R. K.

Narayan

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami (10 Oct ober 1906 – 13 May 2001)[1] was an
Indian writ er known for his work set in t he fict ional Sout h Indian t own of Malgudi. He was a
leading aut hor of early Indian lit erat ure in English along wit h Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.
 R. K. Narayan

Narayan on a 2009 stamp of India

Born Rasipura Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami

10 October 1906

Madras, Madras Presidency, British Raj

Died 13 May 2001 (aged 94)

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Occupation Writer

Alma mater Maharaja's College, Mysore

Genre Fiction, mythology and non-fiction

Notable awards Padma Vibhushan, Sahitya Akademi Fellowship,

Benson Medal

Spouse Rajam
​
​(m. 1934; died 1939)​

Children 1, Hema Narayan

Relatives R. K. Laxman (brother)

Signature

Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha

 In office

12 May 1986 – 31 May 1992

Narayan's ment or and friend Graham Greene was inst rument al in get t ing publishers for Narayan's
first four books including t he semi-aut obiographical t rilogy of Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of
Arts and The English Teacher. The fict ional t own of Malgudi was first int roduced in Swami and
Friends. The Financial Expert was hailed as one of t he most original works of 1951 and Sahit ya
Academy Award winner The Guide was adapt ed for t he film (winning a Filmfare Award for Best
Film) and for Broadway.

Narayan highlight s t he social cont ext and everyday life of his charact ers. He has been compared
t o William Faulkner who creat ed a similar fict ional t own and likewise explored wit h humor and
compassion t he energy of ordinary life. Narayan's short st ories have been compared wit h t hose
of Guy de Maupassant because of his abilit y t o compress a narrat ive.

In a career t hat spanned over sixt y years Narayan received many awards and honours including
t he AC Benson Medal from t he Royal Societ y of Lit erat ure, t he Padma Vibhushan and t he Padma
Bhushan, India's second and t hird highest civilian awards,[2] and in 1994 t he Sahit ya Akademi
Fellowship, t he highest honor of India's nat ional academy of let t ers.[3] He was also nominat ed t o
t he Rajya Sabha, t he upper house of t he Indian Parliament .

Life and career

Early life
R. K. Narayan, c. 1925–26

R. K. Narayan was born in a Tamil Brahmin family[4] on 10 Oct ober 1906 in Madras (now Chennai,
Tamil Nadu), Brit ish India int o a Hindu family.[5] He was one of eight children; six sons and t wo
daught ers. Narayan was second among t he sons; his younger brot her Ramachandran lat er became
an edit or at Gemini St udios, and t he youngest brot her Laxman became a cart oonist .[6][7] His
fat her was a school headmast er, and Narayan did some of his st udies at his fat her's school. As his
fat her's job ent ailed frequent t ransfers, Narayan spent a part of his childhood under t he care of
his mat ernal grandmot her, Parvat i.[8] During t his t ime, his best friends and playmat es were a
peacock and a mischievous monkey.[1][9][10]

His grandmot her gave him t he nickname of Kunjappa, A name t hat st uck t o him in family
circles.[11] She t aught him arit hmet ic, myt hology, classical Indian music and Sanskrit .[12] According
t o Laxman, t he family most ly conversed in English, and grammat ical errors on t he part of Narayan
and his siblings were frowned upon.[13] While living wit h his grandmot her, Narayan st udied at a
succession of schools in Madras, including t he Lut heran Mission School in Purasawalkam,[7] C.R.C.
High School, and t he Christ ian College High School.[14] Narayan was an avid reader, and his early
lit erary diet included Dickens, Wodehouse, Art hur Conan Doyle and Thomas Hardy.[15] When he
was t welve years old, Narayan part icipat ed in a pro-independence march, for which he was
reprimanded by his uncle; t he family was apolit ical and considered all government s wicked.[16]

Narayan moved t o Mysore t o live wit h his family when his fat her was t ransferred t o t he
Maharajah's College High School. The well-st ocked library at t he school and his fat her's own fed
his reading habit , and he st art ed writ ing as well. Aft er complet ing high school, Narayan failed t he
universit y ent rance examinat ion and spent a year at home reading and writ ing; he subsequent ly
passed t he examinat ion in 1926 and joined Maharaja College of Mysore. It t ook Narayan four
years t o obt ain his bachelor's degree, a year longer t han usual. Aft er being persuaded by a friend
t hat t aking a mast er's degree (M.A.) would kill his int erest in lit erat ure, he briefly held a job as a
school t eacher; however, he quit in prot est when t he headmast er of t he school asked him t o
subst it ut e for t he physical t raining mast er.[7] The experience made Narayan realise t hat t he only
career for him was in writ ing, and he decided t o st ay at home and writ e novels.[17][18] His first
published work was a book review of Development of Maritime Laws of 17th-Century England.[19]
Subsequent ly, he st art ed writ ing t he occasional local int erest st ory for English newspapers and
magazines. Alt hough t he writ ing did not pay much (his income for t he first year was nine rupees
and t welve annas), he had a regular life and few needs, and his family and friends respect ed and
support ed his unort hodox choice of career.[20] In 1930, Narayan wrot e his first novel, Swami and
Friends,[19] an effort ridiculed by his uncle [21] and reject ed by a st ring of publishers.[13] Wit h t his
book, Narayan creat ed Malgudi, a t own t hat creat ively reproduced t he social sphere of t he
count ry; while it ignored t he limit s imposed by colonial rule, it also grew wit h t he various socio-
polit ical changes of Brit ish and post -independence India.[22]

