Subseries B - V. S. Naipaul writings

Sub-Series

Identifier: 1993.001.1.B

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: This collection is the life archive of Nobel prize winning author V. S. Naipaul. Sir Vidia was born in Trinidad, educated at Oxford, and author of A House for Mr. Biswas and 20 other volumes of fiction and non-fiction reporting. The collection also includes manuscripts, correspondence files and personal and family memorabilia.

Dates

1935 - 2000

Language

From the Collection: These materials are in English.

Access

This material is open for research use by any registered reader.

Extent

From the Collection: 51 Linear Feet

Additional Description

General

Mr. Naipaul carefully preserved his early manuscripts and later placed them, in two large boxes, with a London warehouse. When the boxes were retrieved in 1992, they were found to contain only unrelated, canceled financial papers and it was discovered that the warehouse, through confusion in its records, had destroyed Mr. Naipaul's materials believing them to be boxes with storage numbers it had been instructed by another customer to burn. Some manuscripts were preserved in a bank vault, and one -- MIGUEL STREET -- was on loan to a library in the Caribbean. Other early materials have since been found mixed with later records. All drafts, manuscripts, and typescripts which are known to have survived are listed in this inventory. These materials have been sorted but are not yet organized for use. They consist of a great many clippings with PAN's interspersed notes and drafts.