Jack, Ian. "A Way in the World." PROSPECT 139 October 2007

As Diana Athill, Naipaul's first editor, has written elsewhere, Naipaul was "a man raised in, and frightened by, a somewhat disorderly, inefficient and self-deceiving society, who therefore longed for order, clarity and competence." And so, according to Athill, he "overvalued a sense of history and respect for tradition, choosing to romanticise their results rather than to see the complex and far from admirable scenes with which they often coexist.'" . . . More here: http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=9807