Rhyme and punishment for Naipaul

A wickedly humorous poem by a Nobel prize winner has drawn more blood in a vitriolic feud between literary lions

Daniel Trilling, Sunday June 1, 2008 writing in The Observer

Well into their seventies and with a Nobel Prize apiece, they are the elder statesmen of world literature: one is acclaimed as the greatest living English-language poet, whose best-known work is a narrative epic, Omeros, based on Homer's Odyssey; the other is a similarly fêted novelist and travel writer. But last week the St Lucia poet Derek Walcott (right)used his talent in the pursuit of less lofty ideals as he reignited a simmering row with VS Naipaul by unveiling a stinging attack on the author - in verse.

Read the full piece in The Observer online.