I’m a big fan of The Rockford Files especially many of the episodes written by Juanita Bartlett. I always knew I would be wonderfully entertained even if I wasn’t quite sure of what happened in the plot.
That’s the feeling I had while reading A Bend in the River. V.S. Naipaul brings together a diverse cast and sets them in a tiny town in 1963 post-colonial Africa. As they try to survive, literally and economically, the interaction between them is simple but very interesting. The war is over but another one is brewing. The peacetime between conflicts is marked by banditry, government corruption, uprisings and brutal retribution between tribes, families and classes. The reader may not know what’s going on most of the time but the characters don’t know either.
Salim, a young Indian Muslim, who has lived in the coastal region of the country all his life, travels inland …to the bush… to buy a shop which has been pretty well destroyed by the war to drive out the colonial Europeans. He slowly rebuilds the business trading with Africans and local expatriates. Other shops also reopen and Salim’s relations with the other tradesmen make up most of the novel.
As the African country tries to rediscover its own sense of identity, trouble arises from old tribal conflicts. The son of one of Salim’s friends has lineage to two warring tribes and is put in a government position since he has the best chance of talking with both tribes. He also has the best chance of angering both tribes and very little gets accomplished. Most of the characters just try to earn a living without becoming entangled in larger affairs.
One person who tries to preserve the African beliefs and traditions is a Catholic Priest who collects and preserves a large number of artifacts. During the “peace” the priest is killed and the treasures lay rotting in an abandoned building. Although he was admired and respected, his death and the loss of history changes nothing. So it was after the death of Father Huismans. In the old days his death would have caused anger, and the people would have wanted to go out and look for his killers. But now we who remained-outsiders, but neither settlers nor visitors, just people with nowhere better to go-put our heads down and got on with our business.
Salim’s observations of the situation is best summed up when he relates the problems in nearby Uganda. It ought to have had a future, but the problem with Uganda was that it wasn’t big enough. The country was now too small for its tribal hatreds. The motorcar and the modern roads had made the country too small; there would always be trouble. Every tribe felt more threatened in its territory now than in the days when everybody, including traders from the coast like our grandfathers, went about on foot, and a single trading venture could take up to a year. Africa, going back to its old ways with modern tools, was going to be a difficult place for some time.
As Africa searches for its place and identity, so does Salim. Throughout the book, he seems more African than Indian but knows he is now neither. He briefly visits Europe to discover that he does not belong there either. He returns in time for the civil war which has now destroyed his business again.
Salim’s personal relationships are no more successful. He has polite acquaintances but few friends. He does not understand his best friend since he … thought that his devotion to (his wife) made him half a man, and ignoble. When researching V.S. Naipaul, every article about him seems to point out his pride of having a mistress and how she made him a better writer. Salim’s affair with a married woman does not end well and did not endear Salim as a likable character to me.
However, the renderings seem honest and the book is a compelling study of an area and time that I knew little about. Naipul writes like a cross between Ernest Hemingway and Willa Cather. Africa remains a region of turmoil and, if you are interested in learning more, I recommend you start with A Bend in the River.
Next Week – Ernie takes on The War of the Worlds.
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