A Bend in the River
| Author | V. S. Naipaul |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Vintage (publisher) |
Publication date | March 13, 1989 (Reissue Edition) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 288 pages |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-72202-5 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
A Bend in the River (ISBN 0-8446-6631-9) is a 1979 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul.
Set in an unnamed African country after independence, the book is narrated by Salim, an ethnically Indian Muslim and a shopkeeper in a small, growing city in the country's remote interior. Though born and raised in another country in a more cosmopolitan city on the coast (likely Mombasa) during the colonial period, as neither European nor fully African, Salim observes the rapid changes in his homeland with an outsider's distance. Although Salim never identifies the country where he lives, the events closely parallel the Belgian Congo's transformation into Zaire under Mobutu Sésé Seko (the novel's "Big Man") - with the unnamed city in which the novel is set having some similarity with the Zairean river port of Kisangani. Others see a resonance with Idi Amin's Uganda - however, as Uganda is referred to multiple times in the book as being a place people go to, or hear news from, this seems unlikely.
The first sentence of the book is considered emblematic of Naipaul's world view: "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it."
A Bend in the River was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1979.