R.K. Narayan was a leading Indian author who wrote in English. He is renowned for his works set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. Some of his most famous works include The Guide and Malgudi Days. Narayan received many honors for his contributions to Indian literature in English, including the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awards. His simple yet compelling writing style brought small-town Indian life to international audiences.

1. R.K.Narayan: A
Creator of Malgudi
Prepared By: Drashti Joshi
Hetal
Pathak
Trushali Dodiya

2. Points to Ponder
Biography
of
R.K.Narayan
Interesting
Facts about
him
Works of
R.K.Narayan
Awards and
Honors
His Writing
Style
His Contribution to
Indian English
Literature
Conclusion

3. Biography of R.K.Narayan
● Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami (RK Narayan) was a well-known
Indian writer famous for his set of work and writing in the fictional South Indian town
of Malgudi. He was one of the leading and famous authors of early Indian literature
written in English along with two others, Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.
● Narayan's greatest achievement was to make India accessible to the outside world
through his writing and powerful words in his literature. Narayan's biography is
always centered on his friendship with Graham Greene. Because he was Narayan's
mentor and close friend. He was actively involved in identifying and getting
publishers for Narayan's first four books.
● In 1941, he founded his own publishing house and his works quickly found a
permanent and favorite place in the bookshelves of almost all the Indian homes.
When he was at the peak of his fame in his successful career, Narayan was then
awarded a Padma Bhushan in 1964 and 36 years later, just a year before his death at
94, another prestigious Padma Vibhushan award in 2000.

4. His Early Life
● Narayan was critically ill and hospitalized with cardiovascular problems two weeks ago
in Madras, the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where he was born in 1906.
● Narayan was born in 1906 in Madras (now renamed and known as Chennai, Tamil
Nadu), British India into a normal Hindu family. He was one of eight children his parents
have had and Narayan was second among the sons; his younger brother Ramachandran
was an editor at Gemini Studios, and the youngest brother Laxman was a successful
cartoonist.
● Narayan spent the early years of his life in Madras in the care of his grandmother and a
maternal uncle and joined his parents mainly only during the vacations. At that time,
India was still treated as the most important of the British empire, a colony held since
1857.
● RK Narayan was always found devoted and dedicated to reading whenever he got
time.This great storyteller passed away on May 13, 2001 at the age of 94.

5. -R.K.Narayan
“No one ever accepts
criticism so
cheerfully. Neither
the man who utters it
nor the man who
invites it really means
it.”

6. Works of R K Narayan
1935
first novel
1937
Second Book
are both set in Malgudi,
a fictional town on the
border between Mysore
and Madras.
1958
1938

7. The English Teacher (1945),
Mr. Sampath (1949),
The Financial Expert (1952),
The Man Eater of Malgudi
(1961).
The Vendor of Sweets (1967),
The Painter of Signs (1977),
A Tiger for Malgudi (1983), and
Talkative Man (1986).
● He has also written five collections of short stories,
including Malgudi Days, Lawley Road (1956), A Horse and
Two Goats and Other Stories (1970), Under the Banyan Tree
and Other Stories (1985), and The Grandmother's Tale (1993)
● Multiple collections of essays, commentaries on the Indian
epics, and a memoir, My Days.
● The book ‘Malgudi Days’ includes 32 stories, all set in the
fictional town of Malgudi, located in South India. Each of
the stories portrays a facet of life in Malgudi

8. AN ASTROLOGER'S DAY
● A thriller and suspense short story which deals with a single day in the life
of an ordinary astrologer who shrewdly tries to dupe people and escape
from his guilt.
● The story not only exposes the fake astrologer but also highlights the
gullible and superstitious people who approach him.
● When he is about to wind up his business - meets a rogue character, Guru
Nayak - Towards the end, as readers, we receive a shock that Guru Nayak
and the astrologer belong to the same native towns- good friends - had a
quarrel one day.- both were into bad company and had a fight- The
astrologer tried to kill Guru Nayak by attacking him with a knife -threw him
into a nearby well- a passerby saved Guru Nayak- astrologer left his native
village forever- became an astrologer- suddenly he confronts his past
unexpectedly but smartly tackles the situation.

