Isbn: 9780940322387 - Reading and Writing: a Personal Account (39 results)

Hardback. Condition: Very Good. I was eleven, no more, when the wish came to me to be a writer; and then very soon it was a settled ambition. But for the young V. S. Naipaul, there was a great distance between the wish and its fulfillment. To become a writer, he would have to find ways of understanding three very different cultures: his family's half-remembered Indian homeland, the West Indian colonial society in which he grew up, and the wholly foreign world of the English novels he read. In this essay of literary autobiography, V. S. Naipaul sifts through memories of his childhood in Trinidad, his university days in England, and his earliest attempts at writing, seeking the experiences of life and reading that shaped his imagination and his growth as a writer. He pays particular attention to the traumas of India under its various conquerors and the painful sense of dereliction and loss that shadows writers' attempts to capture the country and its people in prose. Naipaul's profound reflections on the relations between personal or historical experience and literary form, between the novel and the world, reveal how he came to discover both his voice and the subjects of his writing, and how he learned to turn sometimes to fiction, sometimes to the travel narrative, to portray them truthfully. Along the way he offers insights into the novel's prodigious development as a form for depicting and interpreting society in the nineteenth century and its diminishing capacity to do the same in the twentieth a task that, in his view, passed to the creative energies of the early cinema. As a child trying to read, I had felt that two worlds separated me from the books that were offered to me at school and in the libraries: the childhood world of our remembered India, and the more colonial world of our city. . What I didn't know, even after I had written my early books of fiction . was that those two spheres of darkness had become my subject. Fiction, working its mysteries, by indirections finding directions out, had led me to my subject. But it couldn't take me all the way. -V.S. Naipaul, from Reading & Writing.…

Condition: Very Good. Very Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.

hardcover. Condition: Acceptable. This is a former library/ rental copy with stickers, inserts, and markings.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Condition: Good. EX-library book. The book may have identifying marks, stamps, stickers, etc. Former Library book. hardcover 100% of proceeds go to charity! Good condition with all pages in tact. Item shows signs of use and may have cosmetic defects.

hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Includes dust jacket. Ex-library copy with usual markings.

hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

hardcover. Condition: Like New. May have light shelf wear and/or a remainder mark. Complete. Clean pages. hardcover.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Condition: Very Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Condition: Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

hardcover. Condition: Good. First Edition. Ships in a BOX from Central Missouri! May not include working access code. Will not include dust jacket. Has used sticker(s) and some writing and/or highlighting. UPS shipping for most packages, (Priority Mail for AK/HI/APO/PO Boxes).

hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority.

hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority.

Condition: Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Hard Cover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. Discount Book.

Condition: good. Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present.

hardcover. Condition: Good. First Edition. Ships in a BOX from Central Missouri! May not include working access code. Will not include dust jacket. Has used sticker(s) and some writing or highlighting. UPS shipping for most packages, (Priority Mail for AK/HI/APO/PO Boxes).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 3rd printing; dj w/unclipped price, in mylar; lite green c w/gilt spine titles;; 64 pages w/some underlining in pencil.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. VERY GOOD HARDCOVER WITH DJ.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. 8vo. - over 7¾ in. - 9¾ in. 64pp., a Near Fine copy with an unmarked interior; the dust jacket is Very Good with light fading and minor sticker residue to the wraps.

Hardcover. Condition: New.

Condition: As New. First edition copy. . Like New dust jacket. In protective mylar cover.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. ABout new book, still stiff to open, in crisp dust jacket.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

Hardcover. Condition: Like New. Publisher: NYRB, NY., 2000. First Edition, First Printing. FINE hardcover book in FINE dust-jacket. PRISTINE. As New. Unread. Not remainder marked. Not price-clipped. Not a book club edition. Not an ex-library copy. All of our books with dust-jackets are shipped in fresh, archival-safe mylar protective sleeves.…

Condition: Good.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Includes dust jacket. NEW EU 3 EURO CHARGE FOR IMPORTS IS INCLUDED IN OUR SHIPPING PRICE. ALL ITEMS ARE DISPATCHED FROM THE UK, ALL OVERSEAS ORDERS SENT BY TRACKABLE AIR MAIL. IF YOU ARE LOCATED OUTSIDE THE UK PLEASE ASK US FOR A POSTAGE QUOTE FOR MULTI VOLUME SETS BEFORE ORDERING.…

1st edition. Near fine cloth copy in a very good if slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust-wrapper. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description: 64 p. ; 21 cm. Subjects: Authors, Indic 20th century Biography; Authors, Trinidadian 20th century Biography; East Indians Trinidad and Tobago Social life and customs. 1 Kg.…

1st edition. Near fine cloth copy in a very good if slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust-wrapper. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description: 64 p. ; 21 cm. Subjects: Authors, Indic 20th century Biography; Authors, Trinidadian 20th century Biography; East Indians Trinidad and Tobago Social life and customs. 1 Kg.…