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V. S. Naipaul
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A Turn in the South Paperback – January 1, 2003

by V S Naipaul (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 81 ratings
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"A Turn in the South" is a reflective journey by V. S. Naipaul in the late 1980s through the American South. Naipaul writes of his encounters with politicians, rednecks, farmers, writers, ordinary men and women, both black and white, with the insight and originality we expect from one of our best travel writers. Fascinating and poetic, this is a remarkable book on race, culture and country. 'Naipaul's writing is supple and fluid, meticulously crafted, adventurous and quick to surprise. And, as usual, there's the freshness and originality of his way of looking at things ...a fine book by a fine man, and one to be read with great enjoyment: a book of style, sagacity and wit' - "Sunday Times". 'A tissue of brilliantly recorded hearsay, of intense listening by a man with a remarkable ear' - "New York Times Review of Books".
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  1. Print length
    200 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Picador
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    5.31 x 0.98 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0330487183
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0330487184
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador (January 1, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0330487183
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0330487184
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.98 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 81 ratings

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V. S. Naipaul

V. S. Naipaul

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4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
81 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gio
5.0 out of 5 stars A Kind Turn After All
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2002
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V. S. Naipaul went to visit the American South with the intention of writing a book about race relations, but as he traveled from state to state, or rather from community to community, he found that racism was less the defining episteme of southern culture than a pervasive devotion to mythology--the core myths of fundamentalism, the myths of ante-bellum splendor and gallantry, the myths of special southern providence. Elvis, tobacco, and fatness are all integrated into Naipaul's perception of a South wallowing in self-mythology, a culture that abounds in self-consciousness without ever achieving relativism. Nonetheless, Naipaul finds, he likes traveling in the South, and in the end he writes a book which is as gentle and sympathetic to his subject as could reasonably be desired.
Not an American, neither White nor Black, certainly not a man of religion, Naipaul credits the comforts and strengths that religiosity brings to Southerners of both races, while he also identifies the stifling consequences. This is easily the most accurate and insightful portrayal of the South that I've ever read, not even excluding literary giants like Faulkner and Welty.
The writing style is remarkably casual, almost off-hand, not at all high-brow, yet the reader will find that Naipaul knows exactly what he wants to say and where he thinks the "turn in the south" will take us.
30 people found this helpful
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Percentsign
4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, contemplative reading, though slightly outdated
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2020
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Naipaul's "A Turn in the South" describes Naipaul’s impressions as he travels throughout the American South from April 1985 - August 1985. He starts off in Harlem as a preparation, and then he visits North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Tallahassee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana (briefly) and Tennessee. He visits plantations, museums, monuments, factories, Graceland, Tuskegee University, and other places. He also speaks to regular people, such as students and waitresses, and to popular people, such as former Governor William Winter. Underscoring all of his impressions, as well, is a feeling that Naipaul did a ton of research beforehand, and some of traveling here is to either validate or challenge what he read from books.

That the setting is 1985 is important if you're reading the book today. Some of these areas have experienced changes. For example, Greensboro in 1985 had about 160,000 people in 1985, and today, that area has almost 300,000. Forsyth County had about 30,000 mostly white people in 1985; today it has almost 250,000 (including many Asians and Hispanics). The metro Atlanta area had 2-3 million people in 1985. Today, it has around 6 million .... These details mean that some of Naipaul's impressions are outdated or obsolete now. Some of the rural areas that he saw are now urbanized, some of all-white or all-black towns that he saw are now diverse.

Still, the book has value. Naipaul says at the beginning that “What I had heard ... about the racial demeanor of the South had been too shocking. It had tainted the United States, and made me close my mind the South.” So basically, he heard the South was a racist place. But as Naipaul travels throughout the South, he begins to change that outlook. He is able to look beyond racism and see the South as something more, saying “My thoughts … were about the race issue … my subject would become that other South – of order and faith, and music and melancholy – which I didn't know about.” Basically, instead of linking the South negatively to slavery and Jim Crow, Naipaul at the end has learned to link the South to religion, gospel music, Elvis Presley, country music, and rock n' roll. He basically vindicates the South, releasing it from the popular perception as a place of racism and rural backwardness.

