V.S. Naipaul, man and writer / Gillian Dooley.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [155]-159) and index.

"Apprentice pieces": Miguel Street, The mystic masseur, and The suffrage of Elvira -- Fiction versus nonfiction : a house for Mr Biswas -- The journeys begin: The Middle Passage, An area of darkness, and The loss of El Dorado -- Branching out: Mr Stone and the knights companion, The mimic men, and A flag on the island -- Finding the correct form: In a free state -- Sex and violence: Guerrillas and A bend in the river -- Investigations abroad: middle-period nonfiction -- A definition of the writing self: The enigma of arrival -- Capturing the reality: later travel books -- Three novels: A way in the world, Half a life, and Magic seeds.