Chapter I

T RADITIONAL APPROACHES

TO R.K.NARAYAN

Chapter 1

TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO R K NARAYAN

Since the death o f Evelyn Waugh, Narayan is the novelist I most admire in English language.

Graham Greene

Malgudi is the microcosm o f traditional Indian society.C.D. Narasimhaiah

R. K. Narayan, one of the greatest Indian English writers and a

world-renowned literary figure of the twentieth century, is among

the founding fathers o f Indian English fiction. Along with Raja Rao

and Mulk Raj Anand he not only inaugurated the novel form in

Indian English literature but also defined the area in which the

Indian novel was to operate so far its theme and characterization

are concerned. Each of these three novelists — called the great trio1

— used his own version of English, freed from foggy taste of

Britain, and transferred it to a new setting o f brilliant light and

purified heart. Among these Indian English writers R. K. Narayan

is supreme and the best because his fiction reveals varied

! Mohammad Ejaz Alain. R. K. Narayan and the Inhabitants of M algudi, N ew Delhi:

Rajat Publications, 2005, p.5.

dimensiorts o f Indian life, tradition and ethos depicted or

represented through his unique individual talent. Shiv Gilra, while

talking about the place and position o f R K Narayan in

contemporary Indian English Literature, concentrates on his ‘use of

the locale’, his art o f story telling, plot construction and character

• 2delineation . Narayan’s great distinction as a novelist also lies in

creating an imaginary landscape, Malgudi, for giving his characters

‘a local habitation and name’. For this distinctiveness, and other

characteristic features, critics have compared him with Jane Austen

— for being content with his ‘little bit o f ivory’— equating Malgudi

with ‘boarder countries’ o f Sir Walter Scott, ‘Lake District’ of

Wordsworth, ‘The Wessex’ o f Thomas Hardy or ‘The Five Towns’

of Arnold Bennet.3 They believe what Hardy did for Wessex and

Faulkner did for Mississippi, Narayan has done for Malgudi

placing it on the literary map of India. According to them,

Narayan’s Malgudi, like Hardy’s Wessex, serves as a special and

2 See, Shiv Gilra. R.K. Narayan: His W orld and His art, G haziabad: Vimal Prakashn,

1984.

3 For more information see, M. L. Malhotra. *‘R. K. Narayan: His Mind and Art", in

D. V. K. Raghavacharyulu(ed) Bridges o f L iterature, Ajmer: Sunanda

Publications, 1971, pp. 173-180; Mary Beatina. N arayan: A Study in

Transcendence. N ew York: Peter Long Pub. 1994, p. 133 and M. K. Naik and

Shyamala A. Narayan. Indian English Literature. 1980 - 2000: A C ritical

S urvey , Delhi: Pencraft International, 2001. p.22.

15

useful background for events and episodes, helping readers to

understand fully the actions of the characters inhabiting it.

Srinivasa Iyengar says:

N a r a y a r fs is the art o f reso lved lim itation and c o n sc ien t io u s

exploration; he is content like Jane A u sten , w ith his “ little bit o f

iv o ry ” , ju st so m any inches w ide: he w o u ld like to be a detached

ob server to concentrate on a narrow scen e , to snap a sm all group o f

characters in their odd it ies and angularities: he w o u ld , i f he couid

ex p lo re the inner countries o f the m ind, heart and soul, catch the

u n iq u en ess in the ordinary, tragic in the p r o sa ic . . . M algud i is

N a ra y a n ’s Casterbridge, but the inhabitants o f M algud i - a lthough they

m ay have their recogn izab le local trappings - are essen t ia l ly hum an,

and hen ce , their kinship with all h u m a n ity /

There are critics and scholars who consider Narayan to be

the third world’s best writer in English and talk high of his finest

achievements such as attaining a balance between ‘the Indian’ and

‘the Universal’, combining technique and ‘temperament’ exploring

the ancient Indian culture embodied in the Indian epics Shastras,

P um as , myths and mythologies.'^ The Indian epics. Pumas, and

Shastras, these critics establish, are the depositories o f ancient

values of life and moral codes of conduct used consistently by

4 K. R. S. Iyengar. Indian W riting in English, N ew Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt.

Ltd., 2001, p. 360.

5 See, Lakshmi Holmstrom. The N ovels o f Narayan. Calcutta: Writers' Workshop,

1973 and Cynthia Vanden Driesen. "The Achievement o f R.K. Narayan".

L iterature E ast an d (Vest 21, 1- 4 (1977). pp.5 1 -64.

16

different Indian writers to delineate various facets o f Indian Culture

and Civilization; and Narayan being no exception exploits these

treasure houses of Indian scholarship and wisdom in order to make

it known to the world that India is traditionally the Ramayana , the

Mahabharata and the Pum as? The values remain the same in

every village, town or city. He is not only faithful to his national

tradition but also his own cultural ethos and people. John Updike,

the American novelist, observes on Narayan’s oneness with his

people and surroundings:

W hat a w ea lth o f material b e c o m e s ava ilab le to a writer w h o can

s im p ly assert such a sen se o f com m u n ity ! . . . o f writers im m ersed in

their material and enabled to draw tales from a co m m u n ity o f

neighbours , Faulkner w a s our last great ex a m p le . A n instinctive ,

respectfu l identif ication w ith the p eop le o f o n e ' s lo ca le c o m e s hard

n o w . in the m en a c in g c it ies or d isp osab le suburbs, yet w ithout it a

g e n u in e b e l i e f in the s ign if ican ce o f hum anity , in hum an s ig n if ica n ce ,

c o m e s not at all!

Taking a clue from these critics, others have explicated the

doctrine of dharma and karma in the novels of R. K. Narayan by

focusing mainly on how the protagonists pursue the spiritual quest

for self-realisation and self-understanding.

