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VOL. 11, ISSUE 4 (2025)
Fragmented identities and the desolation of the dislocated self in V.S. Naipaul’s Half a Life and Magic Seeds
Authors
M Naveena Rani, Dr. B Anand Prasad
Abstract
This paper explores the intricate interplay of
identity, exile and desolation in V. S. Naipaul’s Half a Life and Magic Seeds, two novels that encapsulate the author’s
enduring preoccupation with displacement and the fractured self. Through the
protagonist, Willie Somerset Chandran, Naipaul constructs a psychological and
cultural journey that reflects the postcolonial individual’s struggle to
reconcile conflicting heritages. Willie’s fragmented identity shaped by his
mixed parentage, colonial education and migratory experiences serves as a
metaphor for the dislocated consciousness of postcolonial societies that have
lost both historical continuity and cultural rootedness. By tracing Willie’s
journey from India to London, Africa and back to India and England which
reveals the recurring motif of rootlessness and the futility of searching for
belonging in a world of perpetual transition. Ultimately, Naipaul presents
desolation not merely as an emotional state but as a universal condition born
from the collapse of meaning in the aftermath of empire.
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Pages:41-43
How to cite this article:
M Naveena Rani, Dr. B Anand Prasad "Fragmented identities and the desolation of the dislocated self in V.S. Naipaul’s <i>Half a Life</i> and <i>Magic Seeds</i>". International Journal of English Research, Vol 11, Issue 4, 2025, Pages 41-43
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