August 16, 1985, New York Times, Obituary, Shiva Naipaul is Dead at 40; Wrote Books on Third World,

August 16, 1985, New York Times, Obituary, Shiva Naipaul is Dead at 40; Wrote Books on Third World,

Shiva Naipaul, the Trinidad-born author and journalist, died of a heart attack Tuesday night in London, where he lived. He was 40 years old.

Although his work was less well-known than that of his brother, V. S. Naipaul, the novelist, he was considered by many in Britain to be one of the most talented and wide-ranging authors of his generation.

In his journalism and travel writings, Mr. Naipaul often reported candidly about what he considered the shortcomings of life in the Third World. His 1979 book, ''North of South,'' about an African journey through Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, includes descriptions of his hapless encounters with immigration officials and people he portrays as racists.

Reviewing the book in The New York Times Book Review, John Darnton commented: '' 'North and South' is superbly written, even in the evocation of the scenery that Mr. Naipaul finds uninspiring. Many of the points are well taken, if not altogether new - that independence has primarily benefited a black elite'' and that ''the continent craves the material goods of the West.''

Four Prizes for First Novel

Mr. Naipaul's first novel, ''Fireflies,'' published in 1971, was acclaimed critically and won four literary prizes, including the New Statesman award in Britain. His second novel, ''The Chipchip Gatherers,'' also had a Trinidad background and won the 1973 Whitbread award. His bitter 1984 novel, ''Love and Death in a Hot Country,'' was set on an imaginary ''sloping shoulder of South America.'' It described the effect that its atmosphere had on the English expatriates living there.

His most recent work, ''Beyond the Dragon's Mouth,'' published here by the Viking Press in March, included both stories and articles. In the introduction, he talked about growing up as an East Indian in the West Indies, rising above what he saw as the squalid life there, and becoming a man of letters in England.

After attending St. Mary's College in Trinidad, he won a scholarship to Oxford, where he studied Chinese. He wrote in ''Beyond the Dragon's Mouth'' that, because of his ethnic and national background, ''every day, I have to redefine myself.''

One of his reporting books, ''Journey to Nowhere,'' published here in 1981, described the mass suicide of the followers of the Rev. Jim Jones in the jungles of Guyana.

He is survived by his wife, the former Virginia Margaret Stuart, and a son.

photo of Shiva Napaul