१२ ऑगस्ट, २०१८

"Naipaul’s sympathy for the political and emotional fragility of his characters did not extend, alas, to his wife."

"His brutally fulfilling affair with Margaret Gooding—'I wished to possess her as soon as I saw her,' he tells his biographer—gradually voided a passionless marriage. In the mid-nineteen-seventies, husband and wife began to spend more and more time apart, as Naipaul travelled on ceaseless journalistic assignments. Naipaul’s sister Savi suggests that once [Naipaul's wife] Pat realized that she would not have children, and that her husband was committedly unfaithful, she lost her confidence as a woman. This is an extraordinary biography because Patrick French has had access both to Pat’s diaries and to searching interviews with Naipaul, whose candor is formidable: as always, one feels that while Naipaul may often be wrong, he is rarely untruthful, and, indeed, that he is likely to uncover twenty truths on the path to error. Pat’s diaries make for painful reading: 'I felt assaulted but I could not defend myself.' 'He has been increasingly frenzied and sadly, from my point of view, hating and abusing me.' Pat died of breast cancer in 1996. 'It could be said that I had killed her,' Naipaul tells French. 'It could be said. I feel a little bit that way.'"

From "Wounder And Wounded/V. S. Naipaul’s empire" by James Wood, originally published in The New Yorker in 2008, featured on The New Yorker front page today because Naipaul died yesterday.

ADDED: I'm interested in the notion that a woman has "confidence as a woman." It suggests that there is a special sort of confidence situated in sexuality, fertility, and motherhood and that a woman without that sort of confidence is not much of anything at all or will feel like nothing much and be unable to muster up any alternative reason for being.

३१ टिप्पण्या:

The Crack Emcee म्हणाले...

'It could be said that I had killed her,' Naipaul tells French. 'It could be said. I feel a little bit that way.'"

But not while you was getting that cooz, right?

People suck.

Oso Negro म्हणाले...

Great achievement always comes at great price.

Gahrie म्हणाले...

I'm interested in the notion that a woman has "confidence as a woman." It suggests that there is a special sort of confidence situated in sexuality, fertility, and motherhood and that a woman without that sort of confidence is not much of anything at all or will feel like nothing much and be unable to muster up any alternative reason for being.

I'm interested in the fact that the women's movement, and/or feminism, has spent the last fifty years destroying this very idea...one that had been broadly accepted for centuries. It's almost like there is an ideology out there dedicated to destroying Western Civilization that has co-opted womanhood.

Ralph L म्हणाले...

The "loosing confidence as one's sex" exists on the "staff" side, too, not just the distaff.

The distaff is a tool for spinning, so men can be both unhinged and unspun.

Birkel म्हणाले...

Gahrie committed wrongthink that happens to be correct.

Ralph L म्हणाले...

Losing, not loosing. That's something different.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Who would ever have guessed that high achievers can be assholes?

I Have Misplaced My Pants म्हणाले...

It suggests that there is a special sort of confidence situated in sexuality, fertility, and motherhood and that a woman without that sort of confidence is not much of anything at all or will feel like nothing much and be unable to muster up any alternative reason for being.

You've been woman for many decades. Do you dispute that this is true, for many if not most women?

If there were a quibble, it would be that we could adjust that to may struggle to muster up. Then it would be completely true, in my view.

Remembering a scene from The Razor's Edge after a young woman had lost her husband and young child in a car accident and a nun in the hospital was attempting to soothe her saying it'll be all right, it'll be all right. Enraged, she screamed at the nurse How would you know you dried up old hag? You've never had a man inside you! You've never had a child inside you!

It's totally true.

Tom Grey म्हणाले...

Most women have, and want to have "confidence as a woman." Mostly meaning sexually attractive, but often, if not usually, also meaning as a wife and especially a mother.

One of the most fair critiques of male behavior / attitude is the reality that youth is especially highly valued by men. Aging women inevitably lose their "sexual attractiveness" as they age.

The beauty of youth is some 80% of the "confidence as a woman". As one ages, one needs to learn how to have confidence as a human, an older and wiser person ... an elder.

Ralph L म्हणाले...

You've been woman for many decades.

At least since 2004.

robother म्हणाले...

"as always, one feels that while Naipaul may often be wrong, he is rarely untruthful, and, indeed, that he is likely to uncover twenty truths on the path to error."

No higher praise, for any writer.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Pants: You've been woman for many decades. Do you dispute that this is true, for many if not most women?
....

It's totally true.


Playing dumb about the fundamental realities of human nature is something one expects in Western liberals, especially Western liberals of a certain Boomer or soixante-huitard vintage. But sometimes this becomes so absurd that I have a hard time believing the perp isn't putting us on. Acting as if the emotions connected to *sexuality* and *fertility*, for cryin' out loud, are merely superficial, socially-conditioned responses - wrongfeel, as it were - that can be addressed and "fixed" with rational analysis and a good dose of egalitarian, free-choice rhetoric?

