Editing R. K. Narayan (section)

==Literary review==
===Writing style===
Narayan's writing technique was unpretentious with a natural element of humour about it.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=204597|title=Remembering the man who brought Malgudi alive|date=10 October 2006|newspaper=[[The Indian Express]]|access-date=24 August 2009}}{{dead link|date=February 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> It focused on ordinary people, reminding the reader of next-door neighbours, cousins and the like, thereby providing a greater ability to relate to the topic.<ref name="A companion to Indian fiction in English">{{cite magazine|last=Piciucco|first=Pier Paolo|title=A companion to Indian fiction in English|magazine=Atlantic|year=2002|page=2|isbn=81-269-0310-4}}</ref> Unlike his national contemporaries, he was able to write about the intricacies of Indian society without having to modify his characteristic simplicity to confirm to trends and fashions in fiction writing.<ref name="Hartford Courant">{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/73093443.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141010140251/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/73093443.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 October 2014|title=R. K. Narayan Focused On Everyday People; An Appreciation|date=17 May 2001|newspaper=[[The Hartford Courant]]|access-date=23 August 2009|first=Indraneel|last=Sur}}</ref> He also employed the use of nuanced dialogic prose with gentle [[Tamil language|Tamil]] overtones based on the nature of his characters.<ref name="Centenary conference - The Daily Star">{{cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/12/02/d612022102117.htm|title=R. K. Narayan's Centenary Conference (Concluding Part)|date=11 October 2006|newspaper=The Daily Star|access-date=23 August 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024111300/http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/12/02/d612022102117.htm|archive-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> Critics have considered Narayan to be the ''Indian [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]]'', due to the similarities in their writings, the simplicity and the gentle beauty and humour in tragic situations.{{Sfn|Dayal|1985}} Greene considered Narayan to be more similar to Chekhov than any Indian writer.<ref name="NYT Obit" /> [[Anthony West (author)|Anthony West]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' considered Narayan's writings to be of the realism variety of [[Nikolai Gogol]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/914855742.html?dids=914855742:914855742&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+30%2C+1958&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Legend+Grows&pqatl=google|title=Legend Grows|date=30 March 1958|newspaper=[[The Hartford Courant]]|access-date=20 October 2009|first=Samuel F|last=Morse|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023082651/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/914855742.html?dids=914855742:914855742&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+30,+1958&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Legend+Grows&pqatl=google|archive-date=23 October 2012}}</ref>

According to [[Pulitzer Prize]] winner [[Jhumpa Lahiri]], Narayan's [[short story|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. These characteristics and abilities led Lahiri to classify him as belonging to the pantheon of short-story geniuses that include [[O. Henry]], [[Frank O'Connor]] and [[Flannery O'Connor]]. Lahiri also compares him to [[Guy de Maupassant]] for their ability to compress the narrative without losing the story, and the common themes of middle-class life written with an unyielding and unpitying vision.<ref name="Narayan days - Lahiri" /> [[V. S. Naipaul]] noted that he "wrote from deep within his community", and did not, in his treatment of characters, "put his people on display".<ref name="Master of small things"/>

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.{{Sfn|Bhatnagar, M.|2005|pp=205–206}} His attitude, coupled with his perception of life, provided a unique ability to fuse characters and actions,{{Sfn|Kain|1993|p=79}} and an ability to use ordinary events to create a connection in the mind of the reader.{{Sfn|Badal|1976}}{{Page number|date=February 2024}} A significant contributor to his writing style was his creation of [[Malgudi]], a stereotypical small town, where the standard norms of superstition and tradition apply.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99dec26/book.htm|title=Malgudi, hamlet of millennium|date=26 December 1999|newspaper=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|access-date=24 August 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614052408/http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99dec26/book.htm|archive-date=14 June 2009}}</ref>