6 R. K. Narayan: Illustra ted Weekly o f India, 23 June 1963.

Ranga Rao. M akers o f Indian Literature: R. K. N arayan , Delhi: Sahitya Akademi,

2004, p. I I 6.

17

• 8According to them , Narayan's novels depict the genuine

human condition by presenting such characters who go through a

series o f frustrations on the account o f various involvements and

finally end up in isolation. Narayan’s treatment, they argue, lies in

highlighting the fluid nature of the protagonist’s character

sandwiched between different identities.

Similarly, there are other critics who have explored and

eulogized R. K. Narayan’s presentation of the national tradition,

with particular reference to the questions o f cultural fusion and

racial consciousness.9 According to these critics, Narayan’s

philosophy o f traditionalism, which permeates all o f his novels, is

the fountain-head from which his other philosophical concepts —

such as orthodoxy, superstition and the role o f fate in life - gush

out. It has been established by such scholars and critics that

8 For more details see, K. Venkatachari. "R. K. Narayan's Novels: Acceptance o f

Life”, O sm ania Journal o f English Studies 7,1 (1969), pp. 51-65; William

Walsh. R. K. Narayan: A C ritical A pprecia tion , Chicago: The University o f

Chicago Press, 1982; David W Atkinson. “Spiritual Growth in R. K.

Narayan”, Journal o f South Asian Literature, 22, 2 (1987), Ramanarayan

Gowry. " Experience in Self-discovery". The Hindu 9 Feb. 1990 and Ramesh

Dynte. The N ovels o f R.K. Narayan: A Typological Study o f Characters, New

Delhi: Prestige Books, 1996.

9 See, Bhagwat S Goyal. R.K. N arayan's India: M yth an d R eality, N ew Delhi: Sarey

& Sons, 1993 and Patrick Swinden. "Gods, Demons and Others in the Novels

o f R.K Narayan”, The Journal o f Indian W riting in E nglish , 2 6 ,1 (1998), pp. 1

- 15.

18

Narayan, very' proficiently and skilfully dealt with various

philosophical concepts in all his major works — The Bachelor o f

Arts, The Dark Room , The English Teacher, The Guide, Waiting

for Mahatma, The Vendor o f Sweets, A Tiger fo r Malgudi and The

World o fN agaraj — which paint a graphic picture o f Indian society

profoundly caught in mythology and drawing sustenance from

spiritual legacy o f its saints, seers, prophets and ascetics. For

example, Bhagwat S Goyal has traced beautifully the growth of

Raju from spurious no- good - fellow to a genuine human being

and his acquisition of genuine humanity through the realisation of

his human and spiritual selfhood.10

Similarly, in his “Thematic Patterns in the Early Novels of

R. K. Narayan” and “Thematic Patterns in the Later Novels of R.

K. Narayan” Goyal establishes that Narayan’s novels delineate

upon the problems encountered by a human life and suggest that

10 See, Bhagwat S Goyal. “From Picaro to Pilgrim: A Perspective on Narayan's The

G uide”, in K.K. Sharma (ed) Indo - English Literature: A C ollection o f

C ritica l E ssays , Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977, pp. 141 - l.‘55 and

Cynthia Vanden Driesen. "From Rogue o f Redeemer: R. K. Narayan's the

G uide ", International Fiction Review 6,2 (1979). pp. 166-1 70.

19

life is a journey in quest of self-identity or emancipation from the

miseries o f life."

There are scholars who argue that the novels o f Narayan are

a unique mixture of myths and reality. In most o f his novels, they

assert, both myth and reality have been so deftly fused together that

they seem to coalesce as in actual life. Narayan’s realism, unlike

the stark and naked realism of the French realists and naturalists, is

believed to be psychological and sociological at the same time.

With the help and use of myths and fables, Narayan penetrates the

core o f Indian mind and reveals it with all its bewildering

} . «contradictions, superstitions and traditions. ~ U.P. Sinha in Patterns

o f Myth and Reality: A Study o f R. K. N arayan’s Novels has made a

very serious study of R. K. Narayan’s fictional mode based on the

premise that Narayan’s consciousness is Mythic.13 The author

explicates Narayan’s fiction in order to show how the configuration

of myth and reality enforces a specific artistic design to his novels,

thus securing an authentic spiritual vision to his fictional reality. S.

11 Bhagwat S Goyal. “Quest for Identity: A Review o f R. K. Narayan's Novels", in

Bhagwat S Goyal(ed) R. K. N arayan's India: M yth an d Reality, op. cit., pp.

52-94 and Bhagwat S Goyal(ed) R K. Narayan: C ritica l S tudies , N ew Delhi:

Sterling. 1994.

12 N. Ranganath. “Realism in Literature: A Critique on R.K. Narayan's The Guide ",

Triveni 48, 3 (1979), pp.81-85.

13 U.P. Sinha. Patterns o f M yth and Reality': A Study o f R.K. N arayan 's Novels, Delhi:

Sandarbh Publishers. 1988.

20

Krishnan in his “A Day with R. K. Narayan” says that when I

asked Narayan regarding the unorthodox bent o f mind his new

heroines reveal and which is quite different from Savitri o f The

Dark Room. He said: 0

In The D a rk R o o m . I w as concerned with sh o w in g the utter dep en d en ce

o f w o m e n on m en in our society . I su p p ose I have m o v e d a long with

the t im es . T he girl in m y new novel is quite d ifferent - N o t only is she

d ependent on m en: she actually has no use for them as an integral part

o f her life . T o s h o w her com p le te in d ep en d en ce and ability to stand by

h e r s e l f I took care not to g iv e her a nam e w ith any kind o f em otiona l

connotation . I am call ing her s im p ly D a isy . S h e is a very strong

character .14

Narayan uses myth as a technique to illustrate his moral

vision of life, and more interestingly, in most o f his novels he

comes upon an ancient myth that enables him to express this view

and vision o f life.15 William Walsh remarks:

