Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted PeoplesThe Nobel Prize-winning author offers an insightful follow-up to his landmark travelogue Among the Believers: a "brilliant … powerfully observed, stylistically elegant exploration" (The New York Times) that’s the result of a five-month journey through Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaysia, countries where dreams of Islamic purity clash with economic and political realities. Fourteen years after the publication of his landmark travel narrative Among the Believers, V. S. Naipaul returned to the four non-Arab Islamic countries he reported on so vividly at the time of Ayatollah Khomeini's triumph in Iran. Beyond Belief is the result of his five-month journey in 1995 through lands where descendants of Muslim converts live at odds with indigenous traditions. In extended conversations with a vast number of people—a rare survivor of the martyr brigades of the Iran-Iraq war, a young intellectual training as a Marxist guerilla in Baluchistan, an impoverished elderly couple in Teheran whose dusty Baccarat chandeliers preserve the memory of vanished wealth, and countless others—V. S. Naipaul deliberately effaces himself to let the voices of his subjects come through. Yet the result is a collection of stories that has the author's unmistakable stamp. With its incisive observation and brilliant cultural analysis, Beyond Belief is a startling and revelatory addition to the Naipaul canon. |
Contents
PART TWO IRAN | |
Mr Jaffreys Round Trip | |
The Great | |
Salt Land | |
The Jail | |
The Martyr | |
The Punisher | |
The Polity | |
Rana in His Village | |
Guerrilla | |
Penitent | |
Loss | |
From the North | |
Alis Footprint | |
9 | |
Cancer | |
The Two Tribes | |
PART THREE PAKISTAN Dropping off the | |
A Criminal Enterprise | |
PART FOUR MALAYSIAN POSTSCRIPT Raising the Coconut Shell | |
1 | |
Old Clothes New Model | |
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Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples V. S. Naipaul No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
Abbas Ali’s Alwi’s Arab asked Ayatollah Bahawalpur Baluchi Baluchistan Bandung became began bomoh brother Budi chador Chinese couldn’t courtyard Emami faith father feel felt girl Habibie Hindu idea Imaduddin India Indonesian Iran Iranian Islam Jaffrey Jakarta Japanese Java Javanese kampung Karachi Khalkhalli Khomeini kind knew Koran Kuala land later Linus Linus’s lived looked Lukman Malay Mariman married Mehrdad mohajir Mohammed Mohammed Akram mosque mother mullahs Muslim Nadezha never Pakistan Parvez Paydar people’s perhaps pesantren police political prayers Rahimullah Rana Rashid religion religious revolution revolutionary rice Saleem Salman Shah Shah’s Shahbaz Shia side Sindh sitting someone story subcontinent Suharto Sumatra Syed Alwi talk teacher Tehran things thought told took uncle V. S. Naipaul village Wahid wall wanted wasn’t woman women young