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Magic Seeds
by V.S. Naipaul
ISBN: 0375407367
ISBN-13: 9780375407369
Format: Hardcover
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Summary
V. S. Naipaul continues the semi-autobiographical story he began in HALF A LIFE (2001). Willie Chandran, born in India but living in Berlin, returns to his homeland as an activist, working on behalf of India's poor and lower-caste until he lands in prison. Released because he is a famous and valuable writer, Willie travels to England, gets involved in a ménage-à-trois, finds a job, but becomes increasingly disillusioned with the state of the Western world. A New York Times Notable Book for 2004.
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"This great writer's rhetorical and constructive mastery remain unimpaired."
-- Kirkus
"[Naipaul] is a modern master of the multiple ironies of resentment, the claustrophobia of the margins. In a world in which terrorism continually haunts the headlines, Naipaul's work is indispensable."
-- Publishers Weekly
"The sequel to HALF A LIFE..., it is a subtle if slender production, a novel that revisits the themes-exile, identity, the precariousness of civilization-that he's been grappling with over the past five decades....If Naipaul is earnest about his assertion that he's retiring from the enterprise of fiction...it would be a pity." -- James Atlas
-- New York Times Book Review
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Random House Inc
Published date: 2004
Size: 6.25 x 8.75 inches
Weight: 1 pounds
Pages: 280
Publisher's Notes
A stunning novel of the present moment that takes us into the hearts and minds of those who use terrorism as an ideal and a way of life, and those who aspire to the frightening power of wealth.
Abandoning a life he felt was not his own, Willie Chandran (the hero of Half a Life) moves to Berlin where his sister’s radical political awakening inspires him to join a liberation movement in India. There, in the jungles and dirt-poor small villages, through months of secrecy and night marches, Willie — a solitary, inward man — discovers both the idealism and brutality of guerilla warfare. When he finally escapes the movement, he is imprisoned for the murder of three policemen. Released unexpectedly on condition he return to England, he attempts to climb back into life in the West, but his experience of wealth, love and despair in London only bedevils him further.
Magic Seeds is a moving tale of a man searching for his life and fearing he has wasted it, and a testing study of the conflicts between the rich and the poor, and the struggles within each. Its spare, elegant prose sizzles with devastating psychological analysis, bleak humour and astonishing characters. Only V. S. Naipaul could have written a novel so attuned to the world and so much a challenge to it.
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Magic Seeds
V.S. Naipaul
Knopf. Used - Good. Ex-library. Published: 2004. Hardcover. Dust jacket: Good. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Good condition, showing modest signs of wear. BINDING IS HARDCOVER; EX-LIBRARY with typical library markings, attachments and wear. ( more information) Offered by Experienced Books LLC (United States)
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Magic Seeds
V.S. Naipaul
Knopf. Used - Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information) Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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Magic Seeds
V.S. Naipaul
Knopf. Used - Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information) Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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Magic Seeds
V.S. Naipaul
Knopf. Used - Good. Ex-library. Published: . Hardcover. Dust jacket: Good. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Good condition, showing modest signs of wear. EX-LIBRARY with typical library markings, attachments and wear. Some rubbing on cover. Cover has some wear on edges. ( more information) Offered by Experienced Books LLC (United States)
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Magic Seeds
V.S. Naipaul
Knopf. Used - Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information) Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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Magic Seeds (Qty: 4)
Naipaul, V.S
Knopf. Hardcover. 0375407367 remainder mark. Thank you for looking at Bookscorner1.No sale isever final.100%satisfaction guaranteed. . New. ( more information) Offered by bookscorner1 (United States)
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Magic Seeds
V.S. Naipaul
Knopf, 2004-11-16. Hardcover. New. Brand New Book. ( more information) Offered by itembazaar.com (United States)
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Magic Seeds
V.S. Naipaul
Knopf. New in Near Fine dust jacket; .. 2004. Hardcover. BRAND new hardcover. No remainder mark. DJ has some light rubbing. ; 1.2 x 8.7 x 6 Inches; 288 pages; From the Nobel laureate–a spare, searing new novel about identity and idealism, and their ability to shape or destroy us. <br><br>Willie Chandran–whom we first met in <i>Half a Life</i>–is a man in his early forties who has allowed one identity after another to be thrust upon him, as if he could truly know himself by becoming what others imagine him to be. His life has taken him from his native India to England, Africa in its last colonial moment, and Berlin, until finally it returns him to his homeland. Succumbing to the demanding encouragement of his sister–and his own listlessness–Willie joins an underground movement in India ostensibly devoted to unfettering the lower castes. But seven years of revolutionary campaigns and several years in jail convince him that the revolution “had nothing to do with the village people we said we were fighting for…[that] our ideas and words were more important than their lives and their ambitions for themselves.” And, as well, he feels himself further than ever “from his own history and…from the ideas of himself that might have come to him with that history.” <br><br>When Willie returns to England where, thirty years before, his psychological and physical wanderings began, he finds the fruit of another unexpected social revolution (more magic seeds), and comes to see himself as a man “serving an endless prison sentence”–a revelation that may finally release him into his true self.<br><br><i>Magic Seeds</i> is a masterpiece, written with all the depth and resonance, the clarity of vision and precision of language, that are the hallmarks of this brilliant writer. . ( more information) Offered by BookNest (United States)
