Abstract:Vidiahar Surajprasad Naipaul is the winner for the 2001 Nobel Prize for Literature. Miguel Street is his first book-length work, which won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1961. Miguel Street is a collection of 17 short stories, each of which describes the life of one character in the underclass Trinidadians. 

In recent years, with the development of globalization, diaspora has become a common cultural and social phenomenon. Thus, a great number of diasporic writers have emerged with their diasporic literature. As a diasporic writer, Naipaul is in exile all through his life. Based on the diasporic theory, the thesis mainly probes into the exile motif revealed in the work and explores the possible reasons for this motif. Naipaul’s personal experience and multicultural background lead to the creation of various exiled characters in his book. 

Key words: Miguel Street  V. S. Naipaul  exile motif  characterization

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1Vidiahar Surajprasad Naipaul and Miguel Street-1

1.2 Literature Review of Miguel Street-1

1.3 Structure of the Thesis-2

Chapter Two Diasporic Theory-4

2.1 Diasporic Theory-4

2.2 Exile Motif-4

Chapter Three Exile Motif in Miguel Street-6

3.1 Exile Motif in “The Thing without a Name”-6

3.2 Exile Motif in “B. Wordsworth”-7

3.3 Exile Motif in Other Stories-7

Chapter Four Reasons for Naipaul’s Exile Motif in Miguel Street-10

4.1 A Foreigner in Trinidad-10

4.2 An Outsider in England-11

4.3 A Nomad in the World-11

Chapter Five Conclusion-13

References-14