{"product_id":"an-area-of-darkness-a-discovery-of-india","title":"An Area of Darkness: A Discovery of India","description":"\u003cp\u003eA classic of modern travel writing, \u003cb\u003eAn Area of Darkness\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eis Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India.\u003cbr\u003eTraveling from the bureaucratic morass of Bombay to the ethereal beauty of Kashmir, from a sacred ice cave in the Himalayas to an abandoned temple near Madras, Naipaul encounters a dizzying cross-section of humanity: browbeaten government workers and imperious servants, a suavely self-serving holy man and a deluded American religious seeker. \u003cb\u003eAn Area of Darkness\u003c\/b\u003e also abounds with Naipaul’s strikingly original responses to India’s paralyzing caste system, its apparently serene acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. The result may be the most elegant and passionate book ever written about the subcontinent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/vs-naipaul-books\"\u003eV. S. Naipaul\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e National Geographic Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780375708350\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"National Geographic Books","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £1.20","offer_id":47910910263473,"sku":"SB-0375708359-C3","price":1.2,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/0375708359.jpg?v=1789216065","url":"https:\/\/sellbooks.co.uk\/products\/an-area-of-darkness-a-discovery-of-india","provider":"Sell Books .co.uk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}