R.K. Narayan

Topic started by GV (@ hse-london-ppp244335.sympatico.ca) on Sat May 12 23:41:09 .


R(asipuram) K(rishnaswamy) Narayan has passed away, long live his stories and fame. He was one of the greatest story tellers of the world. The (imaginary) village of Malgudi became a landmark all around the world. R.K. Narayan was short listed for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times, but he never made it all the way (so far). One of the jokes in the literary circles was that the Nobel Committee and the western readers ignored his books because of the misleading titles. Many people apparently thought that they were self-help books on various subjects ( The English Teacher, The Painter of Signs, etc)!!
Let us hope that he wins this well deserved award this year. Better late than never.

Please share your thoughts, opinions and comments about this great Indian.

All Indians must be proud of him. A great loss
to Indian English readers.

I think, it's too late for the Nobel Committee to recognise the legendary Narayan. For, as far as I know, Nobel prize is not conferred posthumously. Narayan has been a household till internet swept the Indian middle class homes. Still, I presume, he will be long remembered for the typical Malgudi, the temple town, the Guide, and many many monumental works he gifted to the world.

I wish I were born at malgudi and be one among swami's friends!!

One of the most gratifying aspects of a Narayan work was the accompanying drawings by his brother Laxman. I remember the sketch of Swami sitting with his Grandma on the oonjal, telling her about Tate, the English fast bowler. That drawing to me epitomizes everything Malgudi and Narayan.

Narayan's work has snatches of his own life. The English Teacher captures his own trauma as he grappled with the loss of his wife, Rajam.

Narayan's characters are simple, lovable people. You can relate to them instantly, because they are prey to all the foibles that we are apt to fall prey to.

The English he uses in his Malgudi works is constructed along the lines of idiomatic Tamil. Remember Swami's mother 'mixing milk' for the baby? Delightful!!

The passing away of era in Indian English writing. His books will live on.

What I really liked about R K Narayan's stories was his critique of the school system. It is a well known fact that he wasn't very happy about his school days and is supposed to have done pretty badly in (...gasp) English. This is reflected in Malgudi days and even in his tenure in the Rajya Sabha he kept raising the issue of children being overburdened (physically and metaphorically) by the school. I hope someone continues what he began. I am the father of a new born child and I do not wish to put him through what many of us had gone through in school...cane happy teachers, massive bags, too much homework and too little real learning.

R.K. Narayan is wounderful witer among Asian. When I read The English Teacher, I feel proud that he is abele to invent new and creative concept in reading english in Asian context.
We all feel sad in the unexpected demise great literary figure

http://www.the-hindu.com/2001/06/05/...s/0405401w.htm

One of my favourite authors. I feel he never received the recognition he deserved. I wish someone would "market" him the way newer novelists are being marketed.

i just read my first RK Narayan last week - The Astrologer and Other Tales. his writing is so visual. this is a great loss.

I read R.K.Narayan's first novel Swami and Friends.It moved me.I have started collecting his novels and mobilising it to my friends too.
Though he had passed away,his writing will never die.

Hi !
I happened to lay my hands on one of R.K.Narayan's books....Bachelor of Arts. I have a question for those who read that book.
How did you interpret the last chapter where Chandran leaves town to see his wife?
Is it as simple as it's said or does the writer leave it to the reader to come up with his/her own analysis?

I read that at the time RKN began to write he lost his daughter to sickness and was heart-broken. I feel his work is tinged with this grief.

he was a south indian brahmin.so madurai veeran and his tribe in this forum will never accept that he was great.

While novels like Swami & Friends, The Guide and others are excellant, my favourites are definitely his essays - Dateless Diary, Writer's Nightmare etc.

I am very weak in maths, but very proficient in english. It was Rk narayans stories i read in my school days that taught me that English lit. is a mirror of life. i use to compare myself with silly & mischievious boy(swami)in most his stories.

V.S.Naipaul's tribute to R.K.Narayan.

http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/p...8162%2C00.html

My fav is RKN. You almost live and walk along the Banks of Sarayu when u read his work. I like Vasu of "The Man Eater of Malgudi" very much - the comical villian.

I wish I can take a stroll down Kabir Lane or sit in the parapet of the fountain in the after noon with ppl from Malgudi.

Oh AHa.... ! What excitement >..!

It is ironic that I just learned about RK Narayan's death, considering that he is one of my favorite Indian authors and that I just finished reading his autobiography "My Days".

For a man who wrote (and how unassumingly!) about small, pedestrian lives in a little, fictional town in a little India, he was a truly great man indeed.

