Key themes
- The house as the measure of a life — and of a self
- Colonial Trinidad and the Hinduism it preserved and distorted
- One man's stubborn desire for dignity in a world designed to deny it
About this book
Mohun Biswas, a Trinidadian Hindu who has spent his life at the mercy of his wife's large, overbearing family, spends forty-six years trying to own a house — and with it, a self. Naipaul's vast, ironic novel is both a portrait of colonial life in Trinidad and an epic of one man's stubborn desire for dignity and autonomy.
Published in 1961, A House for Mr Biswas is Naipaul's largest and most affectionate work. He described it as a tribute to his father. It has been called the greatest novel of the post-colonial Caribbean.
Discussion questions
- Mr Biswas spends his life trying to own a house and finally succeeds, briefly and at great cost. What is Naipaul saying through this specific ambition — about what property means to the dispossessed?
- The Tulsi family is rendered as overbearing and comic, but they also provide genuine community and support. How does Naipaul hold the comedy and the pathos together?
- The novel covers three generations of colonial Trinidad. How does this historical sweep serve the story of one man's life — and what does it say about the relationship between personal history and colonial history?
- Naipaul's own father was a journalist in Trinidad who struggled with similar ambitions to Mr Biswas. Does the autobiographical resonance enrich the novel — or does it risk reducing a large book to personal therapy?
- Naipaul is one of the most controversial figures in modern literature. Does knowing something about his life and views affect how you read this novel?
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