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.<ref name="RKN 1906-2001">{{cite news|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/05/16/stories/05162512.htm|title=R. K. Narayan, 1906–2001|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=22 July 2009|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720100231/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/05/16/stories/05162512.htm|archive-date=20 July 2009}}</ref> The similarities also extended to their juxtaposing of the demands of society against the confusions of individuality.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/73004946.html?dids=73004946:73004946&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+14%2C+2001&author=MYRNA+OLIVER&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Obituaries%3B+R.K.+Narayan%3B+Wry+Novelist+Brought+India+to+the+World&pqatl=google|title=R. K. Narayan; Wry Novelist Brought India to the World|date=14 May 2001|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=26 August 2009|first=Myrna|last=Oliver|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106142508/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/73004946.html?dids=73004946:73004946&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+14,+2001&author=MYRNA+OLIVER&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Obituaries%3B+R.K.+Narayan%3B+Wry+Novelist+Brought+India+to+the+World&pqatl=google|archive-date=6 November 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/49934626.html?dids=49934626:49934626&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+15%2C+1987&author=MALCOLM+JONES&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&desc=R.+K.+Narayan%27s+work+is+crafted+with+deceptive+simplicity&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130111084947/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/49934626.html?dids=49934626:49934626&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+15,+1987&author=MALCOLM+JONES&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&desc=R.+K.+Narayan's+work+is+crafted+with+deceptive+simplicity&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 January 2013|title=R. K. Narayan's work is crafted with deceptive simplicity|date=15 February 1987|newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]]|access-date=26 August 2009|first=Malcolm|last=Jones}}</ref>

===Malgudi===
{{main|Malgudi}}

Malgudi is a fictional fully urban town in southern India, conjured by Narayan.{{Sfn|Khatri|2008|p=10}} He created the town in September 1930, on [[Vijayadashami]], an auspicious day to start new efforts and thus chosen for him by his grandfather.{{Sfn|Parija|2001|p=60}} As he mentioned in a later interview to his biographers Susan and N. Ram, in his mind, he first saw a railway station, and slowly the name ''Malgudi'' came to him.{{Sfn|Prasad|2003|p=40}} The fictional town of Malgudi was first introduced in ''Swami and Friends''.

The town was created with an impeccable historical record, dating to the [[Ramayana]] days when it was noted that [[Lord Rama]] passed through; it was also said that the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] visited the town during his travels.{{Sfn|Khatri|2008|p=168}} While Narayan never provided strict physical constraints for the town, he allowed it to form shape with events in various stories, becoming a reference point for the future.{{Sfn|Walsh|1982|p=30}} [[James Mathias Fennelly|Dr James M. Fennelly]], a scholar of Narayan's works, created a map of Malgudi based on the fictional descriptors of the town from the many books and stories.<ref name="Narayan days - Lahiri" />

Malgudi evolved with the changing political landscape of India. In the 1980s, when the nationalistic fervor in India dictated the changing of British names of towns and localities and removal of British landmarks, Malgudi's mayor and city council removed the long-standing statue of Frederick Lawley, one of Malgudi's early residents. However, when the Historical Societies showed proof that Lawley was strong in his support of the [[Indian independence movement]], the council was forced to undo all their earlier actions.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/59604444.html?dids=59604444:59604444&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+11%2C+1994&author=Judith+Freeman&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=%60May+You+Always+Wear+Red%27+Insights+into+the+nuances+of+Indian+culture+GRANDMOTHER%27S+TALE+And+Other+Stories%2C+By+R.K.+Narayan+%28Viking%3A+%2423.95%3B+320+pp.%29&pqatl=google|title=May You Always Wear Red' Insights into the nuances of Indian culture|last=Freeman|first=Judith|date=11 December 1994|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=14 October 2009}}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> A good comparison to Malgudi, a place that Greene characterised as "more familiar than [[Battersea]] or [[Euston Road]]", is Faulkner's [[Yoknapatawpha County]].<ref name="RKN 1906-2001"/> Also, like Faulkner's, when one looks at Narayan's works, the town gets a better definition through the many different novels and stories.{{Sfn|Sanga|2003|pp=194–195}}

===Critical reception===
Narayan first broke through with the help of [[Graham Greene]] who, upon reading ''Swaminathan and Tate'', took it upon himself to work as Narayan's agent for the book. He was also significant in changing the title to the more appropriate ''Swami and Friends'', and in finding publishers for Narayan's next few books. While Narayan's early works were not commercial successes, other authors of the time began to notice him. 

[[Somerset Maugham]], on a trip to Mysore in 1938, had asked to meet Narayan, but not enough people had heard of him to actually effect the meeting. Maugham subsequently read Narayan's ''The Dark Room'', and wrote to him expressing his admiration.{{Sfn|Greene|2008|pp=68, xxiv}}{{Sfn|Varma|1993|p=26}} Another contemporary writer who took a liking to Narayan's early works was [[E. M. Forster]],{{Sfn|Lago|Hughes|Walls|2008|p=185}} an author who shared his dry and humorous narrative, so much so that Narayan was labeled the "South Indian E. M. Forster" by critics.{{Sfn|Sampson|Churchill|1961|p=743}} Despite his popularity with the reading public and fellow writers, Narayan's work has not received the same amount of critical exploration accorded to other writers of his stature.{{Sfn|Brians|2003|pp=59–60}}