Yes, one of the great contributions of India to English literature. A most remarkable characteristic in his writings is the ease in which he tells the stories..so different from the laboured style of Indo anglican writers. Three of his outstanding works imo are Malgudi Days, The English Teacher and The Bachelor of Arts. Especially the poignant way in which the passing away of the teacher's wife is depicted never fails to draw tears from my eyes every time I read it. In contrast, the description of the restlesness of chandran before his marriage(in Bachelor of Arts) show how beautiful and light hearted RKN's humor can be. There are several instances in Swami too which bring out a smile in us - the so typical light humor that is so rarely found in english lit. Indeed his passing away is a great loss to Indian writing in english.

Can somebody help in getting the prose version copy of Swamy and friends, Malgudi Days, Astrologers Day in the net.

hiya,im reading 'The Man Eater Of Malgudi' for my A level course,ITS A GREAT BOOK, my class love it, they laugh soooo much. Soon im gonna have to do essays so please if anyone has information about this book just email me pak_e786@hotmail.com, thanks,take care

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he is a very good writer.we are proud that he is an indian

from,
jayesh&elesh

RK Narayan is a master illusionist, he weaves places and characters into life. Absolutely magical is his writing. Malgudi days in it's splendid irony bold statement is a world favourite I believe. A great writer, whom the world will miss greatly. I hope more youngsters can get to read his literature.

Hello everyone! I'm currently studying The Bachelor of Arts for literature and I'm going to need some help with it. Below's what I posted on a message board at askme.com . If there's anyone at all who can help me relate ( with examples ) the phrase, 'Literature is a mirror of life' to R.K. Narayan's 'The Bachelor of Arts', please reply! I really need help on that. Skip the Macbeth part of my question...I've figured out my way to that...now I'm stuck with the novel's revelence to 'the mirror of life'. Thanks for reading everyone!!! :) It's nice to know...

--------------------------------------------------

I'll be taking English Literature in the final year at secondary level ( or known as high school )...and I am currently in my first year studying Eng. Lit. so it's a bit difficult to cope with some of the assignments ( that's why I'm here ).

I'm given an option to answer either one of the questions below and if possible, please include/provide suitable sites for me to refer to ( to double-check my answer and to add-in stuff ). Also, if you can, please include YOUR own personal response ( or sample answer ) so I might have an idea how to prepare an appropriate structure for my final answer to one of the 2 questions.
_____________________

1. 'The study of literature makes us aware that we have to be responsible for the choices we make in life'. Show how this is true of any two (2) characters from any two text of your choice. The two characters you choose must be from two different text.
OR
2.Literature is a mirror of life. To what extent is this statement true? Discuss withy any reference to any two text which you have studied.
_____________________

Now, both the questions require me to base my answer on TWO DIFFERENT CHARACTERS from TWO TEXT. My pick would be of a play ( Macbeth; by Shakespeare ), and a short story ( The Bachelor of Arts; by R.K. Narayan ). So the two characters should be from the two text I had just mentioned.

I personally prefer to go with question #2, though if you decide to answer question #1, it would still be very much appreciated. But of course, if you can answer both the questions. then that would be of tremendous help. As I have said before, good sites related to the answers with tons of example/sample answers ( or where I could find 'em easily ) is as helpful.

ALSO, very important; I need EXAMPLES for question #2. I'm supposed to explain the 'mirror of life' trhough literature so I'm going to need as many examples possible to choose from. Any example on how the mirror of life reflects into NOW ( whether it is Madonna's life biography that is similar to ..say, Macbeth's or some sort of Mandela to Chandran's ). But PLEASE remember; the examples should NOT include any negetive side of a political party.

By the end of this whole thing, if you realise you can't contribute an answer...well, at least you read this damn thing ...nice to know :) - thanks for reading!!!

Many thanks,
Isabella

p/s: All answers will be rated ( but according to how relevent your answer is to the question(s) ).

R. K. Narayan is one of my favourite writers.

He makes me feel proud to be a south Indian. Not because he was one but because that's who I am. I'm no longet embaressed to be a 'khatti' who eats rasam and curd rice, goes to a temple of Lord Venkateswara and who might have an arranged marriage.

What I really like about his work is that it is so easy to associate with his world. Anywhere you go, you'll find a malgudi.

And all his characters seem so familiar. Be it The guide, The English teacher, The Vendor of sweets, the astrologer or anyone else. They're familiar, loveable and - in most cases - rogues.