R. K. Narayan with his wife Rajam, c. 1935

While vacat ioning at his sist er's house in Coimbat ore, in 1933, Narayan met and fell in love wit h
Rajam, a 15-year-old girl who lived nearby. Despit e many ast rological and financial obst acles,
Narayan managed t o gain permission from t he girl's fat her and married her.[23] Following his
marriage, Narayan became a report er for a Madras-based paper called The Justice, dedicat ed t o
t he right s of non-Brahmins. The publishers were t hrilled t o have a Brahmin Iyer in Narayan
espousing t heir cause. The job brought him in cont act wit h a wide variet y of people and issues.[24]
Earlier, Narayan had sent t he manuscript of Swami and Friends t o a friend at Oxford, and about
t his t ime, t he friend showed t he manuscript t o Graham Greene. Greene recommended t he book
t o his publisher, and it was finally published in 1935.[1] Greene also counselled Narayan on
short ening his name t o become more familiar t o t he English-speaking audience.[25] The book was
semi-aut obiographical and built upon many incident s from his own childhood.[26] Reviews were
favourable but sales were few. Narayan's next novel The Bachelor of Arts (1937), was inspired in
part by his experiences at college,[27] and dealt wit h t he t heme of a rebellious adolescent
t ransit ioning t o a rat her well-adjust ed adult ;[28] it was published by a different publisher, again at
t he recommendat ion of Greene. His t hird novel, The Dark Room (1938) was about domest ic
disharmony,[29] showcasing t he man as t he oppressor and t he woman as t he vict im wit hin a
marriage, and was published by yet anot her publisher; t his book also received good reviews. In
1937, Narayan's fat her died, and Narayan was forced t o accept a commission from t he
government of Mysore as he was not making any money.[30]

In his first t hree books, Narayan highlight s t he problems wit h cert ain socially accept ed pract ices.
The first book has Narayan focusing on t he plight of st udent s, punishment s of caning in t he
classroom, and t he associat ed shame. The concept of horoscope-mat ching in Hindu marriages
and t he emot ional t oll it levies on t he bride and groom is covered in t he second book. In t he t hird
book, Narayan addresses t he concept of a wife put t ing up wit h her husband's ant ics and
at t it udes.[31]

Rajam died of t yphoid in 1939.[32] Her deat h affect ed Narayan deeply and he remained depressed
for a long t ime. He never remarried in his life; he was also concerned for t heir daught er Hema,
who was only t hree years old. The bereavement brought about a significant change in his life and
was t he inspirat ion behind his next novel, The English Teacher.[19] This book, like his first t wo
books, is aut obiographical, but more so, and complet es an unint ent ional t hemat ic t rilogy
following Swami and Friends and The Bachelor of Arts.[33][34] In subsequent int erviews, Narayan
acknowledges t hat The English Teacher was almost ent irely an aut obiography, albeit wit h
different names for t he charact ers and t he change of set t ing in Malgudi; he also explains t hat
t he emot ions det ailed in t he book reflect ed his own at t he t ime of Rajam's deat h.[35]

Bolst ered by some of his successes, in 1940 Narayan t ried his hand at a journal, Indian
Thought.[36] Wit h t he help of his uncle, a car salesman, Narayan managed t o get more t han a
t housand subscribers in Madras cit y alone. However, t he vent ure did not last long due t o
Narayan's inabilit y t o manage it , and it ceased publicat ion wit hin a year.[37] His first collect ion of
short st ories, Malgudi Days, was published in November 1942, followed by The English Teacher in
1945. In bet ween, being cut off from England due t o t he war, Narayan st art ed his own publishing
company, naming it (again) Indian Thought Publicat ions; t he publishing company was a success
and is st ill act ive, now managed by his granddaught er.[17] Soon, wit h a devot ed readership
st ret ching from New York t o Moscow, Narayan's books st art ed selling well and in 1948 he
st art ed building his own house on t he out skirt s of Mysore; t he house was complet ed in 1953.[38]
Around t his period, Narayan wrot e t he st ory for t he Gemini St udios film Miss Malini (1947), which
remained t he only st ory writ t en by him for t he screen t hat came t o fruit ion.[7]
The busy years

