R.K. Narayan was a renowned Indian author born in 1906 in Chennai, India. He came from a middle-class Tamil Brahmin family and received his early education in Chennai. Narayan earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Mysore and began his career as a teacher before dedicating himself to writing. Some of his most famous works include Swami and Friends (1935), The Guide (1959), and The Vendor of Sweets (1967). Narayan's stories were set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi and portrayed everyday life and the clash between modern and traditional aspects of Indian society. He received many honors over his career, including the Sahitya Akademi Award

1. Short Biography of R. K.
Narayan
Swami and Friends
by R K Narayan.
SEM II Core-3
Sr Chandrodaya J
Assistant Professor of English.
St Xavier’s College, Mahuadanr,
Nilamber-Pitamber University,
Latehar, Jharkhand.

2. Introduction
RK Narayan in full Rasipuram Krishnaswami
Narayanaswamy was born on October 10th1906 into a middle
class ofthe Tamil Brahmins in Madras in South India.
His father was headmaster and he had many siblings. He
did his initial studies at the residence of his grandmother in
Chennai and moved to Mysore with his parents.
R.K. Narayan earned his bachelor’s degree from the
University of Mysore, completed his education in 1930 and briefly
worked as a teacher before deciding to devote himself to writing.

3. Although writing was an uncommon career for
Indian men of his time, his family was supportive of
his choice.
Narayan also broke with tradition by deciding
to forgo an arranged marriage and instead choose his
own wife who died after 5 years of their marriage in
1939.
Narayan raised his one daughter on his own
and never married again.

4. He went to the United States in 1956 at the
invitation of the Rockefeller Foundation.
His literary career began with his short
stories which appear in “The Hindu” newspaper.
He began to work as a Mysore
correspondent of “Justice” a “Madras-based”
newspaper.
Narayan’s breakthrough was his first novel
“Swami and Friends” published in 1935 with the
help of Graham Greene who was already an
established author.

5. His works captured the essence of ordinary life.
His first novel and much of his later works are
set in the fictitious south Indian town of Malgudi.
Narayan typically portrays the peculiarities of
human relationship and their ironies of Indian daily
life in which modern urban existence clashes with
ancient traditions.
His style is graceful marked by friendly humor,
elegance and simplicity.

6. His literary works
Among the best received of Narayan's
literary works are:
-Swami and Friends -1935
-The Bachelor of Arts -1937
-The dark room - 1938
-The English teacher -1945

7. --Mr. Sampath -1948
-The financial expert 1952
-Waiting for the Mahatma 1958
-The Guide 1959
-The man eater of Malgudi 1961
-The vendor of sweets 1967
-A Tiger for Malgudi 1988

8. Narayan also wrote a number of short
stories
-Malgudi Days 1942
-Lawley Road 1956
-A Horse and Two Goats and other stories 1970
-Under the Banyan Tree and other stories 1985
-The Grandmother’s Tales 1988

9. -He also published a shortened modern
prose version of two Indian epics
-The Ramayana 1972
-The Mahabharata 1978

10. Awards
Narayan has won many awards and prizes for
his literary works
-Sahitya Academi Award in 1958
-Padma Bhushan in 1964
-AC Benson Medal by the Royal Society for
literature 1980

11. -Padma Vibhushan in 2000
•He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1989
He was made an honorary member of the American
Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
•Narayan passed away on May 13th 2001 at the age of
94.
• Narayan played an exceptional role in making India
accessible to the outside world through literature.

12. HistoricalcontextofSwamiandFriends
Swami and Friends was written between the first
and second world wars, a literary period of notable
creative experimentation that likely encouraged Narayan
in his mission to create a uniquely personal depiction of
his childhood
The historical context of the British Colonial rule
on India is also particularly crucial to the story as Swami
and Friends begin to understand oppression of their
country.
Britain would continue to rule India until the late
1940s. So Swami witnessed the stirring of the
independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi that
would come to redefine the nature of India in the coming
years.