V. S. Naipaul, The Mimic Men

Matthew Whittle (University of Kent at Canterbury)
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In his Nobel Lecture from 7 December 2001, entitled “Two Worlds”, Naipaul described

The Mimic Men

(1967) as being:

[A]bout colonial shame and fantasy, a book, in fact, about how the powerless lie about themselves, since it is their only resource. [...] [I]t was not about mimics. It was about colonial men mimicking the conditions of manhood, men who had grown to distrust everything about themselves.

[A]bout colonial shame and fantasy, a book, in fact, about how the powerless lie about themselves, since it is their only resource. [...] [I]t was not about mimics. It was about colonial men mimicking the conditions of manhood, men who had grown to distrust everything about themselves.

“Mimicry” in Naipaul’s novel is thus the appropriation by “colonial men” – a general term for

2806 words

Citation: Whittle, Matthew. "The Mimic Men". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 November 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=170, accessed 06 October 2024.]

170 The Mimic Men 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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