Quotes from book
The Enigma of Arrival

Name: The Enigma of Arrival
Author: V.S. Naipaul

V.S. Naipaul

The Enigma of Arrival: A Novel in Five Sections is a 1987 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul.

“I also bought a copy of The New York Times, the previous day's issue of which I had seen the previous day in Puerto Rico. I was interested in newspapers and knew this paper to be one of the foremost in the world. But to read a newspaper for the first time is like coming into a film that has been on for an hour. Newspapers are like serials. To understand them you have to take knowledge to them; the knowledge that serves best is the knowledge provided by the newspaper itself. It made me feel a stranger, that paper.”

V.S. Naipaul book The Enigma of Arrival

"The Journey", p. 115
The Enigma of Arrival (1987)

“The time before Islam is a time of blackness: that is part of Muslim theology. History has to serve theology.”

V.S. Naipaul book The Enigma of Arrival

Among the Believers
The Enigma of Arrival (1987)

“Men need history; it helps them to have an idea of who they are.”

V.S. Naipaul book The Enigma of Arrival

"The Ceremony of Farewell"
The Enigma of Arrival (1987)
Context: Men need history; it helps them to have an idea of who they are. But history, like sanctity, can reside in the heart; it is enough that there is something there.

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