Aft er The English Teacher, Narayan's writ ings t ook a more imaginat ive and creat ive ext ernal st yle
compared t o t he semi-aut obiographical t one of t he earlier novels. His next effort was t he first
book exhibit ing t his modified approach. However, it st ill draws from some of his own experiences,
part icularly t he aspect of st art ing his own journal; he also makes a marked movement from his
earlier novels by int ermixing biographical event s.[39] Soon aft er, he published The Financial Expert,
considered t o be his mast erpiece and hailed as one of t he most original works of fict ion in
1951.[40][41] The inspirat ion for t he novel was a t rue st ory about a financial genius, Margayya,
relat ed t o him by his brot her.[42] The next novel, Waiting for the Mahatma, loosely based on a
fict ional visit t o Malgudi by Mahat ma Gandhi, deals wit h t he prot agonist 's romant ic feelings for a
woman, when he at t ends t he discourses of t he visit ing Mahat ma. The woman, named Bhart i, is a
loose parody of Bharat i, t he personificat ion of India and t he focus of Gandhi's discourses. While
t he novel includes significant references t o t he Indian independence movement , t he focus is on
t he life of t he ordinary individual, narrat ed wit h Narayan's usual dose of irony.[43]

Lyle Blair of Michigan State University Press (Narayan's U.S. publisher), Narayan and Anthony West of The New Yorker

In 1953, his works were published in t he Unit ed St at es for t he first t ime, by Michigan St at e
Universit y Press, who lat er (in 1958), relinquished t he right s t o Viking Press.[44] While Narayan's
writ ings oft en bring out t he anomalies in social st ruct ures and views, he was himself a
t radit ionalist ; in February 1956, Narayan arranged his daught er's wedding following all ort hodox
Hindu rit uals.[45] Aft er t he wedding, Narayan began t ravelling occasionally, cont inuing t o writ e at
least 1500 words a day even while on t he road.[38] The Guide was writ t en while he was visit ing
t he Unit ed St at es in 1956 on t he Rockefeller Fellowship. While in t he U.S., Narayan maint ained a
daily journal t hat was t o lat er serve as t he foundat ion for his book My Dateless Diary.[46] Around
t his t ime, on a visit t o England, Narayan met his friend and ment or Graham Greene for t he first and
only t ime.[32] On his ret urn t o India, The Guide was published; t he book is t he most represent at ive
of Narayan's writ ing skills and element s, ambivalent in expression, coupled wit h a riddle-like
conclusion.[47] The book won him t he Sahit ya Akademi Award in 1960.[48]

Occasionally, Narayan was known t o give form t o his t hought s by way of essays, some published
in newspapers and journals, ot hers not . Next Sunday (1960), was a collect ion of such
conversat ional essays, and his first work t o be published as a book.[49] Soon aft er t hat , My
Dateless Diary, describing experiences from his 1956 visit t o t he Unit ed St at es, was published.
Also included in t his collect ion was an essay about t he writ ing of The Guide.[46][50]

Narayan's next novel, The Man-Eater of Malgudi, was published in 1961. The book was reviewed as
having a narrat ive t hat is a classical art form of comedy, wit h delicat e cont rol.[44] Aft er t he
launch of t his book, t he rest less Narayan once again t ook t o t ravelling, and visit ed t he U.S.[17] and
Aust ralia. He spent t hree weeks in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne giving lect ures on Indian
lit erat ure. The t rip was funded by a fellowship from t he Aust ralian Writ ers' Group.[51] By t his t ime
Narayan had also achieved significant success, bot h lit erary and financial. He had a large house in
Mysore, and wrot e in a st udy wit h no fewer t han eight windows; he drove a new Mercedes-Benz,
a luxury in India at t hat t ime, t o visit his daught er who had moved t o Coimbat ore aft er her
marriage. Wit h his success, bot h wit hin India and abroad, Narayan st art ed writ ing columns for
magazines and newspapers including The Hindu and The Atlantic.[52]

In 1964, Narayan published his first myt hological work, Gods, Demons and Others, a collect ion of
rewrit t en and t ranslat ed short st ories from Hindu epics. Like many of his ot her works, t his book
was illust rat ed by his younger brot her R. K. Laxman. The st ories included were a select ive list ,
chosen on t he basis of powerful prot agonist s, so t hat t he impact would be last ing, irrespect ive
of t he reader's cont ext ual knowledge.[53] Once again, aft er t he book launch, Narayan t ook t o
t ravelling abroad. In an earlier essay, he had writ t en about t he Americans want ing t o underst and
spirit ualit y from him, and during t his visit , Swedish-American act ress Gret a Garbo accost ed him on
t he t opic, despit e his denial of any knowledge.[1]