N a ra y a n 's fast id ious art, b lending exact realism , p oetic m yth, sadness,

perception and gaiety . . . it is kind but unsentim enta l, m o c k in g but

un cyn ica l , profoundly Indian but d ist in c tive ly in d iv id u a l .16

14 S. Krishnan. “A Day with R. K. Narayan". Span , April, 1975. p.42.

13 See, Suresh Nath. “Reality and Myth in R. K. Narayan's Novels". L iterary

C riterion 20,2 (1985). pp.8-2; U.P. Sinha. Patterns o f Myth an d Reality: A

Study o f R.K. N arayan's Novels, Delhi: Sandarbh Publishers, 1988 and Chitra

Sankaran. The M yth Connection: The use o f Hindu Mythology' in Some

N ovels o f R aja Rao and R. K. Narayan, New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1993.

16 William Walsh. R. K. Narayan: A C ritical Appreciation, N ew Delhi: Allied

Publishers, 1983, p. 169.

21

Some critics have analysed Narayan as a social realist who

exposes widely Indian characters, their eccentricities, absurdities,

emotions, social customs, conventions, and tradition. Narayan’s

protagonists show us everything that happens in every walk o f

society. R.S. Singh states:

N a r a y a n ’s h eroes are aware o f socia l and political ch an ges , but they

do not take s ides, nor do they co m m it th e m se lv e s to any id eo logy .

N arayan im b u es them with socia l a w aren ess and a sen se o f

responsib il ity on ly to the extent it helps h im to bring out human

q u a lit ie s .17

Narayan puts forward a new kind of consciousness in fiction

and places us in a position where we find ourselves in a new world

of reality. It is truly the large human concern that characterizes his

characters and makes him a novelist of broad vision encompassing

the whole of humanity. He has an extra-ordinary, penetrating and

sensitive understanding of human beings of both men and women.

He can see deeply and very clearly the springs o f emotion and

understand the finest shades of social and personal feelings. His

approach towards his characters is generally realistic. In fact, he is

not obsessed with the qualities of his characters rather he looks

seriously at how his characters respond to their social world, the

1 K. N'atwar Singh. A Tiger fo r M algudi, The Times o f India , August 7. 1983.

22

world in which they perform their daily routine life. Narayan is the

18novelist o f character; he has a concern with the life and society.

H. M. Williams writes:

N arayan ce lebrates the survival o f perm anent v a lu es , as i f India is the

best w itn e ss in the m odern world to a w is d o m that l ies in co m p ro m ise ,

hospita lity and to lera n ce .19

The social consciousness comes closer when we meet

genuine people, the peasants, the shopkeepers, the housewives and

teachers. Standing at a distance from politics, romantic analysis

and preaching Narayan portrays social consciousness in its totality.

His hero experiences everything that occurs in every walk of

society and probes only to highlight the hypocrisy of ideals,

ambition and pride. V. S. Naipaul states:

H e operates from deep within Itis soc ie ty . T he India o f N arayan 's

n o v e ls is not the India the v isitor s e e s .20

18 For more details see, A.S. Ratnam. “Crisis in the N ovels o f R. K. Narayan", The

Journal o f Indian W riting in English , 22,1(1994), pp. 31 - 34; Mohammad

Ejaz Alam. R. K. Narayan & The Inhabitants o f M algudi, N ew Delhi: Rajat

Publications, 2005 and M. K. Bhatnager. N ew Insights into the Novels o f R.

K. N arayan , N ew Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd., 2008.

19 H. M. Williams. lndo-A nglian Literature IH00 - 1970 — A Survey , Madras: Orient

Longman. 1977.

20 M. M. Mahood. The C olonial Encounter. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and

Littlefield, 1977, p.94.

23

There are critics who talk of Narayan’s commitment to and

faith in Hindu ideals and ideology arguing that Narayan deals

consciously and repeatedly with Indian religious themes like

renunciation, incarnation, rebirth, ahimsa, and the law of Karma,

immortality o f soul, its transmigration and the ultimate merger with

* • • • 21the Divine Spirit. . Since these ideas and beliefs are an inseparable

part o f the Indian consciousness and way o f life, Narayan’s

Malgudians too have a firm faith in these due to their deep­

rootedness in traditional family systems and moral codes of

conduct against which they never revolt. According to Ved Mehta:

T o be a g o o d writer anyw here you m ust have roots ■- both in relig ion

and in fam ily , I have these th ings - w e find both re l ig ion and fam ily

h a v e had an im pact, on e subtle, the other direct, on m en and w o m e n in

M algu d i. that has found so m e m eaningfu l m anifesta t ion in nove l after

n o v e l .22

The traditional world of Malgudi does not sanction romantic

love but adheres to the convention o f arranged marriage; man and

woman living together as husband and wife, without getting

married, are regarded as sinners. This traditional society has its

own sexual ethics according to which sex aberration or perversion

21 Satyanarain Singh. “A Note on the World View o f R. K. Narayan", Indian

Literature 24 ( 1981), pp. 104-! 09.

22 C. N. Srinath. "The Literary Landscape ”. Essays on Indian Fiction and Poetry in

English, Delhi, Mittal Publication, 1986, p.3.

24

with any motive is bound to end in frustration and misery.-3 As a

result o f this, critics have commented on Narayan’s traditionalism

or the way tradition dominates and overpowers modernity

whenever there is a clash between them. Narayan, these critics

argue24, promotes blind acceptance of the traditional values of life

and seems to point out, overtly and obliquely the value of heritage,

of a past: what the Shastras have prescribed is good for everybody

for a peaceful and harmonious and happy life as a result o f which

any revolt against the set system or tradition brings despair and

frustration, which amounts to their ultimate defeat.

