22/04/2024
Folks. Friends of Mr. Biswas has an important event giving us a sense of one of the greats, Seepersad Naipaul on May 4, 2024 at the Couva Public Library at 2.30 pm to 5 pm.
Seepersad Naipaul (1906–1953) was a Trinidadian writer and the father of V. S. Naipaul and Shiva Naipaul. He married into the influential Indo-Trinidadian Capildeo family. Seepersad Naipaul worked as the first Indo-Trinidadian journalist for the Trinidad Guardian. His only book, The Adventures of Gurudeva, is a collection of linked comic short stories that was first published in Trinidad and Tobago in 1943 (under the title Gurudeva and Other Indian Tales). Interestingly, the elder Naipaul wanted his son "Vido" (as he called him) to try to get his story collection published in London, with the hope that any earnings would help the family escape poverty in Trinidad and Tobago. However, the book was not published in London until after Seepersad's death5.
Additionally, there is a fascinating collection of family letters titled Between Father and Son, which features correspondence between Seepersad Naipaul and V. S. Naipaul, along with other family members. These letters span from around the time Vido won a scholarship to Oxford University until the older Naipaul's passing. The collection was published in 1999 and was also excerpted in The New Yorker
