R.K.Narayan as a novelist

Introduction:

Indian writing in English is so much worthy by some Indian writers. Like, Mulk Raj Anand, Sarojini Naidu, Toru Datt , R.K. Lakshman etc. One of them is R.K. Narayan.

R.K. Narayan won many awards and honours for his works. He got Sahitya Akademi Award for his well-known novel ‘The Guide’ in 1958; Padma Bhushan in 1964. And A.C. Bensor Medal by the Royal Society of Literature in 1980. R.K. Narayan was elected on honourly member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Literature in 1982. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1989.

R.K. Narayan as a Novelist:

His journey of writing began with ‘Swami and his Friends’ in 1935. Most of his works including ‘Swami and Friends’ are set in the fictional town of South India named Malgudi. This town has all the qualities of India. Means it is full of full of Indianness . He wrote with simplicity and touch of humour. In his stories, common man remains in the centre. How they live their simple life in the changing world is Narayan’s main concern.

His famous works are, ‘The Bachelor of Arts’ 1937, ‘the Dark Room’ ( 1938) ‘The English Teacher’ (1945) ‘ The Man- Eater of Malgudi’ (1961) ‘Malgudi Days’ (1982).  He is widely read as Indian novelists. In his novels, we can find humanity with human and kindness with grace.

Malgudi is merely a town of normal or modest size in ‘Swami and Friends’. This novel deals with a ten years old boy’s life. He is Swami. This novel is written in the era when Britishers were ruling in India. R.K. Narayan mingles politics of that era in this novel. The way Britishers were spreading Christianity over our religion is ridiculous! We can see Narayan’s skill in this novel. Very simple English words are used in this work because, he has chosen children as the characters of the play and moreover, the protagonist of the play is also the kid. The dialogues are also very efficient. It is R.K. Narayan’s skill that they are relevant to current situation of Indian people. See an example:

‘We are slaves to-day’ he shrieked,

‘Worse slaves than we have even been before.

Let us remember our heritage. Have we forgotten the glorious periods of Ramayana? This is the country that country that has given the world a Kalidasa, a Buddha, a Shankara. Our Ships sailed the high seas and we have reached the height seas and we has reached the height of civilization when the Englishman ate the raw flesh and wondered in the jungles nude.’    

Now, coming to ‘The Bachelor of Arts’ we find kinship with the novel. It is set in the frictional place of Malgudi. The protagonist of the play is Chandran who falls in love in love with a girl.

In this novel, Narayan’s deals with the rigidity of the society and the caste system. The protagonist Chandran wants to marry his beloved but, the meaningless ideas of astrology comes between the lovers. Hence, he fails to marry his lover and becomes a sanyasi. By the end of the novel, we see him retiring back to his own world of pleasures and ready to accept the proposal of marriage that was placed in front of him by his parents.

‘The Bachelor of Arts’ is a novel of Youth. The novel is very vital. Chandran’s story is multi-coloured, his love, his romance, his whims, his ambition, his dreams and finally his achievement as a Bachelor of Arts.

WE can see Narayana as the master of Story Teller. Very perfectly he puts the things. He is the writer of the humanities. So, he can wonderfully, put the psychology of common man. Realistic characters and simple language, clean and plain plot is his marked technique. Very smoothly the story goes.

R.K. Narayan’s novels are having the qualities which are very much appealing to the readers. They are well structured yet natural. Character’s happiness, pains , shades, peace, a mental conflict all these things are so vitally put that a reader can feel it. In the novel, ‘The Guide’ also it shows that everyone can see themselves in Raju.

In Narayan’s novels, comic and serious elements both are present. They are woven neatly and clearly just like Shakespeare does in his tragedies. In his novel, there is a mixture of reality and imagination. He uses myth and symbols of Indian Culture in his novels. He can give a vivid picture by simple words and language. Narayan’s novels remains fresh in every time. He uses his experiences also. So, the writing becomes more interesting.

He has a keen sense of humour His comedy can be enjoyed by everyone. We can compare his Malgudi with hardy’s Wessex. Again, I would like to say that he avoids hard and heavy words. Hence, we can call him the as A writer of Common man and Simple language. He also avoids the burning issues of high level. Yes, we do find gentle satire and irony in his works but, we do not find him as a harsh satirist resembling the Swift of the Neo Classical Age.