LONDON, April 29: After Salman Rushdie, another famed British author of Indian origin, V S Naipaul, has come out with a bold venture to retrace life in fundamentalist Islamic states in his just about to be released book Beyond Belief. In the book to be released next week, the Trinidad-born Naipaul retraces through a journey, life in the fundamentalist Islamic states like Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan and Malaysia, with first hand accounts of members of Khomeini's suicide battalions labelled the Pasadaran.The book is compilation of stories and tales of a personal journey through these lands for the past 17 years, Naipaul was quoted by the media as saying.``All my works has a kind of relationship one way or the other. Everything begins with my own background. I try to explore all facets of that background, Africa, England, India and then the Muslim world, the non-Muslim Arab world,'' Naipaul said.
Beyond Belief, Naipaul said, ``was prompted by two things -- one a wish to update, or to look at thecountries which were among the believers, and the other to carry out something for India: a wounded civilisation, because of Muslim invasion, from which it has never recovered.
The author of 12 novels and 11 books of non-fiction, some going on to win international acclaim, Naipaul said his recent travels to Islamic states had led him to come to an understanding of what he called, ``neuroses of conversion''.
He admitted some sections of the Islamic community might get offended by his new work, but said it was just a reflection of his feeling seeing from close quarters what life in fundamentalist states was about.
Naipaul on his new work said, ``there is bound to be a criticism and that's how it should be. But it is not a book of opinions. It is kind of exploration.''
He said ``in my book, being a traveller was not important. What was important with whom I was travelling. I have written about their experiences and I strive to define civilisation through their experiences.''
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