Narayan's next published work was t he 1967 novel, The Vendor of Sweets. It was inspired in part
by his American visit s and consist s of ext reme charact erizat ions of bot h t he Indian and American
st ereot ypes, drawing on t he many cult ural differences. However, while it displays his
charact erist ic comedy and narrat ive, t he book was reviewed as lacking in dept h.[54] This year,
Narayan t ravelled t o England, where he received t he first of his honorary doct orat es from t he
Universit y of Leeds.[55] The next few years were a quiet period for him. He published his next
book, a collect ion of short st ories, A Horse and Two Goats, in 1970.[56] Meanwhile, Narayan
remembered a promise made t o his dying uncle in 1938, and st art ed t ranslat ing t he Kamba
Ramayanam t o English. The Ramayana was published in 1973, aft er five years of work.[57] Almost
immediat ely aft er publishing The Ramayana, Narayan st art ed working on a condensed t ranslat ion
of t he Sanskrit epic, t he Mahabharat a. While he was researching and writ ing t he epic, he also
published anot her book, The Painter of Signs (1977). The Painter of Signs is a bit longer t han a
novella and makes a marked change from Narayan's ot her works, as he deals wit h hit hert o
unaddressed subject s such as sex, alt hough t he development of t he prot agonist 's charact er is
very similar t o his earlier creat ions. The Mahabharata was published in 1978.[58]

The later years

Narayan was commissioned by t he government of Karnat aka t o writ e a book t o promot e t ourism
in t he st at e. The work was published as part of a larger government publicat ion in t he lat e
1970s[59] He t hought it deserved bet t er, and republished it as The Emerald Route (Indian Thought
Publicat ions, 1980).[60] The book cont ains his personal perspect ive on t he local hist ory and
herit age, but being bereft of his charact ers and creat ions, it misses his enjoyable narrat ive.[50]
The same year, he was elect ed as an honorary member of t he American Academy of Art s and
Let t ers and won t he AC Benson Medal from t he Royal Societ y of Lit erat ure.[61] Around t he same
t ime, Narayan's works were t ranslat ed t o Chinese for t he first t ime.[62]

In 1983, Narayan published his next novel, A Tiger for Malgudi, about a t iger and it s relat ionship
wit h humans.[63] His next novel, Talkative Man, published in 1986, was t he t ale of an aspiring
journalist from Malgudi.[64] During t his t ime, he also published t wo collect ions of short st ories:
Malgudi Days (1982), a revised edit ion including t he original book and some ot her st ories, and
Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, a new collect ion.[65] In 1987, he complet ed A Writer's
Nightmare, anot her collect ion of essays about t opics as diverse as t he cast e syst em, Nobel
prize winners, love, and monkeys. The collect ion included essays he had writ t en for newspapers
and magazines since 1958.[66][67]

Living alone in Mysore, Narayan developed an int erest in agricult ure. He bought an acre of
agricult ural land and t ried his hand at farming.[68] He was also prone t o walking t o t he market
every aft ernoon, not so much for buying t hings, but t o int eract wit h t he people. In a t ypical
aft ernoon st roll, he would st op every few st eps t o greet and converse wit h shopkeepers and
ot hers, most likely gat hering mat erial for his next book.[69]

In 1980, Narayan was nominat ed t o t he Rajya Sabha, t he upper house of t he Indian Parliament , for
his cont ribut ions t o lit erat ure.[70] During his ent ire six-year t erm, he was focused on one issue—
t he plight of school children, especially t he heavy load of school books and t he negat ive effect
of t he syst em on a child's creat ivit y, which was somet hing t hat he first highlight ed in his debut
novel, Swami and Friends. His inaugural speech was focused on t his part icular problem, and
result ed in t he format ion of a commit t ee chaired by Prof. Yash Pal, t o recommend changes t o
t he school educat ional syst em.[71]

In 1990, he published his next novel, The World of Nagaraj, also set in Malgudi. Narayan's age
shows in t his work as he appears t o skip narrat ive det ails t hat he would have included if t his were
writ t en earlier in his career.[72] Soon aft er he finished t he novel, Narayan fell ill and moved t o
Madras t o be close t o his daught er's family.[68] A few years aft er his move, in 1994, his daught er
died of cancer and his granddaught er Bhuvaneswari (Minnie) st art ed t aking care of him in addit ion
t o managing Indian Thought Publications.[1][17] Narayan t hen published his final book,
Grandmother's Tale. The book is an aut obiographical novella, about his great -grandmot her who
t ravelled far and wide t o find her husband, who ran away short ly aft er t heir marriage. The st ory
was narrat ed t o him by his grandmot her, when he was a child.[73]

