The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief (Borzoi Books)
Naipaul’s book about the “nature of African belief” is merely the latest expression of a long-held fascination, previously explored in such books as Among the Believers (1981) and Beyond Belief (1998). Erudite but not scholarly, it could be called a travelogue with dialogue; as he visits or revisits Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Gabon, and South Africa, he speaks with a wide range of people, from diplomats and royalty (being a Nobelist grants him greater access than most), to politicians and businessmen, to academics and medicine men. He hears from Christians, Muslims, and those who hold more ancient beliefs. We learn much, particularly how complex and layered these beliefs can be, but more from the speakers than from Naipaul, whose paper-dry narrative style allows for few digressions. He does muse, however, on belief as related to progress, and which beliefs promote or impede progress—though not too much about what constitutes progress. As ever, Naipaul can be prickly, and some offhand observations seem likely to rankle those he’s writing for. In an interesting side note, this book begins in Uganda, where Naipaul first met disgruntled former mentee Paul Theroux, who in Dark Star Safari (2003) retraces his own past in Africa. Naipaul’s safari, though perhaps equally informative, is less rugged and opinionated. And where Theroux rails against Africa’s promise gone unfulfilled, Sir Vidia looks, and listens, and makes few grand pronouncements. --Keir Graff