9. AN ASTROLOGER'S DAY
● Unexpected twist with the arrival of Guru Nayak- the mystery that is hidden
in the darkness is unveiled by his questions - Guru Nayak challenges the
astrologer’s knowledge- He refuses to go away without getting a
satisfactory answer to his questions.
● He now decides to face the situation- He displays accurate knowledge
about Guru Nayak’s past and is successful in convincing him. In answering
the question of Guru Nayak, the astrologer has not only deceived him but
also saved himself from his own fate. The author superbly evokes the
atmosphere of suspense and irony in the story. The story reveals how
appearances are often deceptive. It shows the witty astrologer’s encounter
and escape from his former enemy.

10. Crime and Punishment
● Crime and Punishment’ is a fine presentation of today’s
troubled teacher student relationship. The story throws
light on the attitude of the parents in shaping a child as
well.
● Teacher’s crime
● Parents’ attitude
● The punishment
● The excuse

11. ● Among the best works of RK Narayan among his 34 novels, The English
Teacher (1945), Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), The Guide (1958), The
Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The Vendor of Sweets (1967), and A Tiger for
Malgudi (1983) were the best.
● His novel The Guide (1958) won him the most prestigious National Prize of
the Indian Literary Academy, which was his country's highest honor. Narayan
received many other awards and honors including the AC Benson Medal
from the Royal Society of Literature, the Padma Vibhushan, and the Padma
Bhushan, India's second and third highest civilian awards, and in 1994 the
Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest honor of India's national academy
of letters. He was also once nominated to the Rajya Sabha, which is the upper
house of India's parliament.
Awards and Honors

12. ● When he quit his job as a schoolteacher, R.K. Narayan began to
read and write more. The first publication of Narayan that
appeared was a book review of the work Development of
Maritime Laws of 17th-Century England.
● After this, he began to write short stories about local matters for
English Papers. However, this career did not earn him much but he
was unquestionably supported by his family for his choice of
profession.
● They respected and supported his decision in every way.
EARLY WRITING

13. His Writing Style
● His style is graceful, marked by genial humour, elegance, and simplicity.
● According to Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, Narayan's short stories have the
same captivating feeling as his novels, with most of them less than ten pages long,
and taking about as many minutes to read. She adds that Narayan provides the
reader something novelists struggle to achieve in hundreds more pages: a
complete insight to the lives of his character between the title sentence and the
ends.
● Critics have noted that Narayan's writings tend to be more descriptive and less
analytical; the objective style, rooted in a detached spirit, providing for a more
authentic and realistic narration.
● Narayan's writing style was often compared to that of William Faulkner since both
their works brought out the humour and energy of ordinary life while displaying
compassionate humanism
● Although their approach to subjects was similar, their methods were different;
Faulkner was rhetorical and illustrated his points with immense prose while
Narayan was very simple and realistic, capturing the elements all the same.

14. R.k.Narayan’s Contribution to
Indian English Literature
● Narayan's greatest achievement was making India accessible to the outside
world through his literature. He is regarded as one of the three leading English
language Indian fiction writers, along with Raja Rao and Mulk Raj Anand.
● He has devoted himself exclusive to writing a rare observable fact in the
modern Indian literature. His little dreams of middle class life are enacted in
Malgudi, an imaginary small town in south India which comes to be felt as a living
ambience in his fiction.
● The place that R K Narayan occupies in Indian English literature is hailed by the
critics in India as well as other countries. He set the stage open for the authors to
come and display their creative skills. To conclude, he was very essential
phenomenon for Indian English writing.

15. C0nclusion
To Conclude , R.K.Narayan continues to rule over the heart
of his readers. Simple yet extraordinary, that has been the
appeal of his works. India and its small town life have been
his plots, his character sketches are universal. Children love
his works and peculiar characters; truly he is a common
man’s writer.