R K Narayan

Four gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan's centennial Introducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India "the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story." Composed of powerful, magical portraits of all kinds of people, and comprising stories written over almost forty years, Malgudi Days presents Narayan's imaginary city in full color, revealing the essence of India and of human experience. This edition includes an introduction by Pulitzer Prize- winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Narayan, 1906-2001, Indo-English novelist; contributed articles.

The essays in this book have been divided into two sections. The first section examines one of Narayn's major works, The Guide. The essays here discuss the genesis of the novel, narrative structure, use of language, humour and irony in the novel, the characters, and also the post-colonial quality of The Guide. The second section situates The Guide within the larger context of Narayan's life and works, Narayan as a novelist, themes and characters in his novels, Narayan's Malgudi, and Narayan as an Indian English writer. These essays will be essential reading for students who study The Guide, and also Narayan's works as a whole.

R.K. Narayan And His Social Perspective Deals With The Caste-Ridden Hindu Society Which Narayan Presents In His Novels. His Characters Are Fatalists With Explicit Faith In The Invisible. The Book Presents Their Half¬Hearted Attempts At Self-Assertion. However, Their So-Called Sentimentalism Does Not Bear Fruit And They Fall Back To Their Former Position Accepting Defeat In Life.The Book Brings Out Vividly Narayan S Atti¬Tude To Life, His Firm Grip Of Hindu Ethos Of Which He Is The Product, And His Failure To Come Out Of It, Though The West Wind Has Blown Much Of Its Dust.However Detached He Sounds Himself To The Readers, His True Spirit Finds Vivid Expression In The Book. At Any Rate R.K. Narayan Is A Thoroughly Indian Novelist Par Excellence, And The Aspect Is Hardly To Be Overlooked.

This comprehensive study of R.K. Narayan, the outstanding Indian novelist of his generation, provides an incisive analysis of the major issues of his fiction. Virtually all of his novels are set in the imaginary South Indian town of Malgudi, a solid, realistic setting for his tragi-comedies of human aberration and attainment. A key element of his fiction, including his best known novel The Guide, is the way Hindu fables and myths lie submerged beneath the surface of secular social comedy. Perhaps his greatest skill is as a storyteller who developed special styles to tell his elliptical, subtle and understated tales. His deceptively simple English and ironic outlook make him particularly accessible to Western readers and this lively and perceptive study allows a full appreciation of the depth and significance of a great Indian writer.

R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan’s beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan’s excitement about his country’s initial stirrings for independence competes with his ardor for cricket and all other things British. Written during British rule, this novel brings colonial India into intimate focus through the narrative gifts of this master of literary realism.

In the novels of R. K. Narayan (1906-2001), the forefather of modern Indian fiction, human-scale hopes and epiphanies express the promise of a nation as it awakens to its place in the world. In Waiting for the Mahatma, a young drifter meets the most beautiful girl he has ever seen–an adherent of Mahatma Gandhi–and commits himself to Gandhi’s Quit India campaign, a decision that will test the integrity of his ideals against the strength of his passions. This novel, written after India's independence, is a masterpiece of social comedy, rich in local color and abounding in affectionate humor and generosity of spirit.

"I am inclined to call this the last chapter, but how can an autobiography have a final chapter? At best, it can only be a penultimate one; nor can it be given a rounded-off conclusion, as is possible in a work of fiction." So begins the last chapter of My Days, the only memoir from R. K. Narayan, hailed as "India's most notable novelist and short-story writer" by the New York Times Book Review. In his usual winning, humorous style, R. K. Narayan shares his life story, beginning in his grandmother's garden in Madras with his ferocious pet peacock. As a young boy with no interest in school, he trains grasshoppers, scouts, and generally takes part in life's excitements. Against the advice of all, especially his commanding headmaster father, the dreaming Narayan takes to writing fiction, and one of his pieces is accepted by Punch magazine (his "first prestige publication"). Soon his life includes bumbling British diplomats, curious movie moguls, evasive Indian officials, eccentric journalists, and "the blind urge" to fall in love. R. K. Narayan's larger-than-life perception of the human comedy is at once acute and forgiving, and always true to it.