Sir V.S Naipaul is the subject of this month’s Literary Review interview, conducted by Patrick Marnham on this occassion.
‘LR: You went to see a fortune teller in West Africa on your recent journey. What did you ask him?
VSN: Oh, I always ask them a few specific questions. Will I own a house of my own one day? Will I find emotional satisfaction with someone? Will there be a book next year? Next year … For me that is always a sign of life. But I pay no attention whatever to the replies. I’ve never had any wish to penetrate the personal future. The bigger future is always interesting, but I don’t have this personal wish.
LR: Was the African seer any good?
VSN: My favourite answer, which is quite common, is ‘Government help will be forthcoming’. After the Nobel I received a long letter from one fortune teller who had given me this assurance a few months earlier.
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