For Naipaul, this book stands out for its positivity. His travelogues about the Caribbean and India are laced with criticism, but this book Is not. It appears that Naipaul really likes the South and the people who live there. The book has good writing, but you should know that it can get a little contemplative and poetic. You might have to read slowly to understand what he's saying, so the 300 pages feels like 450-500 pages. Before he visits Graceland, he would spend about 2-3 pages talking about the themes of these travelogues, as if he's trying to justify (to the reader) his decision to visit Graceland. I didn't feel that was necessary for him to do. The passages about catfish and tobacco farming get a little technical and long-winded.

Naipaul offers some insightful thoughts from an Indo-Caribbean's perspective. For example, he notes that African-Americans did not obtain all of their freedoms until the 1960s whereas Afro-Caribbeans got their freedoms about 100 years earlier. But Afro-Caribbeans live in areas abandoned by the British, in tiny islands that fell out of history. In contrast, Afro-Americans live in the most advanced country in the world, so they have more room to go up the ladder. So between the Afro-Caribbeans or the African-Americans, Naipaul provokes the question as to who really got the better deal? It's a unique thought that I never pondered before reading this book.

Overall, I recommend.
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nydr
5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible Belt for the Outsiders
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2010
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This book gives you an insight into the Southern way of life. It is difficult for people brought up outside of this region to understand the culture, subculture and counterculture. Naipaul is not judgmental and assembles his encounters with locals and people's experiences into a grand painting of the South. His style is similar to his other travelogues. He is less critical than his other travelogues however, which makes this book slightly bland. He doesn't unleash his scorching criticism like say of India in India: A Wounded Civilization. The book remains relevant today and can offer some backdrop to newer political movements in the United States.
5 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful piece of writing that misses reality.
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2000
V.S. Naipaul took a short turn in the south and then wrote a piece of non-fiction that many readers believed to be a written portrait of the American south. However, I must express my doubts of the accuracy of this treatise. When I first read this book, shortly after it was published in 1989, I was impressed by his writing as an art. However, I had already spent nine years in South Carolina after moving south from Oregon; I was amazed that someone with his education and knowledge of people, traveled through the south in a period of a few months at most, then wrote a book which he believes to be an accurate and defining piece of non-fiction. I am a very observant and intelligent person, and after having resided in South Carolina for 20 years, I am just now really understanding the place where I have spent my entire adult life. Most of my friends are southerners, I have taught southern children for 15 years, and my own child was born here. You cannot go into any area of the world and understand it without becoming a part of it. People, and the south is famous for this, do not reveal who they are or what they believe, even to neutral strangers, until they think you are "one of them." I have always been enamoured of India, but I don't believe Mr. Naipaul would credit me with a book about India unless I really knew it. That takes a long time. I enjoy this author's novels immensely, and this book, for me, is also a work of fiction.
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rusty
4.0 out of 5 stars A very timely and perceptive look at the South in America
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2018
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I have read most of Naipul's other books which had foreign settings. How interesting to learn his views when traveling through Southern America. As usual he is very perceptive and fair in reporting what he sees. Sometimes he compares the class and racial divisions in the South to conditions in his native Trinidad and that was really fascinating. A Turn In the South is as timely as when it was written and helps to explain a way of life that much of the rest of American can't understand.
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SureVik
5.0 out of 5 stars A very pleasant read on a very complex topic
Reviewed in India on December 2, 2015
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A quick glance on Amazon's eBook version caught my attention. I had heard so much about Naipaul and this is his first work that I picked up and this wouldn't be the last one. I am very impressed by the writing style and the narration. The images that Naipaul puts across are very complex but the writing so very simple. The book goes very deep on the issues and the culture of the American south and isn't really a convention travelogue.