23 Shyam Bihari Tiwary. “Old wine in New Bottles: Traditionalism in R. K.

Narayan's N ovels”. C yber Literature: A Bi-annual Journal o f English

Studies , 15 & 16, I & 2 (2005). pp. 14-27.

24 For further details see, Shyam M. Asnai, "The Use o f Myth in R. K. Narayan's

N ove ls”, Literature Endeavour 3 .3—1 (1982), pp. 19-31: Santha

Krishnaswami. The Woman in Indian Fiction in E nglish , N ew Delhi: Ashish

Publishing House, 1984, p. 96; U.P. Sinha. Patterns o f M yth and Reality: A

Study o f R. K. N arayan's Novels, Delhi: Sandarbh Publishers, 1988; B M

Bhalla.“R.K.. Narayan: The Integrity o f His vision”, Indian and foreign

R eview -30 Apr. 1988, pp. 6 - 7 ; Michel Pousse. "From Venice to Malgudi:

Eternal Themes, Eternal Devices", The Q uest, 7, 1& 2 (1993), pp. 5 -10;

Chitra Sankaran. The M yth Connection: The use of Hindu M ythology’ in Some

N ovels o f Raja Rao and R. K. Narayan. N ew Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1993

and Michel Pousse. R. K. Narayan: A Painter o f M odern India , New York:

Peter Lang, 1995.

Critics writing on R. K. Narayan’s narrative technique are of

divided opinion: some praise him for his mastery o f narrative

techniques whereas others find his narrative technique defective. R.

S. Sharma, for example, in “Falsification and Authentication in R.

K. Narayan’s The Guide” traces the deceptive “accessibility” and

the enigmatic nature of Narayan’s art in his narratology and

considers The Guide as Ur-text or self-reflective fiction.23 On the

other hand, Keith Garebein has detected frequent interruptions,

pauses, and breaks in Narayan’s narrative o f The Guide, though

according to him these disruptions accord well with the Raju’s

agitation and changes in identity. 26

There are critics who consider Narayan as an absorbing

storyteller whose easy flow' o f words entertains the audience. Paul

Vergese, for example, remarks that Narayan’s is the simple form of

fiction, which records a succession of events and there is no

separation between character and plot: both are inseparably knit

25 R. S. Sharma. “Falsification and Authentication in R. K. Narayan's The G u id e ",

O sm ania Journal of English Studies, 23 - 24 (1987, 88), pp. 140 - 165 and

Dieter Riemenschneider. The Indian N ovel in English: Its C ritica l D iscourse

(1934 - 2004), N ew Delhi: Rawat Publication, 2005, p. 207.

26 Fakrul Alam. “Narrative Strategies in Two Narayan Novels", in A. L. McLeod

(ed). R. K. Narayan: C ritica l P erspectives, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers

Private Limited, 1994. pp.8 - 21 .

26

together and the quality Narayan attributes to his characters

determines the action and in turn progressively changes characters.

In other words, as a good story-teller, Narayan sees to it that

his story has a beginning, middle and an end.27 Graham Greene

states:

T here are writers —T o ls to y and Henry Jam es to nam e tw o - w h o m w e

held in a w e , writers —T urgenev and C h ek h o v - for w h o m w e feel a

personal a ffec t ion , other writers w h o m w e respect - Conrad for

e x a m p le - but w h o hold us at long arm 's length with their “courtly

fore ign grace". Narayan (w h o m I don 't hesitate to nam e in such a

con tex t) m ore than any o f them w a k es in m e a spring o f gratitude, for

he has o ffered m e a secon d hom e. W ithout him 1 cou ld never have

k n o w n w hat it is like to be Indian.“

Even P. C. David and S. Z. H. Abidi in “Levels o f Irony in

the Short Stories o f R. K. Narayan” praise Narayan’s art o f story

telling and the delicate beauty emerging out o f a tragic or ironic

27 For more details see. Avadesh K. Srivastava and Sumita Sinha. "The Short Fiction

o f R.K. Narayan''. Journal o f South Asian Literature 10 .1 (1974), pp. 113-

1 19; B R Nagpal. “R.K. Narayan's Art as a Short Story Teller", Journal o f

Indian W riting in English 13.1 (1985), pp.55-58; S Albertazzi. “The Story-

Teller and the Talkative Man: Some Conventions o f Oral Literature in R.K.

Narayan’s Short Stories”, Com m onwealth: E ssays an d Studies 9.2 (1987), pp.

59 - 64; and Vijayanand Pandeva. “R.K. Narayan and Manohar Malgonkar: A

Comparative Appraisal". Quest 1,1 (1987). pp. 7-10.

28 See, Graham Greene's 'Introduction' to R. K. Narayan's The B achelor o f Arts,

Chennia: Indian Thought Publications. 2004.

situation. They analyse several Narayan's short stories in order to

explicate the subtleties and modulations of irony."

Narayan’s art of characterization too has been seriously

analysed by a number of critics and scholars. Ramesh Dynte in

Novels o f R K Narayan: A Typological Study o f his Characters

adopts a three-tier framework which, he argues, underline different

modes used by the novelist to reveal the characters’ roles in the

novels and to present the worldview. According to him the

typology of four major characters - innocent, rebels, eccentric and

sanyasi - is used by Narayan to project through his characters the

picture of true India to the outside world.30 Following these critics,

some scholars even have tried to work on Narayan’s

characterization especially the British characters that are very few

and have been treated in a light-hearted and superficial manner.

These are Mr Brown, principal of Albert College in The Bachelor

o f Arts and The English Teacher and Mr Mathieson, the coffee

planter in The Waiting fo r Mahatma. They are just minor

characters and their episodic appearance does not place them in

29 See, P. C. David and S. Z. H. Abidi. “Levels o f Irony in the Short Stories o f R. K.

Narayan”, L iterary Endeavour 3,3 - 4(1982), pp.39 - 44.

