12 Comments

So sorry you were stabbed. I will ask Our Lady if Fatima to help you.

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Excellent stuff, and looking forward to more of these. I've just finished reading 'The Jaguar Smile' so I wonder if you could expand on this series: encounters of all kinds! I'd love to hear you reflect on your Nicaraguan journey and the people, including Ortega, that you encountered during it—and, of course, your thoughts on the present situation in that country, since Ortega really does seem to have confirmed the worst fears of the Sandinistas' critics back in the day. It's a sad decline.

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And on that note, I've just seen the news that Sergio Ramírez has been targeted by Ortega now...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-58500190

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Thank you for these anecdotes. I would love to read about your specific disagreements about Naipaul's India books. Is there a non-fiction book of his that you like?

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Would love to see a post on your disagreements of naipaul's views on India once you are fully recovered.

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I always enjoyed your work, but now we get to see the wonders of your imagination out without restriction or editors in the way. I'm glad you're on Substack, and please continue to write more. I can't wait to see what your imagination has to offer and produce wondrous imaginative work for a new generation to see.

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I am reading A way in the World, at the moment. Your remarks col very randy indeed.

Thank you for your spirit!

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Guess everyone wants to make peace when they are dying, well, except Hume, maybe.

I think that Naipaul felt like an abandoned child: the humiliation, the confusion, the rage and belated acceptance too... all there in one teenager's monologue.

BTW, did you accept the apology??

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Ah, the 'we did' part. Well, it is a tad understated for my taste. I prefer a declaration :-)

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Seems I deleted my comment by mistake. Thanks for replying

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Enjoying the blog and the fact that technology has made communication with one's favourite authors so easy.

I loved the way Naipaul blended English history, rainy atmosphere of the British countryside and Chirico's painting in The Enigma of Arrival. I tried to read his later books about India but could not finish. Some film critics say that there is an early Al Pacino and a later one and I am a fan of the earlier one. Ditto with Sir Vidia. May his soul rest in peace.

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Thank you for this

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