The Story Archive

The Mystic Masseur

V. S. Naipaul · 1957 CE · Novel · Caribbean · Contemporary

Ganesh Ramsumair fails as a schoolteacher in Port of Spain, retreats to his village to work as a masseur, and finds that the cures nobody wanted from his hands sell briskly once he offers them from behind a shelf of books. Pamphlets follow, then patients of every race on the island, then politics. Naipaul's first published book, and the comic Trinidad he later refused to write again.

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Attributes

Genre
ComedySatirePolitical
Theme
Ambition & HubrisAppearance vs RealityIdentity & SelfFame & Glory
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
TricksterAnti-HeroWise Fool
Plot structure
Rags to RichesEpisodic
Symbol / motif
The Book / ManuscriptThe Mask
Conflict
vs Societyvs Self
Mode / tone
ComicSatiricalIronic
Culture / tradition
Caribbean

Closest analogues