A House for Mr Biswas
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| Author | V. S. Naipaul |
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| Country | Trinidad |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Contemporary fiction |
| Publisher | Vintage (publisher) |
| Released | March 13, 2001 (Reissue edition) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 576 pages |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-375-70716-6 |
A House for Mr Biswas is a 1961 novel by V. S. Naipaul, significant as Naipaul's first work to achieve acclaim worldwide. It is the story of Mr Mohun Biswas, an Indo-Trinidadian who continually strives for success and mostly fails, who marries into the Tulsi family only to find himself dominated by it, and who finally sets the goal of owning his own house. Drawing some elements from the life of Naipaul's father, the work is primarily a sharply-drawn look at life in a fledgling postcolonial world.
The novel was later adapted as a stage musical, with compositions by Monty Norman. One of the songs written for the play, "Good Sign, Bad Sign", was later rewritten as "The James Bond Theme", according to the documentary Inside Dr. No. A two-part radio dramatisation, featuring Rudolph Walker, Nitin Ganatra, Nina Wadia, and Angela Wynter ran on BBC Radio Four on March 26 and April 2, 2006.
[edit] Editions
- Penguin Books (Twentieth-Century Classics), with introduction by Ian Buruma, 1993 (paperback) ISBN 0-14-018604-2
- Everyman's Library, 1995 (hardback) ISBN 0-679-44458-0
- Vintage Books USA, 2001 (paperback) ISBN 0-375-70716-6
