Naipaul on Narayan

I recently joined this forum called orkut - am not still sure what I will do there yet.

However a message on Naipaul's essay on RK Narayan, somehow made me respond thus.

I am sure Naipaul's essay would have been discussed in this forum before. But just thought I will write a few things that came to my mind after I re-read the excerpts of that essay from the link above.

I dont know for what purpose, audience and in what circumstance Naipaul wrote that critique on Narayan. But whatever those might be, I cannot miss the fact that the critique is so narrow in scope. It just addresses the point that Narayan's characters were "small people". Based on this one central argument, Naipaul tries to judge Narayan's work.

I also dont know whether Naipaul meant this essay to be his final word on Narayan. Throughout the excerpt he has mentioned ONE novel of Narayan as an example. ONE! I cannot understand how with ONE example, anyone can analyze Narayan's work to any sort of detail.

I am surprised that - knowing very well that his word will be taken seriously - Naipaul has made a rather half-baked attempt in analyzing Narayan and his works.