First published in 1988, Peter Hughes explores the work of V. S. Naipaul, and the interplay of fictional and non-fictional patters in what is his obsessive vision of human life. He includes a reading of Naipaul's texts, usually considered highly traditional, that shows their innovative side, and points out ways that they can be illuminated through modern literary theory.

Hughes, Peter

Preface and acknowledgements; A note on the texts; 1. A world undoing itself 2. An end of the imagination 3. Islands in air 4. Trapdoors into a bottomless past 5. Plateaux of light; Notes; Bibliography