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Magic Seeds:
V.S. Naipaul
Knopf. hardcover. New - Brand New -. ISBN: 0375407367. ( more information) Offered by Love For Books (United States)
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Magic Seeds
Naipaul, V.S
Westminister, Maryland, U.S.A.: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2004 Compare our low shipping rates for lowest total cost! First printing.. First Edition. Hard Back. New/New. ( more information) Offered by 2C Books, LLC (United States)
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Magic Seeds: A Novel
Naipaul, V.S
New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. First American Edition. Hard Cover. As New/As New. ISBN: 0-375-40736-7. ( more information) Offered by Muses Books (United States)
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Magic Seeds
Naipaul, V.S
Westminister, Maryland, U.S.A.: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2004. First American Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. Recycled Library. ( more information) Offered by Tommy's Book Shelf (United States)
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Magic Seeds
Naipaul, V.S
Knopf. Hardcover. 0375407367 First Edition, First Printing Like New Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean pages. Minor wear. . Very Good. ( more information) Offered by The Book Fiend (United States)
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Magic Seeds
Naipaul, V. S
Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket Hardcover; Alfred A. Knopf; First Edition; 2004; 280 pages. Crisp tight book with touch of wear at one corner tip. Jacket same. . ( more information) Offered by Mount Hope Books (United States)
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magic seeds
naipaul, v.s
Hard Cover. Knopf 2004. First Edition. All books in VG or better condition. ( more information) Offered by Sixth Chamber Used Books (United States)
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Magic Seeds
Naipaul, V S
Alfred A. Knopf, 2004 Fine in very good dust jacket. First US Edition. 280 pgs in fine/like new condition condition; red cover has attached dj in vg condition. A spare, searing novel about identity and idealism and their ability to shape or destroy us.. First edition.. Hard cover. Fine/Very Good. ( more information) Offered by Finderskeepers (United States)
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Magic Seeds
Naipaul, V.S
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. First Edition. Hard Cover. As New/As New. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. ( more information) Offered by Plain Tales Books (United States)
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Magic Seeds
Naipaul, V.S
New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2004. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo. 280pp. Red and brown boards, Fine in a Fine dust jacket. // V.S. Naipaul won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001 ( more information) Offered by Wessel & Lieberman Booksellers (United States)
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Magic Seeds (Qty: 5)
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Naipaul, V.S
Knopf. Hardcover. 0375407367 Good condition. May have some markings & or shelfwear. All pages intact. Immediate shipping for all orders and FREE STANDARD DELIVERY on Domestic US Orders! International, APO, FPO and PO Box addresses accepted. All of our titles are exactly the same title as shown and are 100% Guaranteed! Used items may not include extras such as infotrac, CD or other web access codes. . Good. ( more information) Offered by Paperleaf Books (United States)
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MAGIC SEEDS
Naipaul, V.S
New York, NY, U.S.A.: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 2004. V.S. Naipaul was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 2001. He is the author of more than twenty books of fiction and nonfiction, including A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS, A BEND IN THE RIVER, A TURN IN THE SOUTH, and HALF A LIFE. As new, in fine, mylar-protected dust jacket.. ISBN: 0375407367. First American Edition. Hard Cover. As New/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. FICTION NOVEL. ( more information) Offered by Joe Staats, Bookseller (United States)
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Magic Seeds
Naipaul, V.S
New York Alfred A. Knopf 2004 Hardcover First edition As NEW 280 pp. First Edition. Hardcover. As New. Nobel Laureate Naipaul's novel about Willie Chadran who was first introduced to readers in Half a Life and his return to England after serving time in jail for working with revolutionaries in his native India. After arriving in England he comes to find himself once again attracted to underground revolutionary movements and he begins to wonder if his life will amount to anything more than "an endless prison sentence." ( more information) Offered by Ken Sanders Rare Books, ABAA (United States)
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