R.K. Narayan

Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Narayan (October 10, 1906 - May 13, 2001) was an Indian novelist. His novels are characterised by Chekhovian simplicity and gentle humour. Characters in his novels tend to be very down-to-earth. His novels are all set in an imaginary place called Malgudi which is a typical South Indian town.

His writing career began with Swami and Friends. At first, he could not get the novel published. He then sent a draft to Graham Greene, who liked it so much that he arranged for its publication. Greene was to remain a close friend of his. After that, he published a continuous stream of novels, all set in Malgudi and each dealing with different characters in that fictional place. Autobiographical content forms a significant part of some of his novels, for example, The English Teacher.

Most of his novels deal with the humdrum of everyday life. In fact, his work has sometimes been criticised for being excessively simplistic and for sometimes being cliched.

List of his major works (in chronological order) :

• Swami and Friends, 1935
• Bachelor of Arts, 1937
• The Dark Room, 1938
• The English Teacher, 1945
• An Astrologer's Day and Other Stories, 1947
• Mr. Sampath - The Printer of Malgudi, 1949
• The Financial Expert, 1952
• Waiting for the Mahatma, 1955
• Lawley Road and Other Stories, 1956
• The Guide, 1958, made into a Hindi movie by Dev Anand
• The Man-Eater of Malgudi, 1961
• My Dateless Diary, 1964
• Gods, Demons, and Other Stories, 1965
• The Vendor of Sweets, 1967
• My Days, 1974
• The Painter of Signs, 1976
• Malgudi Days, 1982
• A Tiger for Malgudi, 1983
• Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, 1985
• The Talkative Man, 1986
• The World of Nagaraj, 1990