During his final years, Narayan, ever fond of conversat ion, would spend almost every evening wit h
N. Ram, t he publisher of The Hindu, drinking coffee and t alking about various t opics unt il well
past midnight .[74] Despit e his fondness of meet ing and t alking t o people, he st opped giving
int erviews. The apat hy t owards int erviews was t he result of an int erview wit h Time, aft er which
Narayan had t o spend a few days in t he hospit al, as he was dragged around t he cit y t o t ake
phot ographs t hat were never used in t he art icle.[36]

In May 2001, Narayan was hospit alised. A few hours before he was t o be put on a vent ilat or, he
was planning on writ ing his next novel, a st ory about a grandfat her. As he was always very
select ive about his choice of not ebooks, he asked N. Ram t o get him one. However, Narayan did
not get bet t er and never st art ed t he novel. He died on 13 May 2001, in Chennai at t he age of
94.[14][75]

Literary review

Writing style

Narayan's writ ing t echnique was unpret ent ious wit h a nat ural element of humour about it .[76] It
focused on ordinary people, reminding t he reader of next -door neighbours, cousins and t he like,
t hereby providing a great er abilit y t o relat e t o t he t opic.[77] Unlike his nat ional cont emporaries, he
was able t o writ e about t he int ricacies of Indian societ y wit hout having t o modify his
charact erist ic simplicit y t o confirm t o t rends and fashions in fict ion writ ing.[78] He also employed
t he use of nuanced dialogic prose wit h gent le Tamil overt ones based on t he nat ure of his
charact ers.[79] Crit ics have considered Narayan t o be t he Indian Chekhov, due t o t he similarit ies in
t heir writ ings, t he simplicit y and t he gent le beaut y and humour in t ragic sit uat ions.[80] Greene
considered Narayan t o be more similar t o Chekhov t han any Indian writ er.[5] Ant hony West of The
New Yorker considered Narayan's writ ings t o be of t he realism variet y of Nikolai Gogol.[81]

According t o Pulit zer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, Narayan's short st ories have t he same
capt ivat ing feeling as his novels, wit h most of t hem less t han t en pages long, and t aking about
as many minut es t o read. She adds t hat Narayan provides t he reader somet hing novelist s
st ruggle t o achieve in hundreds more pages: a complet e insight t o t he lives of his charact er
bet ween t he t it le sent ence and t he ends. These charact erist ics and abilit ies led Lahiri t o
classify him as belonging t o t he pant heon of short -st ory geniuses t hat include O. Henry, Frank
O'Connor and Flannery O'Connor. Lahiri also compares him t o Guy de Maupassant for t heir abilit y
t o compress t he narrat ive wit hout losing t he st ory, and t he common t hemes of middle-class life
writ t en wit h an unyielding and unpit ying vision.[15] V. S. Naipaul not ed t hat he "wrot e from deep
wit hin his communit y", and did not , in his t reat ment of charact ers, "put his people on display".[16]

Crit ics have not ed t hat Narayan's writ ings t end t o be more descript ive and less analyt ical; t he
object ive st yle, root ed in a det ached spirit , providing for a more aut hent ic and realist ic
narrat ion.[82] His at t it ude, coupled wit h his percept ion of life, provided a unique abilit y t o fuse
charact ers and act ions,[83] and an abilit y t o use ordinary event s t o creat e a connect ion in t he
mind of t he reader.[84] A significant cont ribut or t o his writ ing st yle was his creat ion of Malgudi, a
st ereot ypical small t own, where t he st andard norms of superst it ion and t radit ion apply.[85]

Narayan's writ ing st yle was oft en compared t o t hat of William Faulkner since bot h t heir works
brought out t he humour and energy of ordinary life while displaying compassionat e humanism.[86]
The similarit ies also ext ended t o t heir juxt aposing of t he demands of societ y against t he
confusions of individualit y.[87] Alt hough t heir approach t o subject s was similar, t heir met hods
were different ; Faulkner was rhet orical and illust rat ed his point s wit h immense prose while
Narayan was very simple and realist ic, capt uring t he element s all t he same.[88]

Malgudi

Malgudi is a fict ional fully urban t own in sout hern India, conjured by Narayan.[89] He creat ed t he
t own in Sept ember 1930, on Vijayadashami, an auspicious day t o st art new effort s and t hus
chosen for him by his grandfat her.[90] As he ment ioned in a lat er int erview t o his biographers
Susan and N. Ram, in his mind, he first saw a railway st at ion, and slowly t he name Malgudi came t o
him.[91] The t own was creat ed wit h an impeccable hist orical record, dat ing t o t he Ramayana days
when it was not ed t hat Lord Rama passed t hrough; it was also said t hat t he Buddha visit ed t he
t own during his t ravels.[92] While Narayan never provided st rict physical const raint s for t he t own,
he allowed it t o form shape wit h event s in various st ories, becoming a reference point for t he
fut ure.[93] Dr James M. Fennelly, a scholar of Narayan's works, creat ed a map of Malgudi based on
t he fict ional descript ors of t he t own from t he many books and st ories.[15]

