Download or read book Malgudi Days written by R. K. Narayan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-08-29 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan's centennial Introducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India "the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story." Composed of powerful, magical portraits of all kinds of people, and comprising stories written over almost forty years, Malgudi Days presents Narayan's imaginary city in full color, revealing the essence of India and of human experience. This edition includes an introduction by Pulitzer Prize- winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Download or read book My Days written by R. K. Narayan and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-07-30 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I am inclined to call this the last chapter, but how can an autobiography have a final chapter? At best, it can only be a penultimate one; nor can it be given a rounded-off conclusion, as is possible in a work of fiction." So begins the last chapter of My Days, the only memoir from R. K. Narayan, hailed as "India's most notable novelist and short-story writer" by the New York Times Book Review. In his usual winning, humorous style, R. K. Narayan shares his life story, beginning in his grandmother's garden in Madras with his ferocious pet peacock. As a young boy with no interest in school, he trains grasshoppers, scouts, and generally takes part in life's excitements. Against the advice of all, especially his commanding headmaster father, the dreaming Narayan takes to writing fiction, and one of his pieces is accepted by Punch magazine (his "first prestige publication"). Soon his life includes bumbling British diplomats, curious movie moguls, evasive Indian officials, eccentric journalists, and "the blind urge" to fall in love. R. K. Narayan's larger-than-life perception of the human comedy is at once acute and forgiving, and always true to it.
Download or read book Swami and Friends written by R. K. Narayan and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-07-25 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan’s beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan’s excitement about his country’s initial stirrings for independence competes with his ardor for cricket and all other things British. Written during British rule, this novel brings colonial India into intimate focus through the narrative gifts of this master of literary realism.
Download or read book Waiting For Mahatma written by R. K. Narayan and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2016-10-27 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set against the backdrop of the Indian Freedom Movement, this fiction novel from award-winning Indian writer R. K. Narayan traces the adventures of a young man, Sriram, who is suddenly removed from a quiet, apathetic existence and, owing to his involvement in the campaign of Mahatma Gandhi against British rule in India, thrust into a life as adventurously varied as that of any picaresque hero. “There are writers—Tolstoy and Henry James to name two—whom we hold in awe, writers—Turgenev and Chekhov—for whom we feel a personal affection, other writers whom we respect—Conrad, for example—but who hold us at a long arm’s length with their ‘courtly foreign grace.’ Narayan (whom I don’t hesitate to name in such a context) more than any of them wakes in me a spring of gratitude, for he has offered me a second home. Without him I could never have known what it is like to be Indian.”—Graham Greene “R. K. Narayan...has been compared to Gogol in England, where he has acquired a well-deserved reputation. The comparison is apt, for Narayan, an Indian, is a writer of Gogol’s stature, with the same gift for creating a provincial atmosphere in a time of change....One is convincingly involved in this alien world without ever being aware of the technical devices Narayan so brilliantly employs.”—Anthony West, The New Yorker
Download or read book The Mahabharata written by R. K. Narayan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Narayan makes this treasury of Indian folklore and mythology readily accessible to the general reader . . . he captures the spirit of the narrative.”—Library Journal The Mahabharata tells a story of such violence and tragedy that many people in India refuse to keep the full text in their homes, fearing that doing so would invite a disastrous fate upon their house. Covering everything from creation to destruction, this ancient poem remains an indelible part of Hindu culture and a landmark in ancient literature. Centuries of listeners and readers have been drawn to The Mahabharata, which began as disparate oral ballads and grew into a sprawling epic. The modern version is famously long, and at more than 1.8 million words—seven times the combined lengths of the Iliad and Odyssey—it can be incredibly daunting. But contemporary readers have a much more accessible entry point to this important work, thanks to R. K. Narayan’s masterful, elegant translation and abridgement of the poem. Now with a new foreword by Wendy Doniger, as well as a concise character and place guide and a family tree, The Mahabharata is ready for a new generation of readers. Narayan ably distills a tale that is both traditional and constantly changing. He draws from both scholarly analysis and creative interpretation and vividly fuses the spiritual with the secular. Through this balance he has produced a translation that is not only clear, but graceful, one that stands as its own story as much as an adaptation of a larger work.
