V. S. Naipaul - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

This author was attacked in a poem read at the Calabash Literary Festival that begins “I have been bitten / I must avoid infection / Or else I’ll be as dead as [this author’s] fiction.” For 10 points each:

[10m] What author was criticized for rejecting his heritage in the poem “The Mongoose”? In a novel by this author, Selim engages in an affair with Yvette, whose husband Raymond falls out of favour with the “Big Man.”

ANSWER: V. S. Naipaul [or Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul] (The novel is A Bend in the River.)

[10e] The author of “The Mongoose,” Derek Walcott, explored Caribbean identity more positively in this epic poem, which is loosely based on the Iliad.

ANSWER: Omeros

[10h] Walcott also accused Naipaul of turning his back on his native Trinidad in an essay about this novel. This autobiographical Naipaul novel describes his time renting an English cottage from socialite Stephen Tennant.

ANSWER: The Enigma of Arrival

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Summary


California (North)	Main Site	Y	3	16.67	67%	100%	0%
California (South)	Main Site	Y	4	12.50	75%	50%	0%
Canada	Main Site	Y	1	20.00	100%	100%	0%
Florida	Main Site	Y	3	13.33	67%	67%	0%
Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	16.00	100%	60%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	9	14.44	89%	56%	0%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	8	12.50	75%	50%	0%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	5	10.00	60%	40%	0%
Overflow	Main Site	Y	4	12.50	75%	50%	0%
South Central	Main Site	Y	2	20.00	100%	100%	0%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	7	14.29	86%	57%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	12	14.17	92%	50%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	8	18.75	100%	88%	0%
Upstate NY	Main Site	Y	4	5.00	50%	0%	0%

Data


UCLA B	UC Irvine	10	10	20
UCLA A	UCSD C	10	10	20
UC Santa Barbara	UCSD A	0	10	10
Arizona State	UCSD B	0	0	0
Brock	UBC B	10	10	20
Central Florida B	Florida C	0	0	0
Central Florida A	Florida A	10	10	20
Central Florida C	Florida B	10	10	20
CWRU A	Michigan State	10	10	20
Ohio State A	Michigan A	10	10	20
Ohio State C	Michigan B	0	10	10
Pittsburgh	Michigan C	10	10	20
Ohio State B	CWRU B	0	10	10
James Madison B	William and Mary	0	0	0
Liberty A	James Madison A	10	10	20
Virginia Tech A	NC State A	10	10	20
NC State B	Liberty C	0	10	10
North Carolina C	Liberty B	0	10	10
North Carolina B	South Carolina A	0	10	10
North Carolina A	South Carolina B	10	10	20
Duke	VCU	10	10	20
Virginia	Wake Forest	10	10	20
Stanford B	Berkeley B	10	10	20
Berkeley C	Stanford A	10	10	20
Berkeley D	Berkeley A	10	0	10
Chicago B	Northwestern D	0	10	10
Yale	Bowdoin A	10	10	20
Harvard A	Brown	10	10	20
Dartmouth A	Dartmouth B	0	0	0
Harvard B	Bowdoin B	0	0	0
Southern Connecticut State	Brandeis A	0	10	10
Minnesota A	Claremont	10	10	20
Georgia Tech A	Missouri A	10	10	20
Missouri B	Carleton College	0	10	10
Iowa State	Washington A	0	0	0
Murray State A	Texas A&M A	10	10	20
Texas A	Texas B	10	10	20
Alabama A	WashU B	0	10	10
WashU A	Kentucky	10	10	20
Georgia Tech B	Louisville A	10	10	20
Mississipi State	Georgia Tech D	0	10	10
Alabama B	Sewanee	10	0	10
Georgia Tech C	Tennessee A	0	10	10
Louisville B	Vanderbilt B	10	10	20
Birmingham	Montpellier	10	10	20
Bristol	Cambridge B	0	10	10
Warwick A	Cambridge A	10	10	20
City St. George's	Cambridge C	0	10	10
Cardiff	Southampton B	0	10	10
Edinburgh B	Durham	0	10	10
Oxford A	Imperial A	10	10	20
Southampton A	Imperial B	10	10	20
Oxford B	Imperial C	10	10	20
UCL	LSE	0	10	10
Edinburgh A	Manchester	10	10	20
Oxford C	Warwick B	0	0	0
Illinois A	Notre Dame B	10	10	20
Illinois B	Indiana C	10	10	20
Purdue A	Illinois C	10	10	20
Indiana B	Purdue B	0	10	10
Northwestern C	Northwestern B	0	0	0
Indiana A	Notre Dame A	10	10	20
Johns Hopkins B	Catholic	0	10	10
Columbia A	Maryland C	10	10	20
Maryland B	Columbia B	10	10	20
John Jay	NYU C	10	10	20
Rutgers A	Maryland A	10	10	20
Georgetown	Rutgers B	10	10	20
Columbia C	Swarthmore	10	10	20
NYU B	Vassar	10	10	20
Cornell B	Binghamton B	0	10	10
Cornell C	Penn State	0	0	0
Cornell A	RIT	0	10	10
Rochester	Binghamton A	0	0	0
Chicago E	Chicago C	0	0	0