Malgudi evolved wit h t he changing polit ical landscape of India. In t he 1980s, when t he
nat ionalist ic fervor in India dict at ed t he changing of Brit ish names of t owns and localit ies and
removal of Brit ish landmarks, Malgudi's mayor and cit y council removed t he long-st anding st at ue
of Frederick Lawley, one of Malgudi's early resident s. However, when t he Hist orical Societ ies
showed proof t hat Lawley was st rong in his support of t he Indian independence movement , t he
council was forced t o undo all t heir earlier act ions.[94] A good comparison t o Malgudi, a place t hat
Greene charact erised as "more familiar t han Bat t ersea or Eust on Road", is Faulkner's
Yoknapat awpha Count y.[86] Also, like Faulkner's, when one looks at Narayan's works, t he t own
get s a bet t er definit ion t hrough t he many different novels and st ories.[95]

Critical reception

Narayan first broke t hrough wit h t he help of Graham Greene who, upon reading Swaminathan and
Tate, t ook it upon himself t o work as Narayan's agent for t he book. He was also significant in
changing t he t it le t o t he more appropriat e Swami and Friends, and in finding publishers for
Narayan's next few books. While Narayan's early works were not commercial successes, ot her
aut hors of t he t ime began t o not ice him. Somerset Maugham, on a t rip t o Mysore in 1938, had
asked t o meet Narayan, but not enough people had heard of him t o act ually effect t he meet ing.
Maugham subsequent ly read Narayan's The Dark Room, and wrot e t o him expressing his
admirat ion.[96][97] Anot her cont emporary writ er who t ook a liking t o Narayan's early works was E.
M. Forst er,[98] an aut hor who shared his dry and humorous narrat ive, so much so t hat Narayan was
labeled t he "Sout h Indian E. M. Forst er" by crit ics.[99] Despit e his popularit y wit h t he reading
public and fellow writ ers, Narayan's work has not received t he same amount of crit ical
explorat ion accorded t o ot her writ ers of his st at ure.[100]

Narayan's success in t he Unit ed St at es came a lit t le lat er, when Michigan St at e Universit y Press
st art ed publishing his books. His first visit t o t he count ry was on a fellowship from t he
Rockefeller Foundat ion, and he lect ured at various universit ies including Michigan St at e
Universit y and t he Universit y of California, Berkeley. Around t his t ime, John Updike not iced his
work and compared Narayan t o Charles Dickens. In a review of Narayan's works published in The
New Yorker, Updike called him a writ er of a vanishing breed—t he writ er as a cit izen; one who
ident ifies complet ely wit h his subject s and wit h a belief in t he significance of humanit y.[101]

Having published many novels, essays and short st ories, Narayan is credit ed wit h bringing Indian
writ ing t o t he rest of t he world. While he has been regarded as one of India's great est writ ers of
t he t went iet h cent ury, crit ics have also described his writ ings wit h adject ives such as charming,
harmless and benign.[102] Narayan has also come in for crit icism from lat er writ ers, part icularly of
Indian origin, who have classed his writ ings as having a pedest rian st yle wit h a shallow vocabulary
and a narrow vision.[17] According t o Shashi Tharoor, Narayan's subject s are similar t o t hose of
Jane Aust en as t hey bot h deal wit h a very small sect ion of societ y. However, he adds t hat while
Aust en's prose was able t o t ake t hose subject s beyond ordinariness, Narayan's was not .[103] A
similar opinion is held by Shashi Deshpande who charact erizes Narayan's writ ings as pedest rian
and naive because of t he simplicit y of his language and dict ion, combined wit h t he lack of any
complexit y in t he emot ions and behaviours of his charact ers.[104]

A general percept ion on Narayan was t hat he did not involve himself or his writ ings wit h t he
polit ics or problems of India, as ment ioned by V. S. Naipaul in one of his columns.[16] However,
according t o Wyat t Mason of The New Yorker, alt hough Narayan's writ ings seem simple and
display a lack of int erest in polit ics, he delivers his narrat ive wit h an art ful and decept ive
t echnique when dealing wit h such subject s and does not ent irely avoid t hem, rat her let t ing t he
words play in t he reader's mind.[102] Srinivasa Iyengar, former vice-chancellor of Andhra Universit y,
says t hat Narayan wrot e about polit ical t opics only in t he cont ext of his subject s, quit e unlike his
compat riot Mulk Raj Anand who dealt wit h t he polit ical st ruct ures and problems of t he t ime.[105]
Paul Brians, in his book Modern South Asian Literature in English, says t hat t he fact t hat Narayan
complet ely ignored Brit ish rule and focused on t he privat e lives of his charact ers is a polit ical
st at ement on it s own, declaring his independence from t he influence of colonialism.[100]

