R.K. Narayan's Selected Novels:
1. Swami and Friends (1935):
This novel proved to be very popular and famous. It brought a name and fame to him and opened the gates of success for him. It was regarded by the critics as a great work of art, Pramod Verma, Graham Greene and Compton Mackenzie praised the novel a great deal.
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| R.K. Narayan—A Brief Survey of Selected Novels |
The novel is about Swami, an average boy and his friend Somu, the monitor, Mani (the Dada), Shankar the most intelligent boy of the class, Samuel the short - statured and Rajam, a late arriving, intelligent charming son of the Police Superintendent. Ebenezar is a teacher, a fanatic Christian. The teacher uses abusive language for Hindu deities and Swami is unable to endure them, so there is a clash between him and the teacher. He is beaten. Headmaster interferes. All other students get involved. In the end Swami leaves the school and joins the Board High School.
The novel is remarkable for the author's understanding of child psychology and his depiction of the carefree world of schoolboys in a realistic manner. The characterization is also marvellous. From the point of view of plot construction and the novel is notable.
2. The Bachelor of Arts (1937):
It is a novel dealing with college life. The hero of the novel Chandran, a good college debater impresses the Secretary in debate. He falls in love with Malthi but cannot marry due to opposition from his mother. He becomes a sanyasi, but after sometime he enters family life and marries a girl chosen by his parents. He becomes a new paper correspondent. He tells people that there is no need of marriage except for sexual satisfaction and managent of home and family.
3. The English Teacher (1945):
It is his another novel that deals with school and college life of India. Krishnan, the English teacher repeated his mugged up notes from year to year. According to the novelist it was ' a fraud practised for a consideration of a hundred rupees. Once he wrote his original poem which was actually a poem of Byron just reproduced. To him teaching was nothing but sitting in his chair and keeping his tongue active whether his students followed him or not.
Krishnan's wife was Sushila. They lived happily but suddenly his wife died of typhoid. After her death he looked after his daughter Leela. Then he started getting instructions from the spirit of his wife about the things of his wife. He put up his daughter at a school. In the end Krishnan resigns his job and joins the primitive school to talk directly to the spirit of his wife. The English teacher is a psychic, mystic and spiritual study of an Indian. It is a fine work of art. Sushila is a devoted Indian wife. The philosophical and spiritual discussions in the novel tax the patience of the readers.
4. The Dark Room (1939):
The Dark Room is a lament on the disharmony of domestic life. Ramani a branch manager of an Insurance Company is the hero of the novel. His wife was Savitri and his three children were Babu, Kamala and Sumati. In the latter part of the novel Shanta Bai an Insurance organiser enters. He falls in love with her. Savitri becomes sad and tries to commit suicide. But she is saved by a blacksmith. She comes back to her house. As Ramani does not change himself, Savitri lives a miserable life. This a common Indian story of upper middle class. Shanta Bai and Ramani are realistic characters.
5. The Financial Expert (1952):
It is the story about the rise and fall of Maragayya, the financial wizard. He filled in the forms of his customers and advised them the ways and means of getting loan from the bank. After sometime he was asked by the Secretary of the Central Co - operative Land Mortgage Bank to drop his activities. He felt sad.
Then he made money from Domestic Harmony, a Spicy book. Then again he became a money - lender. He earned a lot of money. In the end he declared himself insolvent. He then took up the first business. The novel indicates that dreams are luxuries, and the average human being's dreams are never fulfilled.
6. Mr. Sampath (1949):
Mr. Sampath is the owner of the Truth Printing Works, he prints the weekly of Mr. Srinivas. He is expert in business matters, these sales talks are charming. Being persuaded by him Srinivas writes a film story by Sunrise pictures. Mr. Sampath falls in love with the heroine of the film. Her name is Shanti. Sampath takes Shanti to a bungalow at Memphi Hills. They get separated after four days. The characterization of the novel is noteworthy. The characters Sampath, Shanti and Srinivas are living characters. The style and language of the novel is delicate and simple.
