The Mystic Masseur is a comic novel by V. S. Naipaul

V. S. Naipaul

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "V. S." Naipaul, TC is a Nobel prize-winning Indo-Trinidadian-British writer who is known for his novels focusing on the legacy of the British Empire's colonialism...

 first published in 1957. It is set in colonial Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

.

Plot

The novel is about a frustrated writer of Indian descent who rises from an impoverished background to become a successful politician on the back of his dubious talent as a 'mystic

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

' masseur - a masseur who can cure illnesses.

Film

The novel was the first by Naipaul to be filmed. The 2001

2001 in film

The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...

 film adaptation, The Mystic Masseur

The Mystic Masseur

The Mystic Masseur is a Merchant Ivory film based on the novel of the same title by V. S. Naipaul.It is one of relatively few films directed by Ismail Merchant who is better known as the producer in the Merchant Ivory partnership....

, is a Merchant Ivory production.