The Mimic MenA profound novel of cultural displacement, The Mimic Men masterfully evokes a colonial man’s experience in a postcolonial world. Born of Indian heritage and raised on a British-dependent Caribbean island, Ralph Singh has retired to suburban London, writing his memoirs as a means to impose order on a chaotic existence. His memories lead him to recognize the paradox of his childhood during which he secretly fantasized about a heroic India, yet changed his name from Ranjit Kripalsingh. As he assesses his short-lived marriage to an ostentatious white woman, Singh realizes what has kept him from becoming a proper Englishman. But it is the return home and his subsequent immersion in the roiling political atmosphere of a newly self-governed nation that ultimately provide Singh with the necessary insight to discover the crux of his disillusionment. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - Dorritt - LibraryThingOn the surface this is the memoir of a disgraced former colonial minister, Ralph Singh, exiled from the island country he briefly ruled and now living in a run-down hotel in London. But perhaps it’s ... Read full review
THE MIMIC MEN: A Novel
User Review - KirkusNaipaul's style is as distinctive as a fingerprint. At once direct of phrase and elusive of substance, it is exactly suited to the character he portrays. Singh, the narrator, is a colonial politician ... Read full review
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Bibliographic information
| Title | The Mimic Men Vintage International |
| Author | V. S. Naipaul |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Vintage Books, 2001 |
| Original from | Pennsylvania State University |
| Digitized | 2 Jun 2009 |
| ISBN | 0375707174, 9780375707179 |
| Length | 300 pages |
| Subjects | › › Fiction / Historical / General Fiction / Literary Fiction / Political |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |