Beyond the Dragon's Mouth: Stories and Pieces is a collection of Shiva Naipaul's journalism and stories prefaced by a short memoir, published by Hamish Hamilton in 1984.
The first part consists of a short memoir in which Naipaul writes about his childhood in Trinidad, the Dragon's Mouth in the title referring to the curious shape of the harbour through which he would set sail for Britain and Oxford University.
The second part consists of his short stories, such as The Man of Mystery, set in Trinidad.
The last part showcases his engaging journalism, both at home in England and around the globe, from cities such as Bombay (including coverage of the death of Sanjay Gandhi), Tehran in the last days of the Shah, and being forced to stay sober during Ramadan in Marrakesh, as well as more rural areas such as Bihar.
His pieces on England are more personal than anything written about England by his more famous brother, the Nobel Laureate V S Naipaul, such as his account of enduring prejudice while looking for lodging in London during the 1960s. Living in Earl's Court was reproduced as part of an anthology of Black British Writing. Also included is his piece about Ugandan Asians relocating to a hostile Britain.
Famous quotes containing the words dragon, stories and/or pieces:
“Sir Eglamour, that worthy knight,
He took his sword and went to fight;
And as he rode both hill and dale,
Armed upon his shirt of mail,
A dragon came out of his den,
Had slain, God knows how many men!”
—Samuel Rowlands (1570?–1630?)
“We make the oldest stories new when we succeed, and we are trapped by the old stories when we fail.”
—Greil Marcus (b. 1945)
“I was even more surprised at the power of the waves, exhibited on this shattered fragment, than I had been at the sight of the smaller fragments before. The largest timbers and iron braces were broken superfluously, and I saw that no material could withstand the power of the waves; that iron must go to pieces in such a case, and an iron vessel would be cracked up like an egg- shell on the rocks.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)