Narayan's success in the United States came a little later, when Michigan State University Press started publishing his books. His first visit to the country was on a fellowship from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]], and he lectured at various universities including [[Michigan State University]] and the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. Around this time, [[John Updike]] noticed his work and compared Narayan to [[Charles Dickens]]. In a review of Narayan's works published in ''[[The New Yorker]]'', Updike called him a writer of a vanishing breed—the writer as a citizen; one who identifies completely with his subjects and with a belief in the significance of humanity.{{Sfn|Gupta|1986}}

Having published many novels, essays and short stories, Narayan is credited with bringing Indian writing to the rest of the world. While he has been regarded as one of India's greatest writers of the twentieth century, critics have also described his writings with adjectives such as charming, harmless and benign.<ref name="New Yorker Review">{{cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/12/18/061218crbo_books|title=The Master of Malgudi|last=Mason|first=Wyatt|date=18 December 2006|newspaper=[[The New Yorker]]|access-date=2 September 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603183424/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/12/18/061218crbo_books|archive-date=3 June 2009}}</ref>  ''[[The Financial Expert]]'' was hailed as one of the most original works of 1951 and [[Sahitya Academy Award]] winner ''[[The Guide]]'' was [[Guide (film)|adapted for the film]] (winning a [[Filmfare Award for Best Film]]) and for Broadway.

Narayan has also come in for criticism from later writers, particularly of Indian origin, who have classed his writings as having a pedestrian style with a shallow vocabulary and a narrow vision.<ref name="Reluctant centenarian" /> According to [[Shashi Tharoor]], Narayan's subjects are similar to those of [[Jane Austen]] as they both deal with a very small section of society. However, he adds that while Austen's prose was able to take those subjects beyond ordinariness, Narayan's was not.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2001/07/08/stories/13080675.htm|title=Comedies of suffering|last=Tharoor|first=Sashi|date=8 July 2001|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=9 July 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115210912/http://hindu.com/2001/07/08/stories/13080675.htm|archive-date=15 November 2011}}</ref> A similar opinion is held by [[Shashi Deshpande]] who characterizes Narayan's writings as pedestrian and naive because of the simplicity of his language and diction, combined with the lack of any complexity in the emotions and behaviours of his characters.<ref name="Outlook - Deshpande">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?211645|title=Paved The Ways|date=15 May 2001|magazine=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|access-date=5 September 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101101020955/http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?211645|archive-date=1 November 2010}}</ref>

A general perception on Narayan was that he did not involve himself or his writings with the politics or problems of India, as mentioned by [[V. S. Naipaul]] in one of his columns.<ref name="Master of small things"/> However, according to [[Wyatt Mason]] of ''The New Yorker'', although Narayan's writings seem simple and display a lack of interest in politics, he delivers his narrative with an artful and deceptive technique when dealing with such subjects and does not entirely avoid them, rather letting the words play in the reader's mind.<ref name="New Yorker Review" /> [[K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar]], former vice-chancellor of [[Andhra University]], says that Narayan wrote about political topics only in the context of his subjects, quite unlike his compatriot [[Mulk Raj Anand]] who dealt with the political structures and problems of the time.{{Sfn|Iyengar|Nandakumar|1983|p=331}} Paul Brians, in his book ''Modern South Asian Literature in English'', says that the fact that Narayan completely ignored British rule and focused on the private lives of his characters is a political statement on its own, declaring his independence from the influence of colonialism.{{Sfn|Brians|2003|pp=59–60}}

In the west, Narayan's simplicity of writing was well received. One of his biographers, [[William Walsh (academic)|William Walsh]], wrote of his narrative as a comedic art with an inclusive vision informed by the transience and illusion of human action. Multiple Booker nominee [[Anita Desai]] classes his writings as "compassionate realism" where the cardinal sins are unkindness and immodesty.{{Sfn|Sanga|2003|p=198}} According to Mason, in Narayan's works, the individual is not a private entity, but rather a public one and this concept is an innovation that can be called his own. In addition to his early works being among the most important English-language fiction from India, with this innovation, he provided his western readers the first works in English to be infused with an eastern and Hindu existential perspective. Mason also holds the view that [[Edmund Wilson]]'s assessment of [[Walt Whitman]], "He does not write editorials on events but describes his actual feelings", applies equally to Narayan.<ref name="New Yorker Review" />