30 Ramesh Dynte. The N ovels o f R K Narayan: A T ypological S tudy of Characters,

N ew Delhi: Prestige Books. 1961.

28

different situations to bring out the various aspects o f their

personality.

Narayan’s characters, unlike the English novelists, are not

topical or o f utilitarian value; they are really true to life and deep

rooted in their tradition and culture. His approach to his character is

greatly based on his personal experience. What amuses Narayan

most are the oddities, angularities, and eccentricities in his people.

He seeks to delineate through his novels the way o f life o f the

group o f people with whose psychology and background he is most

familiar. It is his intimate relationship with the characters, his

involvement in the milieu he creates which holds his novels

together. In praise of Narayan’s characters, Graham Greene

remarks, “His characters must live, or else the book has no claim

whatever on our interest”.31

Various scholars including O. P. Bhatnager and Shiv K.

Girla have profoundly looked at Narayan’s use of irony. They

believe that the victims of irony in Narayan’s novels suffer not

because they are crushed by a ruthless social order. His irony not

only eschews the dialectics and drives o f colossal, megalithic

characters but also even his megalomaniacs like Sampath, Vasu

31 Graham Greene, ‘Introduction' to The Bachelor o f A rts, Chennai: Indian Thought

Publications, 2004.

and Raju not only spring from the middle-class but also create just

a middling situation of social norm. They also believe that his use

o f irony in his earlier novels is limited only to observations

whereas it becomes a total vision in his later novels. Irony is

undoubtedly an integral part of his vision o f life. His use of irony is

invariably in tune with the readers’ mood and it becomes

ambiguous when it is inclined to conceal the complexities of

meaning. M. K. Naik in The Ironic Vision: A Study o f the Fiction

o f R K Narayan has analysed how irony operates at different levels

in Narayan’s novels. While making a thorough and intensive study

of Narayan’s fiction, he projects Narayan as a serious artist who

always preoccupied himself with what man can make of himself

and o f the entire human society.,2

Scholars have even seriously dealt with the major themes of

Narayan’s novels in the context o f Indian philosophy and Indian

social reality. According to them Narayan’s fiction usually focuses

on Gandhian concept o f personality, concept o f marriage, Indian

philosophy, value system, characters, religion, superstition, myths,

traditions, women, human condition, politics, human struggle,

cosmic reality, supernatural, day-to-day living in India, Hindu

12 See, M.K.. Naik. The Ironic Vision: A study o f the F iction o f R.K. Narayan, New

Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1983.

30

Dharma Shastra, tradition, Man-women relationship, human

relationship, East-west theme, portrayal o f children, philosophy of

life, quest for identity, socio-cultural processes and problems,

perception o f the psychological process and Indian make-up,

spiritual quest, idea of love, sainthood, self-transcendence, men and

women in Indian society, relationship between the individual and

the community, new women with her struggle for independence,

man’s quest for wealth and acceptance o f Karma .33 According to

these critics his themes are based on the archetypal motifs of

withdrawal, renunciation and non-attachment.34

Critics have even delineated upon the presence of Mahatma

Gandhi in R. K. Narayan’s novels, not as a politician but as a great

soul. Though Srinivasa Iyengar has rightly pointed out that Gandhi

is too big to be given a minor part and ‘the best thing for the

contemporary novelist would be to keep Gandhi in the background’

so as to make ‘his influence felt indirectly.35 These critics have

discussed the development of Gandhian influence in pre­

33 See, R K Narayan's Interview with BBC London, Third Programme. 1968 and

Satyanarain Singh. "A Note on the World View o f R.K. Narayan". Indian

Literature 24 (1981). pp. 104-109.

34 Ibid.

35 See, B. Parvathi. “Mahatma in Malgudi", Journal o f English Studies 10,2 (1979)

and Michael Pousse. “Narayan as a Gandhian Novelist". The Journal o f

Indian W riting in English , 19,2 ( 1 9 9 1), pp. 1 - 9.

31

independence and post-independence India in detail. In fact,

Narayan transformed him into a saviour in Waiting fo r the

Mahatma, presenting him as an embodiment o f patriotism, love of

truth, and practice o f non-violence.

People worshipped him like a god and made him almost a

mythical figure: mahatma, a man with a great soul. In the novel,

Waiting fo r the Mahatma, Narayan not only looks at him as an

influence but also as much an endearing figure as Christ when he

comes to his concern for and interaction with people who flock

around him.

Critics have even seriously dealt with the concept of

rebellion in Narayan’s novels as almost all his heroes appear rebels

against the accepted norms or the established tradition. Ramesh

Dnyate in The Novels o f R. K. Narayan: A Typological Study o f

Characters looks at the different types of rebels and rebellion in his

novels. His work also exposes the nature of rebellion in Narayan’s

novels. Usually, rebellion in his fiction is a deviation from the

accepted norms: the socio-cultural codes. These rebellions put

forward a view highlighting the fact that those who accept the

tradition live a peaceful, balanced and quiet life and those who go

against or react suffer a lot.36

Critics have even looked into the treatment o f superstition in

Narayan’s novels, particular in the over-all backdrop of Hinduism.

These critics believe that in Narayan’s novels the reader comes

across such characters as are profoundly fixed in a world fully

equipped with superstition. For example, Margayya in The

Financial Expert credulously believes in the strange rituals

prescribed by the priest, and considers it a part and parcel o f his

religion.37

There are critics and scholars who have analysed various

recurring symbols in Narayan’s novels: the temple, the village, the

town of Malgudi and the river Sarayu. In fact, it has been very

rightly pointed out that the most important symbol in his novels is

river Sarayu. It is called the pride of Malgudi and is undoubtedly

an integral part o f Malgudi landscape. The other striking symbol is

the lotus pond, always associated with a garden and a ruined

temple. It also acquires special significance when viewed against

16 See, Ramesh Dnyate. The N ovels o f R.K. N arayan: A Typological Study o f

C h aracters , N ew Delhi: Prestige Books, 2000.

