500+ Words Biography of R.K. Narayan
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan, popularly known as R.K. Narayan, was a great Indian novelist and short story writer in English. He is famous in the world of literary art for his outstanding contribution to it. He is truly a living legend of English literature. A creator of his kind, he has enriched English literature with galaxies of fictions and facts. Like Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao, another Indian maestro in this field, he holds versatile genius in his own wonderland of creativity.
R.K. Narayan was born on October 10, 1906, in the village of Rasipuram in Tamil Nadu. He came from a traditional South Indian Brahmin family. He was one of eight children; six sons and two daughters. His father, a headmaster of a government school, instilled in him a love for literature and the English language from an early age. As his father’s job entailed frequent transfers, Narayan spent part of his childhood under the care of his maternal grandmother.
He received his early education in a Christian Missionary School in Madras, the city which has been renamed now as Chennai. Later, he was admitted to Maharaja’s College for higher education and graduated from that very college. Madras City had a great impact on Narayan’s life. This city nourished his mind with human kindness and empowered him with prime mover. He learned to read how people bear with stoicism and ribaldry. After completing his graduation, he left this historical city and settled in Mysore permanently.
In 1930, R.K. Narayan wrote his first novel, “Swami and Friends,” which is an episodic narrative recounting the adventures of a group of schoolboys. With this book, Narayan created Malgudi, a town that creatively reproduced the social sphere of the country. What greatly influenced his literary life was his bond of friendship with the great British novelist Graham Greene. Their bond began to take shape in 1935 and reached its peak shortly after he made allies. Their friendship was so deep that it remained intact until Graham died in 1990.
R.K. Narayan is known for the extreme simplicity of his plots and characters, which revolve around the lives and hopes of average middle- and lower-class Indians. His stories are centred around an imaginary place called ‘Malgudi.’ They are told with quiet realism and a comic sense. R. K. Narayan’s writing is neither mystic nor phantasmagoric in nature. His thoughts are clear and focus on the common problems of ordinary life. The eventuality of his writings maintains realism. Trivial and silly things that upset people and jeopardize human peace occupy an important part of his short stories. As a commentator on the tales of discomfited social beings, he unveils the desolate figures and subsequently improves their conditions. His words are straightforward; he avoids rhetorical exaggeration and the art of euphemism. Many extrinsic characters, by dint of his creative genuineness, appear to be eye-catching, and useless trifles are scarcely found there. He loathes surrealism in his masterpieces, which expose not only the gloomy faces of the downtrodden but also focus on abominable incitement.
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R.K. Narayan’s works are vast and multitudinous. He published fifteen novels and several collections of short stories. Among them are “The Bachelor of Arts” (1937), “The Dark Room” (1938), “The English Teacher” (1945), “Mr. Sampath” (1948), “An Astrologer’s Day and Other Stories” (1947), “The Financial Expert” (1952), “The Guide” (1958), “The Man-Eater of Malgudi” (1961), “The Vendor of Sweets” (1967), “A Horse and Two Goats” (1970), “Grandmother’s Tale” (1992), and “A Tiger for Malgudi” (1983). All of his works have a peculiarly Indian ring to them and are set in the small imaginary town of Malgudi. Stories like “The Martyr’s Corner,” “The Axe,” “Out of Business,” and “Snake in the Garden” are among his notable short stories.
He seeks realism in his topics, but more than that, he deals with the mind and behaviour of the typical middle-class citizens of South Indian urban districts like Madras and Mysore. Most of his stories are enriched with regional flavour and dialect, which add to their realism. Many of his stories about the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi were adapted into a successful television series, “Malgudi Days.”
R.K. Narayan’s achievements in the literary field are manifold. He has been crowned with many awards and titles in recognition of his contributions to the literary world. In 1960, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his famous novel “The Guide.” This book was successfully filmed and earned the Filmfare Award for Best Story. In 1964, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honours. In 1980, he was awarded the AC Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature. In 1982, he became an honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1986, he was honoured with the Rajyotsava Prashasti by the Government of Karnataka.
Coinciding with his ninetieth birthday, Penguin India published a special and limited edition of his autobiographical work, “My Days.” The book may be regarded as the chronicle of the renowned creator’s life. His biography was published by N. Ram, the Editor of Frontline, and Susan Ram. In 1980, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s Parliament, where he served for six years. In 2000, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award. This great writer breathed his last on May 13, 2001, at the age of 94.