The Family Business

Between Father and Son: Family Letters, by V. S. Naipaul, edited by Gillon Aitken (Knopf, 285 pp., $26)

“YOU HAVE ENOUGH MATERIAL FOR A HUNDRED STORIES. FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE START WRITING THEM. YOU CAN WRITE AND YOU KNOW IT. STOP MAKING EXCUSES. . . . I HATE LECTURING YOU THIS WAY BUT I WANT TO HEAR THAT YOU ARE WRITING. I WANT TO HEAR THAT YOU ARE WRITING VERY VERY MUCH. YOU HAVE BEEN SUFFICIENTLY IDLE TOO LONG.”