V.S. Naipaul’s favorite word of contempt

Nasty little fight in the pages of the New York Review of Books revolving around V.S. Naipaul. It’s between Naipaul’s former mistress Margaret Murray, his former friend Paul Theroux and his Naipaul friend, Ian Buruma. The latter wrote a book review on Patrick French’s “authorized” Naipaul biography and Murray and Theroux are upset about it. References to Naipaul’s abuse of Murray, that Naipaul’s favorite word of contempt is “nigger,” and how Theroux sucked up to Naipaul (it was more hero-worship than friendship) by telling “racist jokes.”

It’s all here

I wonder when the “He’s a nasty shit, but talented” defense of Naipaul will run out?