V.S. Naipaul Says the Novel is Dead
Carribbean-born Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul, 72, forecast the death of the novel as an art form and said his latest novel, Magic Seeds (released here November 16) will most likely be his last. Naipaul says he can't imagine novels withstanding competition from film, and high-speed communications much longer. "For a book, you need to read and think for almost a week. No one has that kind of time anymore." During an appearance in New Dehli, Naipaul, whose masterpiece A House for Mr. Biswas brought him to prominence, said, "I'm really now quite old...books require quite a lot of energy, This book took about a year to write which I think is a long time considering that I don't do anything else."