The Masque of Africa
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
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Moving beyond travelogue, V.S. Naipaul's The Masque of Africa considers the effects of belief upon the progress of African civilization – exploring indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history.
Beginning in Uganda, at the centre of the continent, Naipaul's journey takes in Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and ends in South Africa. Focusing upon the theme of belief – though sometimes the political or economical realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account – Naipaul examines the fragile but enduring quality of the old world of magic. To witness the ubiquity of such ancient ritual, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things.
'The quality of Naipaul's writing – simple, concise, engaging – rarely varies... Above all, Naipaul's latest African journey is eyewitness reporting at its best' – Time
Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.
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