37 Nigamananda Das. C ontem porary Indian Writing in English: Trends. Concepts and

Teachings, N ew Delhi: Adhyayan Publishers and Distributors. 2007, pp. 144

-1 4 6 .

33

the background o f the Hindu mythological and literary tradition.

Similarly, the temple is not just ruined temple but it is a static

symbol o f an eroded religious culture, a symbol o f creativity and

light. Besides these major symbols, one frequently comes across

such common thing as fire, milk, and the bunyan tree which very

often attain symbolic dimension and significance in his novels.38

Similarly, some researchers have tried to study R. K. Narayan’s

novels by deciphering the heterogeneous, simple and frozen

images, in metonymic and metaphoric progression in a specific

discourse.39

R. K. Narayan’s novels have also been evaluated from the

existentialist and the semiotic perspectives and he has been

compared with not only other major Indo-Anglican writers but also

with Patrick white, Chinue Achebe, Arnold Bennett and others.40

Critics have even made a thorough study of Narayan as a

child psychologist arguing that Narayan is at his best in the

portrayal o f children’s world and psychology. According to these

critics Narayan does not hide anything regarding his child heroes

and goes deep into the inner psychic recesses of these children

18 For more details see. A. V. Krishna Roa. 'The Significant National Symbols in the

Novels o f R. K. Narayan", Literary H a lf Yearly (1967), pp. 80- 84

39 See, N. S. Sidhu. Human Struggle in the Novels o f R. K. N arayan , New Delhi:

Bahri Publications. 1992.

40 Ibid.

34

characters in order to expose their false notions o f ego, selfhood

and other mischievous acts. He tries to understand the children -

their liking and disliking, their resentment over being discriminated

against and their hatred for discipline - as is more significantly

evident in Swami and Friends. In this context, H. W. Williams

remarks:

S w a m i ' s adventures are in so m e respects those o f any s c h o o lb o y . East

or W est: the eternal hostility o f schoo l m asters, the vagaries o f parents,

the rivalry o f cricket in the pain o f g ro w in g up.'11

Even S. C. Harrex feels that Narayan finds the child a natural

medium for humour both because the child has an innate sense of

fun and capacity for joy, and because the child is often

unconsciously funny, particularly when it is being most serious or

when it adopts grossly exaggerated attitudes. ~

Critics have also discussed Narayan’s treatment of woman,

asserting that his novels project woman generally as a housewife,

with her self-image, her relations with others and her fear, hopes

for the future, and of course often with her desire for emancipation.

No doubt, Narayan also sometimes has dealt with the overall

41 See, H. M. Williams. “Precarious Innocence: Patterns in the Novels o f R. K.

Narayan", Atma Ram (ed.). op. cit.. p.3.

42 S. C. Harrex. "R.K.. Narayan: Malgudi Maestro’", The Fire an d the Offering: The

English Language N ovel in India 1935 - 1970, Vol 2, Calcutta: Writers

Workshop, 1978, p.52.

35

complex inter-personal relationships which a married Indian

woman experiences as, for example, in The Dark Room , The Guide

and The Painter o f Signs but his women characters are typically

Indian housewives who are meek, docile, submissive, and orthodox

having age-old traditional views of virtue in the male-dominated

families where they fully merge their individualities with their

husbands.43 According to R. K. Narayan,

A perfect w i fe must work like a slave , ad v ise like a Mantri, look like

G o d d e ss Lakshm i. and he patient like M other Earth and courtesan like

in the bed ch am b er .44

Though she is supposed to be the equal partner (Ardhanigi)

of her husband, in actual practice she is subordinate partner,

expected to be always at husband’s beck behaving, according to his

whims and caprices. Britta Olinder has rightly classified Narayan's

presentation of female characters in terms of their relations of

power to men into three main groups:

. . . f irst , d om inating , pow erfu l w o m en ; seco n d , p o w er le ss , frustrated,

o p p ressed w o m en ; and third, w o m e n accep t in g the sy s tem - in this

case , the Indian soc ie ty o f strong m ascu lin e d o m in a n ce - but at the

43 Shantha Krishnaswamy. The Woman in Indian Fiction in E nglish , N ew Delhi:

Ashish Publishing House, 1984.

44 See, R K Narayan. G randm other's Tale, Mysore: Indian Thought Publication,

1992, p.3.

36

sa m e t im e f ind ing w a y s and m eans to inform al, indirect control o f their

situation 45

A number o f critics have discussed the theme of human

relationships in Narayan’s novels besides the theme of man-woman

relationship. Even Narayan himself accepted it that his novels are

the studies o f human relationships in, both marital as well as extra­

marital environments. “My main concern”, says Narayan “is with

human character - a central character from whose point of view the

world is seen and who tries to get over a difficult situation or

succumbs to it or fights it in his own setting” .46 Undoubtedly, in the

great Indian traditional culture, the husband-wife relationship is

treated in sublime manner but there are other equally important

relationships which are treated with honour and dignity in our well-

knit and culturally integrated societies. Even Narayan himself

admits:

I va lu e hum an relationships very m uch, very in tensely . It m akes o n e 's

e x is te n c e worth w h ile human relationship in any and every form,

w hether at h o m e or ou ts id e .4'

45 Britta Olinder. "The Power o f Women in R. K. Narayan's Novels", in A.L.Mc

Leod (ed.) R. K. Nuruyun: C ritica l Perspective. New Delhi: Sterling. 1994.

p.97.

See, Interview' with BBC London, Third Programme, 1968.

47 bid.