7. The Guide (1956):
It is the most popular novel of R. K. Narayan. The writer got the Sahitya Academy Award for it in 1961. The Guide is the story of Raju who plays several roles in his life as a vendor, a guide, an adulterer, a manager of a dancing girl, a cheat, a prisoner and a martyred saint. He is known as Railway Raju. Once he became a guide for a rich couple Marco and Rosie. He thought Rosie was not loved by her husband, so he fell in love with her. She was a good dancer, and she was more and better trained in dancing by Raju. She became a famous dancer. Raju and Rosie lived as husband and wife in the house deserted by Raju's mother who objected to their relationship. Rosie's husband Marco returned all her jwellery and money to her. He forged the signature of Rosie and was punished to imprisonment. Coming out of the jail he cut off all relationship with the past and started his new life as a Saint or Mahatma. The village Mangala where he was living as a saint was caught in the grip of drought. He had to fast for 11 days. On the twelfth day he sagged in the water of a river foretelling that the rain was falling on the hills and coming under his feet.
The writer's technique of craftsmanship is notable. He has unified different episodes. The technique is the mixture of the fiction, the drama and the film technique. The conception of the tragedy is weak. The hero does not attract the sympathy and admiration of the readers. The novel is a pensive comedy. The narrative is simple but told in present past manner. The back stage life of Raju has dramatic effect.
8. The Man - Eater of Malgudi (1962):
This is a story of a cruel taxidermist named Vasu. He is trained by a wrestler. He is very strong and can break stones with his hands. He boxes the Pahalwan very severely. He learns the art of taxidermy in Junagarh. He kills animals, stuffs them and sells them. In search of a very big animal he threatens the life of an elephant who has been befriended by Natraj, his friend.
The scene is the Memphi forest where Vasu wishes to live with wild animals. Vasu is very money - minded. He has no morals. He is feelingless and brutish while Natraj is a kind hearted good man.
9. Waiting for the Mahatma (1955):
It is based on Mahatma Gandhi's struggle for freedom of India. It includes the Quiet India Movement of 1942 and the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in the Birla House garden at the prayer meeting. Sriram is a Youngman of twenty. An enchanting girl named Bharati leads him in the company of Mahatma Gandhi. He is inspired by Gandhiji but he gets influenced by Jagdish, a terrorist also. All the threads of the story are finely interwoven and present a unified novel before the readers. The incidents are politically important and give the readers a glimpse into the history of India.
10. The Vendor of Sweets (1967):
The novel deals with the clash of affections. Jagan is a sixty years old wealthy widower. He is a vendor and makes much money. His son is Mali for whom he was deep affection. Mali goes to America and comes back with a half American wife and a grand scheme for marketing a novel writing machine. Jagan feels and shocked at these notions and things which are of the new world. His cherished notions of marriage seem to be dwindling. He is utterly at sea. Jagan is a traditional Indian and Mali is, like any modern young man, under the impact of western culture.
11. The Painter of Signs (1976):
The novel deals with man's quest for identity, the hero is Raman who is a painter of signs and who has bitter - sweet experience of love and disenchantment with Daisy an enthusiastic worker at the family planning centre in Malgudi. Daisy assets the independence of women and the importance of a small family. Raman is intellectual and rational. He paints a signboard for a lawyer who cheats him with the pretext that there a dirt mark on the board. Raman gets frustrated and claims to hate money and sex though remains obsessed with them all the time. He wants to expose the corrupt people to the world but ironically he paints boards for all such people. Actually he takes up this profession of painting for he loves beautiful hand - writing, letters, their shape, stance and shade. But no one cares for aesthetic values. Daisy enters into his life and makes him a fettered man. He thinks about her in the following manner:
"The clothes on her simply do not exist for you , you are pre - occupied with what you can accidently glimpse at , hoping for a chance to see her clothes blown off , while she sits away at her desk , you fancy her on your lap , while she is conversing , you are sealing her lips with your kiss.”
The above description of the amorous feelings of Raman is very romantic written in poetic style and grand and simple language.
Raman enjoys physical pleasure with Daisy. He wishes to marry her but she gives him a great shock by declaring that the thought of marriage frightens her and that she cannot live except alone. Raman adopts again his normal life and the fever of Daisy's love is over for ever.
All these novels of R. K. Narayan are grouped into four categories, the early novels dealing with school and college life (Swami and the Friends, Bachelor of Arts and the English Teacher), the domestic novels dealing with family life and routine life (The Dark Room and the Vendor of Sweets), the novels dealing with money worshippers (The Financial Expert, Mr. Sampath. The Guide and the Man - Eater of Malgudi) and the political novel dealing with political life of India (Waiting for the Mahatma).