In t he west , Narayan's simplicit y of writ ing was well received. One of his biographers, William
Walsh, wrot e of his narrat ive as a comedic art wit h an inclusive vision informed by t he t ransience
and illusion of human act ion. Mult iple Booker nominee Anit a Desai classes his writ ings as
"compassionat e realism" where t he cardinal sins are unkindness and immodest y.[106] According t o
Wyat t Mason, in Narayan's works, t he individual is not a privat e ent it y, but rat her a public one and
t his concept is an innovat ion t hat can be called his own. In addit ion t o his early works being
among t he most import ant English-language fict ion from India, wit h t his innovat ion, he provided
his west ern readers t he first works in English t o be infused wit h an east ern and Hindu exist ent ial
perspect ive. Mason also holds t he view t hat Edmund Wilson's assessment of Walt Whit man, "He
does not writ e edit orials on event s but describes his act ual feelings", applies equally t o
Narayan.[102]

Awards and honours

Narayan won numerous awards during t he course of his lit erary career.[107] He won his first major
award, in 1960, t he Sahit ya Akademi Award for The Guide.[48] When t he book was made int o a film,
he received t he Filmfare Award for t he best st ory. In 1964, he received t he Padma Bhushan
during t he Republic Day honours.[108] In 1980, he was awarded t he AC Benson Medal by t he
(Brit ish) Royal Societ y of Lit erat ure, of which he was an honorary member.[109] In 1982 he was
elect ed an honorary member of t he American Academy of Art s and Let t ers.[78] He was
nominat ed for t he Nobel Prize in Lit erat ure mult iple t imes, but never won t he honour.[110] In 1986,
he was honoured by Rajyot sava Prashast i from Government of Karnat aka.[111]

Recognit ion also came in t he form of honorary doct orat es conferred by t he Universit y of Leeds
(1967),[112] Delhi Universit y (1973)[113] and t he Universit y of Mysore (1976).[114] Toward t he end
of his career, Narayan was nominat ed t o t he upper house of t he Indian Parliament for a six-year
t erm st art ing in 1989, for his cont ribut ions t o Indian lit erat ure.[70] A year before his deat h, in 2000,
he was awarded India's second-highest civilian honour, t he Padma Vibhushan.[115]

Legacy
R. K. Narayan Museum, Mysore

Narayan's great est achievement was making India accessible t o t he out side world t hrough his
lit erat ure. He is regarded as one of t he t hree leading English language Indian fict ion writ ers, along
wit h Raja Rao and Mulk Raj Anand. He gave his readers somet hing t o look forward t o wit h Malgudi
and it s resident s[104][116] and is considered t o be one of t he best novelist s India has ever
produced. He brought small-t own India t o his audience in a manner t hat was bot h believable and
experient ial. Malgudi was not just a fict ional t own in India, but one t eeming wit h charact ers, each
wit h t heir own idiosyncrasies and at t it udes, making t he sit uat ion as familiar t o t he reader as if it
were t heir own backyard.[86][117] In 2014, Google commemorat ed Narayan's 108t h birt hday by
feat uring a doodle showing him behind a copy of Malgudi Days.[118]

"Whom next shall I meet in Malgudi? That is the thought that comes
to me when I close a novel of Mr Narayan's. I do not wait for another
novel. I wait to go out of my door into those loved and shabby streets
and see with excitement and a certainty of pleasure a stranger
approaching, past the bank, the cinema, the haircutting saloon, a
stranger who will greet me I know with some unexpected and
revealing phrase that will open a door on to yet another human
existence."

— Graham Greene [119]

In mid-2016, Narayan's former home in Mysore was convert ed t o a museum in his honour. The
original st ruct ure was built in 1952. The house and surrounding land were acquired by real est at e
cont ract ors t o raze down and build an apart ment complex in it s st ead, but cit izens groups and
t he Mysore Cit y Corporat ion st epped in t o repurchase t he building and land and t hen rest ore it ,
subsequent ly convert ing it t o a museum. The museum admission is free of charge and it is open
bet ween 10.00 am and 5.00 pm except on Tuesdays.[120][121]

On 8 November 2019, his book Swami and Friends was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Novels That
Shaped Our World.[122][123]

Works

Novels
Swami and Friends (1935, Hamish Hamilton)

The Bachelor of Arts (1937, Thomas Nelson)

The Dark Room (1938, Eyre)

The English Teacher (1945, Eyre)

Mr. Sampath (1948, Eyre)

The Financial Expert (1952, Methuen)

Waiting for the Mahatma (1955, Methuen)

The Guide (1958, Methuen)

The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961, Viking)

