, not political or economical life; and yet at the bottom of the continent the political realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account. “Perhaps an unspoken aspect of my inquiry was the possibility of the subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world. The theme held until I got to the South, when the clash of the two ways of thinking and believing became far too one-sided. The skyscrapers of Johannesburg didn’t rest on sand. The older world of magic felt fragile, but at the same time had an enduring quality. You felt that it would survive any calamity. “I had expected that over the great size of Africa the practices of magic would significantly vary. But they didn’t. The diviners everywhere wanted to ‘throw the bones’ to read the future, and the idea of ‘energy’ remained a constant, to be tapped into by the ritual sacrifice of body parts. In South Africa body parts, mainly of animals, but also of men and women, made a mixture of ‘battle medicine.’ To witness this, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things. “To reach that beginning was the purpose of my book.” The Masque of Africa is a masterly achievement by one of the world’s keenest observers and one of its greatest writers. Like all of V.S. Naipaul's "travel" books, The Masque of Africa encompasses a much larger narrative and purpose: to judge the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of civilization. From V.S. Naipaul: "For my travel books I travel on a theme. And the theme of The Masque of Africa is African belief. I begin in Uganda, at the center of the continent, do Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and end at the bottom of the continent, in South Africa. My theme is belief, not political or economical life; and yet at the bottom of the continent the political realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account. "Perhaps an unspoken aspect of my inquiry was the possibility of the subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world. The theme held until I got to the South, when the clash of the two ways of thinking and believing became far too one-sided. The skyscrapers of Johannesburg didn't rest on sand. The older world of magic felt fragile, but at the same time had an enduring quality. You felt that it would survive any calamity. "I had expected that over the great size of Africa the practices of magic would significantly vary. But they didn't. The diviners everywhere wanted to 'throw the bones' to read the future, and the idea of 'energy' remained a constant, to be tapped into by the ritual sacrifice of body parts. In South Africa body parts, mainly of animals, but also of men and women, made a mixture of 'battle medicine.' To witness this, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things. "To reach that beginning was the purpose of my book." The Masque of Africa is a masterly achievement by one of the world's keenest observers and one of its greatest writers. From the Hardcover edition Like all of V. S. Naipaul’s “travel” books, The Masque of Africa encompasses a much larger narrative and purpose: to judge the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of civilization. From V. S. Naipaul: “For my travel books I travel on a theme. And the theme of The Masque of Africa is African belief. I begin in Uganda, at the center of the continent, do Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and end at the bottom of the continent, in South Africa. My theme is belief, not political or economical life; and yet at the bottom of the continent the political realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account. “Perhaps an unspoken aspect of my inquiry was the possibility of the subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world. The theme held until I got to the South, when the clash of the two ways of thinking and believing became far too one-sided. The skyscrapers of Johannesburg didn’t rest on sand. The older world of magic felt fragile, but at the same time had an enduring quality. You felt that it would survive any calamity. “I had expected that over the great size of Africa the practices of magic would significantly vary. But they didn’t. The diviners everywhere wanted to ‘throw the bones’ to read the future, and the idea of ‘energy’ remained a constant, to be tapped into by the ritual sacrifice of body parts. In South Africa body parts, mainly of animals, but also of men and women, made a mixture of ‘battle medicine.’ To witness this, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things. “To reach that beginning was the purpose of my book.” The Masque of Africa is a masterly achievement by one of the world’s keenest observers and one of its greatest writers. the masque of africa by naipaul is his latest book with a specific theme.he employs the technique of proceeding from the particular to the universal.with his deep and thorough visits to to africa he makes africa into a tautly knit unit bound by certain overtly visible traits.he feels that the continent still takes pride in its inherent african mind and ethos like its initiatin to good-old rituals,its ancient culture and its viable interest in music.but like ngugi,naipaul also becomes critical of certain neocolonial elements that pull the continent into a different direction.he is sorry for africa which,like a wounded animal ,is looking for a final vindication of its own painful journey.Dr. P.Suneetha,Head,Department of English,First Grade College,Gauribidanur,Bangalore University,India