''Miguel Street'' is a collection of linked short stories by
V. S. Naipaul set in
wartime Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...
. The stories draw on the author's childhood memories of
Port of Spain
Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...
. The author lived with his family in the
Woodbrook district of the city in the 1940s, and the street in question, Luis Street, has been taken to be the model of Miguel Street.
Some of the inhabitants are members of the
Hindu community to which Naipaul belonged. Naipaul also draws on wider Trinidadian culture, referring to cricket and quoting a number of lyrics by black
calypso singers.
Plot summary
The stories tend each to focus on a single character living on Miguel Street. As the various characters reappear in different stories, which all share the same boy narrator, the book can be seen as a type of novel.
Rather like the characters of ''
Dubliners
''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were writ ...
'', some of Naipaul's protagonists appear to be affected by a kind of paralysis, for example Mr. Popo the carpenter, who never finishes making anything, and the poet B. Wordsworth, who is working on the greatest poem ever written but has never written past the first line. The narrator however escapes from Miguel Street at the end of the book.
Other characters include Bogart (named after
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...
), Hat, George, Elias, an assiduous boy, Man-man, Eddoes, a junk king, Mrs. Hereira, Uncle Bhakcu, Bolo, and Edward.
Background to the book's publication
Naipaul wrote the book while employed at the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
in London.
The publisher
André Deutsch
André Deutsch (15 November 1917 – 11 April 2000) was a Hungarian-born British publisher who founded an eponymous publishing company in 1951.
Biography
Deutsch was born on 15 November 1917 in Budapest, Hungary, the son of a Jewish dentist ...
hesitated over publishing short stories by an unknown Trinidadian writer, as Naipaul then was. Deutsch thought a novel would have more success, and encouraged Naipaul to write one. Deutsch published ''Miguel Street'' after Naipaul's first two novels, ''
The Mystic Masseur
''The Mystic Masseur'' is a 2001 Merchant Ivory film based on the novel of the same name by V. S. Naipaul. It is one of relatively few films directed by Ismail Merchant, who is better known as the producer in the Merchant Ivory partnership ...
'' and ''
The Suffrage of Elvira'', which appeared in 1957 and 1958 respectively.
Reception
''Miguel Street'' won the 1961
Somerset Maugham Award
The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors
The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to ...
.
The ''New York Times'' said about ''Miguel Street,'' "The sketches are written lightly, so that tragedy is understated and comedy is overstated, yet the ring of truth always prevails."
[Poore, Charles (May 5, 1960]
"Miguel Street."
''New York Times.'' (Retrieved 6-20-2014.)
See also
Naipaul returned to linked short stories with ''
In a Free State
''In a Free State'' is a novel by V. S. Naipaul published in 1971 by Andre Deutsch. It won that year's Booker Prize. The plot consists of a framing narrative and three short stories – " One out of Many", "Tell Me Who to Kill", and the titl ...
''.
References
{{V. S. Naipaul
Short story collections by V. S. Naipaul
1959 short story collections
André Deutsch books