Nah, they can't be serious.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"she lost her confidence as a woman"

It is assumed that she couldn't possibly have enough regular old confidence to tell an a**hole to f** off.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"You've been woman for many decades."

I never went in for that Helen Reddy kind of talk... I am woman...

It's horrific to think of being a woman like the Pat described by her sister-in-law..

Who among us is the person our sister-in-law sees us to be — especially after her brother has utterly disrespected us. Notice that she's kind of blaming Pat. Pat brought it on herself by reacting to her husband's infidelity by shrinking into a little thing that couldn't be any sort of match for the great man who is my brother.

Layers and layers of bullshit.

I would need to write a novel to find a way that any of that has to do with me.

Oso Negro म्हणाले...

Maybe Pat nurtured a few solid relationships and had a rich inner life. Maybe she has a lesbian lover with astonishing orals skills. Who's to say?

Psota म्हणाले...

Wait...when did Crack Emcee come back????

Two-eyed Jack म्हणाले...

I think that the notion of "confidence as a woman" is an honor concept. A useful definition of honor is "the right to respect by an honor circle." You can lose your honor by doing something that allows others to disrespect you, but also by deciding that you no longer are owed this respect. Humbled or humiliated, two related words that have the same root, but interestingly different meanings.

Here it is asserted the woman felt that she was no longer owed respect as a woman. I would say the loss of honor is what underlies the loss of "confidence."

Ralph L म्हणाले...

My brain put an article in Pants's sentence.

Naipaul’s sister Savi suggests
So "confidence as a woman" is a 2nd hand paraphrase of a suggestion of what?

'I felt assaulted but I could not defend myself.'
Condemned by her own words. I wish my father had kicked the step-monster to the curb before she wore him down and cleaned him out, so this doesn't always go in one direction.

अनामित म्हणाले...

AA to pants: "You've been woman for many decades."

I never went in for that Helen Reddy kind of talk... I am woman...

It's horrific to think of being a woman like the Pat described by her sister-in-law..


That's not the point Pants was addressing. (And it's obvious she just mistyped and left out the "a".)

But you know that.

William म्हणाले...

He didn't shoot her. He never once tried to stab her. He wasn't a chronic alcoholic. As celebrated writers go, he wasn't such a bad husband.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"Naipaul’s sister Savi suggests that once [Naipaul's wife] Pat realized that she would not have children, and that her husband was committedly unfaithful, she lost her confidence as a woman."

And Althouse: "It's horrific to think of being a woman like the Pat described by her sister-in-law. Who among us is the person our sister-in-law sees us to be — especially after her brother has utterly disrespected us. Notice that she's kind of blaming Pat. Pat brought it on herself"

Right. It's just one woman dissing another. Women are special that way.

D 2 म्हणाले...

There are enough very very old statues lying around suggesting that one of the fundamental aspects of either womanhood OR manhood for millennia was associated with child-making. I understood primitive humanity worshipped fertility and virility. I presume 10,000s (100,000s?) of years in that context as a species lingers on in our psyche, even if we can travel to the moon or watch a dog bark in Asia over an iPhone. Give us a few more 100 years maybe, and the arrival of our new robot space insect overlords, to erase that component of our primitive biological minds.

I also don't know if this isn't both a man or woman thing. That is: I don't read it as exclusive to woman. It was phrased that way because she is a woman. The writer would have used manhood if she was a he.
Many people of either gender will - to use pants word, which fits, I think - "struggle" with the thought of their role in this world when they come up against a hard biological reality. (ie wanting a child but unable to conceive one)

n.n म्हणाले...

Men and women are equal in rights and complementary in Nature. Each sex should find comfort and strength in their character and gendered attributes.

Earnest Prole म्हणाले...

Two good pieces, “Naipaul and his three women” and “VS Naipaul says no woman is his equal”.

buwaya म्हणाले...

Naipaul was probably correct, about women writers.
His work is not a bit appealing to women, things from a different world.
Incompatible value systems.

I Have Misplaced My Pants म्हणाले...

Yes, of course I meant "a woman." Sorry for the typo.

I Have Misplaced My Pants म्हणाले...

And, Althouse, my point was that almost all women need and want to be desired, to participate in a loving and intimate sexual relationship, and to bear their beloved's children. Duh?

I Have Misplaced My Pants म्हणाले...

Of course the poor woman should not have based her confidence on whether she could maintain the attentions of a cad, but you are asking about the general existence of that instinct.

wwww म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Sydney म्हणाले...

I'm interested in the notion that a woman has "confidence as a woman." It suggests that there is a special sort of confidence situated in sexuality, fertility, and motherhood and that a woman without that sort of confidence is not much of anything at all or will feel like nothing much and be unable to muster up any alternative reason for being.

I took the "lost her confidence as a woman" to mean that she felt unloved and perhaps incapable of being loved.

Phil 314 म्हणाले...

What’s the Venn diagram of great writer and asshole?