37

It is important to note that one of the concerns of Narayan

has been the study and exploration of the nature of evil in human

life as was done by such great writers as Dante, Shakespeare,

Milton, Melville, Henry James and Conrad. Narayan believes that

the evil is within us and it is to be fought not only by the individual

alone himself but also by all human beings. He has been

preoccupied with the challenging problem of evil in life and the

possible solution for it.

In The Man-Eater o f Malgudi, for example, Vasu’s identity

as an evil force is established fully for the people of Malgudi. His

anti-social activities erupt like venomous weeds which threaten to

choke the green wheat lands of an otherwise peaceful Malgudi.

Nataraj and Vasu are not merely two individuals, but two opposite

forces o f society representing the perpetual struggle of Good and

Evil. Even in The Financial Expert and The Guide, Narayan

portrays social menaces and rogues in Margayya and Raju, though

as compared to Vasu they are lesser evils. However, taken together

the three constitute an excellent evi 1-trio o f Narayan whose

preoccupation with evil as a tenacious enemy that affects the

38

characters in particular and the society in general constitutes one of

the main subject o f these three novels.48

A good number of critics have very seriously looked at

Narayan’s archetypal figures. They believe that in his fiction these

archetypal figures appear frequently. According to Ashok Kumar

Jha the plots o f Narayan’s The Guide and The Man Eater o f

Malgudi have archetypal patterns. In The Guide, Narayan explains

the archetypal drive working within every individual towards

acquiring the knowledge of the true nature o f the self and the

hindrances created in this process which form another archetypal

pattern in the novel. Archetype of the serpent woman forms the

essential part o f the main archetypal pattern. In another novel, The

Man Eater o f Malgudi, archetypal pattern o f “inevitable triumph of

good and the destruction of evil”49, which also forms the pattern of

myth, is enunciated. It is also important to note that the archetypal

conflict between good and evil and the inevitable triumph of good

48 M.K. Naik. “The Demon, the Ineffectual Angel, and the Man: Theme and Form in

R.K.. Narayan’s The M an-Eater o f M algudi", Journal o f K arnatak U niversity

15 (1971), pp. 914-99. Rpt. in Journal o f C om m onw ealth Literature 1.3

(1976), pp. 65-72.

49 Lakshmi Holmstrom. N ovels o f R. K. Narayan. Calcutta: A Writers' Workshop

Publication. 1973. p.68.

39

and destruction of evil, as enunciated in Classical Mythology too,

forms the pattern of The Man Eater o f Malgudi.50

Most o f the critics writing on R. K. Narayan are of the

opinion that Narayan shuns politics and political ideologies; and

even the freedom movement did not stir him as it did to Mulk Raj

Anand, Khushwant Singh or even Nayantara Sahgal. C. D.

Narsimhaiah has pointed out the cause of R. K. Narayan’s

aloofness from the then national movement for freedom

N o r has N arayan c la im to have m uch con cern - a va luation w h ich

g o e s against h im - for the state o f the w orld , or con s id er in g the

troubled t im es in w h ich he w a s writing, for his o w n cou n try 's cause in

polit ics . Narayan rem ains a ‘true artist' and a 'pure artist', un in vo lved ,

u n co m m itted and uncontroversial: his on ly c o m m itm e n t is to art rather

than to any id eo lo g y or d o g m a / 1

Narayan’s language and style too have been profoundly

appreciated by a good number o f critics who opine that Narayan’s

use of English language is very simple. Narayan himself remarks:

E n glish has proved that i f a language has f lex ib il ity and ex p er ien ce can

be com m u n ica ted through it. ev en i f it has to be paraphrased

so m e t im e s rather than co n v e y e d , and ev en i f the factual detail is

50 Ashok Kumar Jha. R. K. Narayan. M yths and A rchetypes in His Novels, Delhi: B.

R. Publishing Corporation, 2000, pp. 44- 68.

51 See, “Nationalism in R K Narayan: Is R K Narayan Really Apolitical?'' Literary

H a if-y e a r ly . 34,4 (1993). pp. 32 47.

40

partially understood . . . W e are still exper im enta lis ts . It m ay straight

w a y ex p la in what w e do not attempt to do. W e are not attem pting to

w rite A n g lo -S a x o n English . T he E nglish L an gu age , through sheer

res id en ce and m obil ity , is n o w undergo ing a p ro cess o f Indianization

in the sa m e m anner as a d a p ted . . .A ll that I am able to confirm , after

nearly thirty years o f writing, is that it has served m y purpose

adm irably , o f c o n v e y in g unam biguous by the thoughts and acts o f a set

o f p ersonalit ies w h o flourish in a sm all tow n located in a corner o f

South India.52

It is very pertinent to note that usually a creative writer

strives very hard to communicate his ideas in a language that does

not belong to him or is other than his own. Even Raja Rao, in the

Preface to Kanthapura expressed the problem of the Indian writers

writing in English in the following words:

O ne has to c o n v e y in a language that is not o n e 's o w n the spirit that is

o n e 's ow n . O ne has to c o n v e y the various shades and o m is s io n s o f a

certain th o u g h t-m o v e m e n t that look s maltreated in an alien la n g u a g e .53

Narayan, however, seems to be an exception because he has

proved to be one of the most dedicated and capable novelists

whose language and style have distinctive features, not common in

Indian Writing in English. He himself says:

I w a s never aware that I w a s us ing a different, a fore ign language w hen

I w rote in E nglish , because it cam e to m e very eas i ly . I c a n ’t exp la in