The Vendor of Sweets (1967, The Bodley Head)

The Painter of Signs (1977, Heinemann)

A Tiger for Malgudi (1983, Heinemann)

Talkative Man (1986, Heinemann)

The World of Nagaraj (1990, Heinemann)

Grandmother's Tale (1992, Indian Thought Publications)

Non-fiction
Next Sunday (1960, Indian Thought Publications)

My Dateless Diary (1960, Indian Thought Publications)

 My Days (1973, Viking)

Reluctant Guru (1974, Orient Paperbacks)

The Emerald Route (1980, Indian Thought Publications)

A Writer's Nightmare (1988, Penguin Books)

A Story-Teller's World (1989, Penguin Books)

The Writerly Life (2001, Penguin Books India)

Mysore (1944, second edition, Indian Thought Publications)

Mythology
Gods, Demons and Others (1964, Viking)

The Ramayana (1972, Chatto & Windus)

The Mahabharata (1978, Heinemann)

Short story collections

Malgudi Days (1942, Indian Thought Publications)

An Astrologer's Day and Other Stories (1947, Indian Thought Publications)

Lawley Road and Other Stories (1956, Indian Thought Publications)

A Horse and Two Goats (1970)

Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories (1985)

The Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories (1994, Viking)

Adaptations

Narayan's book The Guide was adapt ed int o t he 1965 Hindi film Guide, direct ed by Vijay Anand. An
English-language version was also released. Narayan was not happy wit h t he way t he film was
made and it s deviat ion from t he book; he wrot e a column in Life magazine, "The Misguided Guide,"
crit icising t he film.[7] The book was also adapt ed t o a Broadway play by Harvey Breit and Pat ricia
Rinehart , and was st aged at Hudson Theat re in 1968 wit h Zia Mohyeddin playing t he lead role and
a music score by Ravi Shankar.[124]

Mr. Sampath was made int o a 1952 Hindi film of t he same name wit h Padmini and Mot ilal and
produced by Gemini St udios.[125] Anot her novel, The Financial Expert, was made int o t he Kannada
film Banker Margayya (1983).[126]Swami and Friends, The Vendor of Sweets and some of Narayan's
short st ories were adapt ed by act or-direct or Shankar Nag int o t he t elevision series Malgudi Days
t hat st art ed in 1986. Narayan was happy wit h t he adapt at ions and compliment ed t he producers
for st icking t o t he st oryline in t he books.[127]

See also

List of Indian writ ers

Notes

1. "R K Narayan" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1330139/R-K-Narayan.html) . The Daily

Telegraph. London. 14 May 2001. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130726233514/http://www.
telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1330139/R-K-Narayan.html) from the original on 26 July 2013.
Retrieved 25 July 2009.

2. "Padma Awards" (http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf) (PDF) .

Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151015
193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf) (PDF) from the original
on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.

3. George, Rosemary Marangoly (2013), Indian English and the Fiction of National Literature (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=uZc2AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA144) , Cambridge University Press, p. 144, ISBN 978-
1-107-04000-7 Quote: "S. Radhakrishnan was the first “Fellow of the Akademi” to be given this title in
1968 after he left the service of both the government and the Akademi. ... Mulk Raj Anand was the first
Indian English writer to be inducted in 1989 and R. K. Narayan the second Indian writer working in
English to be inducted in 1994."

4. "A pioneer of Indian literature, RK Narayan was a talent beyond Swami and Friends" (https://theprint.in/
theprint-profile/pioneer-indian-literature-rk-narayan-talent-beyond-swami-and-friends/303238/) .
ThePrint. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

5. Crossette, Barbara (14 May 2001). "R. K. Narayan, India's Prolific Storyteller, Dies at 94" (https://www.ny
times.com/2001/05/14/books/r-k-narayan-india-s-prolific-storyteller-dies-at-94.html) . The New York
Times. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120326022300/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/14/
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Retrieved 9 July 2009.

6. Sri Kantha, Sachi (2 February 2015). "Tribute to Rasipuram Krishnaswamy (R. K.) Laxman" (http://sang
am.org/tribute-rasipuram-krishnaswamy-r-k-laxman/) . Ilankai Tamil Sangam. Archived (https://web.ar
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 7. Guy, Randor (26 July 2001). "A flood of fond memories" (https://web.archive.org/web/2012061107141
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8. Sen, Sunrita (25 May 2001). "Gentle chronicler of the essence of small-town India" (http://www.highbea
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Further reading

Ram, N.; Ram, Susan (1996). R. K. Narayan. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-670-87525-2. OCLC 36283859 (http
s://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36283859) .

Rao, Ranga (2005). R. K. Narayan (https://books.google.com/books?id=Lgs4ebrb6XAC) . Makers of

Indian Literature (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 81-260-1971-9.

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