The Unexpected Fantasist: The Portuguese novelist and Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago is a stubborn atheist, an unreconstructed Communist, an ornery political polemicist — and the creator of some of the world’s most magical, imaginative, sweetly lyrical fiction. Caribbean Odyssey: When he first read Derek Walcott's poems, VS Naipaul was overwhelmed by the talent of his fellow West Indian, who, at the age of 18, was already a master. The young poet had created a new language to describe both the beauty and the limitations of island life. VS Naipaul as the great offender: Few writers get up noses like VS Naipaul, but his views on Islam, Gandhi and English Lit courses have a ring of truth.

From New York, Watching Matt Drudge: He hides, but craves attention. He is prurient and prudish, powerful and paranoid, an icon

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