52 R.K.Narayan. English in India , p. 123.

51 Raja Rao. K anthapura , 'Preface', N ew Delhi: Orient Paperbacks, 2001.

41

h o w E n g lish is a very adaptable language. A n d it ’s so transparent it

can take on the tint o f any country.^4

We see that Narayan’s narrators maintain credibility in their

handling of English language, and use this language both for

intellectual as well as emotive purposes. To cite just one instance,

the abusive language of the school master in The Guide does never

appear out o f context as the novelist seems content with allusion to

the Old Man as one who habitually addresses his pupils as donkeys

and traced their genealogy on either side with thoroughness. Like

Thackeray, Narayan’s words flow from his pen effortlessly which

makes his style clear, forcible and natural. Here is a typical

example o f Narayan’s lucid and direct style:

T he m o m en t she got d o w n from the train I w ish I had hidden m y s e l f

so m ew h ere . S he w a s not very g lam orous, i f that is w hat you expect ,

but sh e did have a figure, a slight and s lender on e , beautifu lly

fa sh ion ed , e y e s that sparkled, a c o m p le x io n not w hit , but dusky, w h ich

m ad e her on ly h a l f v is ib le - as i f you sa w her through a f i lm o f tender

c o co n u t ju ice . Forg ive m e i f you find m e w a x in g poetic . I g a v e so m e

e x c u s e and sent them o f f to the hotel, and stayed back to run h o m e and

tidy up m y appearance.'^

54 R.K.Narayan in an Interview with William Walsh, as reported in William Walsh's

R. K. Narayan, London: Longman, 1971, p.7

” R. K. Narayan. The Guide, Chennai; Indian Thought Publication. 2004, p.65.

42

William Waish sums up Narayan’s use of English Language

in the following words:

N arayan u ses pure lim pid English , ea sy and natural in its run and tone

but a lw a y s an e v o lv e d and c o n sc io u s m ed iu m , w ithout the exc it ing ,

ph ysica l en erg y so m e t im e s adventit iously in jected that marks the

w riting o f the W est Indians. N arayan 's E n g lish , in its structure and

address, is a m oderate traditional instrum ent.. . T he history, the social

con d it ion , the weather, the social m em ory - and transferred to a w holly

different setting the brutal heat and hover ing vultures, f lock s o f

brilliant glittering parrots, jackals rippling o v er the rubbish and the

d ead ly grey o f an appalling p o v e r ty . . .N a ra y a n ’s L an gu age is

beautifu lly adapted to com m u n ica te a different, an Indian sen s ib i l i ty .’6

No doubt at times Narayan’s language is even coarse

particularly when he cynically deals with middle class values, but

his heart seems full with the milk of human kindness. Whether it is

fiction or story, he has a perennial appeal for his readers. C.D.

Narasimhaiya rightly observes:

Indeed the w orld m akers and w orld-forsakers never ceased to am use

him , such w a s h is detachm ent from every th ing that w a s g o in g on

around h im that it on ly helped to sharpen his w it and qu icken his

provinces . A n d his prov ince w a s the south Indian m id d le c la s s .2,1

56 William Walsh. “Sweet Mangoes and Salt Vinegar: The N ovels o f R. K. Narayan”,

Encounter , The Human Idiom - Literature and Humanity, London: Chatto

and Windus, 1964. pp. 1 2 8 - 2 9 .

57 C. D. Narsimhaiah. The Swan and the Eagle, Shimla: Indian Institute of. Advanced

Studies, 1969.

43

Narayan’s success in using English language as a medium of

expression in creative writings has been eulogised by almost every

critic and its greatness, according to them, lies in his exploiting the

devices o f using irony, satire and humour as major weapons to

expose the sham, the follies, the foibles and the hypocrisy of his

contemporary society. His language is objective, convincing and

simple and therefore it is undoubtedly found to be “closest to the

language o f the newspaper and the Sunday Weekly.’08 His ironical

device shows the gap between the promise and the fulfilment, the

pose and reality, the intended and the committed and then

ultimately the incongruity of society. We even view a nice

amalgamation o f humour and realism; both are intermingled into

58irony.

From the above analysis, it is quite clear that R. K. Narayan

is one o f those fortunate writers who have enjoyed love and

recognition, as well as appreciation o f scholars and critics, in their

own life. Great men of letters like E. M. Forster, Graham Greene,

Pearl Buck, Henry Miller, John Updike, V. S. Naipaul, Mulk Raj

Anand, Santha Rama Rau, Khushwant Singh and Ved Mehta have

58 See, V.Y.Kantak. 'T h e Language o f Indian Fiction in English". C ritica l E ssays,

Karnatak University, 1972.

'"8 M. K. Naik. The Ironic Vision: A Study o f the fiction o f R. K. N arayan , N ew Delhi:

Sterling Publishers, 1983.

admired him.39 He has been honoured with many distinguished

awards but, unfortunately, he has not been analysed against the

backdrop of postmodernism and poststructuralism, probably

because o f his being a staunch realist in the conventional and

almost traditional way. Keeping in view his popularity and artistic

acumen, it sounds pertinent to evaluate him in the light of

postmodernist critical theories in order to place him in the galaxy

of those writers whose universality remains unquestioned.

Accordingly, an attempt is made here to evaluate his work from

Lacanian perspective for which it is important to present a resume

of Lacan’s contribution to the contemporary critical theory.

59For more information see, Shyam M. Asnani. C ritica l R esponse to Indian English

F iction , Delhi: Mittal Publication. 1985: Asoka. T. Rani. "C'hinue Achebe's

A rrow o f G o d and R.K. Narayan's The Guide: A Study o f Ritualistic

Foundations o f Society’'. Literary H alf-Yearly 36.1 (1995), PP. 61-69; M.K..

Naik & Shyammala A. Narayan Indian English Literature. 1980 - 2000: A

C ritica l Survey. Delhi: Pencraft International, 2001; Mohinder Singh Dhillon.

M algudi M ilieu. Ludhiana. Hind PubL 2004 and Dieter Riemenschneidei.

The Indian N ovel in English: Its C ritica l D iscourse (1934 2004/. New

Delhi: Rawat Publications, 2005.

45