Quotes from book
In a Free State

In a Free State

In a Free State is a novel by V.S. Naipaul published in 1971. 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 title story, “In a Free State.” The work is symphonic, with different movements converging towards a common theme; although the theme is not spelled out, it evidently concerns the price of freedom, with analogies implicitly drawn between the three scenarios.


V.S. Naipaul photo

“The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves.”

V.S. Naipaul book In a Free State

Source: In a Free State (1971)

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