What makes his work so amazing is that there's something new to see each time you read the piece. It's not a one time deal. And the subtelity with which he operates and the fact that he never seems to condemn anyone only strengthens my admiration.

The way in which he ends his pieces is amazing. At first I think the ending was too abrupt. But the more I think about it, I feel to say any more is to undermine the readers' intelligence. And that is one thing R.K.Narayan never did.

he is gay

I wish i was born and lived in the Malgudi village..I would have been a very great friend of Narayan.

I REALLY REALLY LIKE R. K. NARAYAN. BELIEVE ME, I READ HIS BOOK "SWAMI AND FRIENDS" 5 TIMES.
I COLLECT HIS PHOTOS TOO. I CRIED WHEN I HEARD THAT HE WAS DEAD

R.K. Narayan is the pioneer of Indo anglian Literature, if you like it or not. There are other folks like GV Desabi and Mulk Raj Anand. But they didn't had as much influence as Narayan had in the west. By the help of British author Graham Greene (he helped him publish Swami and Friends), he had catapulted the Indoanglian fiction to a new height. I first read Narayan when I was in the eight standard and the first novel was The World of Nagaraj. Now I am in the 12th standard and I have read all his Malgudi based novels except for The Dark Room which I could not find in the book shops of Kathmandu. I have even read some of his short stories, essays and short pieces.

Reading some of the articles after his death whcih were meant to be obituary I came to know that Narayan was not that sort of person you would prefer to be in company with. His grumpy face in the last photograph taken of him (in India Today), says it all. The article on Narayan by Sir VS Naipaul was also very good.

No matter whether he was a gay (from the above post) or person who blew his own trumpets (he said on his America's trip that he is the world's best writer after Faulkner and Hemingway), to me he is a master story teller ie a person who had the ability to hold you in awe with his skill in story telling.

Please people do post any comments on my forum dedicated solely to Indoanglian Literature. http://forum.onecenter.com/indolit/

Or, visit my page on RK Narayan at http://www.rigzin.freeservers.com/rknarayan.htm

R.K. Narayan is the pioneer of Indo anglian Literature, if you like it or not. There are other folks like GV Desabi and Mulk Raj Anand. But they didn't had as much influence as Narayan had in the west. By the help of British author Graham Greene (he helped him publish Swami and Friends), he had catapulted the Indoanglian fiction to a new height. I first read Narayan when I was in the eight standard and the first novel was The World of Nagaraj. Now I am in the 12th standard and I have read all his Malgudi based novels except for The Dark Room which I could not find in the book shops of Kathmandu. I have even read some of his short stories, essays and short pieces.

Reading some of the articles after his death whcih were meant to be obituary I came to know that Narayan was not that sort of person you would prefer to be in company with. His grumpy face in the last photograph taken of him (in India Today), says it all. The article on Narayan by Sir VS Naipaul was also very good.

No matter whether he was a gay (from the above post) or person who blew his own trumpets (he said on his America's trip that he is the world's best writer after Faulkner and Hemingway), to me he is a master story teller ie a person who had the ability to hold you in awe with his skill in story telling.

Please people do post any comments on my forum dedicated solely to Indoanglian Literature. http://forum.onecenter.com/indolit/

Or, visit my page on RK Narayan at http://www.rigzin.freeservers.com/rknarayan.htm

RK Narayan was a really great author and his books entertained me and also influenced me.

I am working in saudi arabia, i love to read R.K Naryans stories, if anybody has collection of his stories plz sen me in email my id is heartinindia2001@yahoo.com

Unlike what some complete ignorants may assume, R.K. was not gay, in fact he had a great love for his wife. Her premature death and its devastating aftermath on his life are beautifully detailed in his novel 'The English teacher'.
Narayan is a brilliant writer whose style puts him a class apart from the over-hyped self-indulgent wordsmiths of Indian English writing.

I need to understand/grasp the theme in his story "like the sun" if you have any info and get it to me by Apr.2.02 I would soooooo appreciate it
thanks soo much-

DOES anyone have the theme song of Malgudi Days television series????

ta na nana tna nana naa.... PLZ TELL ME PRONTO`

R.K.Narayan's stories and novels, revolve around pure Indian settings, bringing out the workings in the minds of typical, south Indian, conservative, middle class people.

They have a lucid clarity and a originality, typical of their author, R.K.Narayan.

Once you start reading the first few pages, you can not stop till finishing the book, laughing away all the way.

dear sir,
send me all the names of all the books written by r k narayan.and also possible send me details of these books on which story it is written.