If you want some serious read go for it, I would suggest try to read it in one go or within a week or two. The subject covered is very nicely stringed together throughout the book. Though this is set in the later 80s/early 90s this book still seems relevant with all the recent violence and oppression on certain communities in the US. Its a 5 stars from me.
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pamela jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic account of Naipul's journey in the south of the United States
Reviewed in Italy on July 5, 2015
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Naipul is my favourite author and this book is superb. If you have never seen the Southern states of the US this book will make you want to visit them.
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FPC
3.0 out of 5 stars Una visión ¿anticuada?
Reviewed in Spain on November 2, 2014
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Leer a Naipaul es siempre un placer: su inglés es atractivo, sinuoso, preciso. No tanto en este libro, en que parece esforzarse (así lo reconoce en el prólogo) por reflejar el habla de los norteamericanos, la mayoría negros, con los que conversa.

Lo importante está en el fondo: ¿sigue de moda este libro de finales de los 80? O, dicho de otro modo ¿hemos superado el racismo?. Sigue de moda en muchos testimonios recogidos que hablan de la estremecedora realidad del racismo hasta bien entrados los 80 en un país como EE.UU. No lo hemos superado evidentemente, pese a la elección de Obama para la Casa Blanca. En tal sentido el libro, como su propio autor en muchas de sus demás obras, es ejemplar: proporciona pistas necesarias para comprender el problema.

Mucho se ha avanzado desde entonces y se ha mejorado también pero queda mucho por hacer: lo más defectuoso del libro es que apenas proyecta hacia adelante: no parece crear una expectativa para el futuro inmediato. Y Naipaul no podía ser ajeno a la existencia de Mandela, el principio del fin del apartheid en Sudáfrica (cayó a principios de los 90) y las posibilidades que abría con una enorme carga de frustraciones y rencores. ¿Cómo seguir desde entonces? Naipaul no parece preguntárselo (ni preguntárselo a nadie) y el libro queda cojo, irresuelto.
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Luc REYNAERT
5.0 out of 5 stars The past is more real than the present
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2012
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In this very personal report, V.S. Naipaul tries to uncover the extreme moods and the violent mentalities in the Southern States of the US, a world of faith, order, melancholy and music.

The past as a wound
An inscription on a grave says it all: `Death saved him the pain of defeat.'
For V.S. Naipaul, the South had moved from crisis to crisis: agricultural and industrial depression; civil-rights movement; the Great Depression; Reconstruction and the Civil War.
`And at the back of it all was the institution that had seeded most of the crises or aggravated them: slavery.'

Slavery and after
`The freed slaves remained, no longer mere units of labor and wealth, a kind of currency; they bore the brunt of the South's anguish.' Now, they are the main beneficiaries of the welfare programs. Other people resent the free check, `seeing people being given for nothing the equivalent of what you've had to work hard to earn. Medicare is another thing.'
On the white side, `a lot of us find it almost too stifling to live with the idea of race. Those black hands, which we hated and feared more than anything in the world.'
On the black side, there is `the burden of being black. There's not a day, not a moment in my life when I don't have to think about the color of my skin. If you were black, you were living in a hostile environment.'

Faith
`Southern people have a tremendous capacity for faith - black and white. The saving grace for black Southerners is the Church.'
But, on the white side, `the religious ideas of the God-given talent, work and accountability coincided with sound business practice, the coincidence of religious devotion and business sense.'

Music
Besides religious music and country music about family values, there is also a contrary current. `Audiences see the singers struggling with their own demons. And they identify with the struggle. White soul music is comparable to the role that music played for slaves. It creates community among oppressed people (blacks and poor whites).'

V.S. Naipaul is a formidable and outspoken traveler with a hawk eye. He never shunts the big questions and goes to the heart of the matter.
This book is a must read for all lovers of V.S. Naipaul's work, by an outstanding Nobel Prize winner.
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dax
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2018
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Interesting
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