What would he say if they were alive?

Sir VS Naipaul dares to criticize some literary heavyweights. See?

Novelist Sir VS Naipaul has lambasted literary greats from Jane Austen and Charles Dickens to "the worst writer in the world" Henry James. naively said Thomas Hardy was "an unbearable writer" who "doesn't know how to compose a paragraph". And Ernest Hemingway "was so busy being an American" he "didn't know where he was", he told the Literary Review. (BBC News)

What does that even mean, "so busy being an American"? What else should Hemingway have been doing? Should he have been more Cuban? Okay, maybe he knocked back a few too many beers at Sloppy Joe's when he lived in Key West, but you can't write much better than For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Naipaul insults such literary hacks as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and James Joyce. It's quite convenient that they are all deceased and unable to defend themselves. He does have an affection for Mark Twain and H.G. Wells, so perhaps that counts for something.

We get to the crux of the matter here: "England has not appreciated or acknowledged the work I have done." He wants more recognition, and he thinks that belittling others will get it. Oh, the narcissism...