Download or read book The Very Best of R K Narayan written by R. K. Narayan and published by Rupa Publications. This book was released on 2013 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over a career spanning seven decades, R.K. Narayan, easily one of the most influential and important writers of India, populated the fictional town of Malgudi with a host of unforgettable characters: Swami and his gang of friends, the Talkative Man, Raju the guide and Sampath the printer, among many others. These characters have carved out a place for themselves in popular imagination and live on, still fresh and endlessly entertaining, many decades after they first appeared. Timeless Malgudi brings together a selection of the best and the most enduring of R.K. Narayan's fiction and nonfiction. The Guide examines, with wit and irony, how a man becomes a godman. The story 'A Horse and Two Goats' describes an attempt at crosscultural communication which goes haywire, with hilarious consequences. The excerpt from My Days, Narayan's autobiography, paints a poignant picture of the author's childhood while the 'Misguided Guide' is a cynical, sharply written chronicle of the making of the film Guide, based on his novel. Also included in this volume are excerpts from the travelogue My Dateless Diary and a brilliant retelling of the Tamil epic Silappadikaram.
Download or read book Malgudi Landscapes written by S. Krishnan and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 1992 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Best Of A Lifetime S Work Novels, Short Stories, Essays, Travel Pieces And Short Non-Fiction Of One Of The World S Finest Writers Comes Together In Malgudi Landscapes. Skilfully Edited And Introduced By S. Krishnan, This Selection Brings Malgudi, The Enchanting Little South Indian Town That R.K. Narayan Created, To Glorious And Colourful Life.
Download or read book Puffin Classics Malgudi School written by R. K. Narayan and published by . This book was released on 2009-11-15 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Gods Demons and Others written by R. K. Narayan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1993-05-15 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following in the footsteps of the storytellers of his native India, R. K. Narayan has produced his own versions of tales taken from the Ramayana and the Mahabarata. Carefully selecting those stories which include the strongest characters, and omitting the theological or social commentary that would have drawn out the telling, Narayan informs these fascinating myths with his urbane humor and graceful style. "Mr. Narayan gives vitality and an original viewpoint to the most ancient of legends, lacing them with his own blend of satire, pertinent explanation and thoughtful commentary."—Santha Rama Rau, New York Times "Narayan's narrative style is swift, firm, graceful, and lucid . . . thoroughly knowledgeable, skillful, entertaining. One could hardly hope for more."—Rosanne Klass, Times Literary Supplement
Download or read book Swami and Friends The Bachelor of Arts The Dark Room The English Teacher written by R. K. Narayan and published by Everyman's Library. This book was released on 2009-06-03 with total page 650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. The four novels collected here, all written during British rule, bring colonial India into intimate focus through the narrative gifts of this master of literary realism. Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan’s beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan’s excitement about his country’s initial stirrings for independence competes with his ardor for cricket and all other things British. The Bachelor of Arts is a poignant coming-of-age novel about a young man flush with first love, but whose freedom to pursue it is hindered by the fixed ideas of his traditional Hindu family. In The Dark Room, Narayan’s portrait of aggrieved domesticity, the docile and obedient Savitri, like many Malgudi women, is torn between submitting to her husband’s humiliations and trying to escape them. The title character in The English Teacher, Narayan’s most autobiographical novel, searches for meaning when the death of his young wife deprives him of his greatest source of happiness. These pioneering novels, luminous in their detail and refreshingly free of artifice, are a gift to twentieth-century literature.
Download or read book Critical Essays on R K Narayan s The Guide written by Krishna Sen and published by Orient Blackswan. This book was released on 2004 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this book have been divided into two sections. The first section examines one of Narayn's major works, The Guide. The essays here discuss the genesis of the novel, narrative structure, use of language, humour and irony in the novel, the characters, and also the post-colonial quality of The Guide. The second section situates The Guide within the larger context of Narayan's life and works, Narayan as a novelist, themes and characters in his novels, Narayan's Malgudi, and Narayan as an Indian English writer. These essays will be essential reading for students who study The Guide, and also Narayan's works as a whole.
Download or read book The Ramayana written by R. K. Narayan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-08-29 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The greatest Indian epic, one of the world's supreme masterpieces of storytelling A Penguin Classic A sweeping tale of abduction, battle, and courtship played out in a universe of deities and demons, The Ramayana is familiar to virtually every Indian. Although the Sanskrit original was composed by Valmiki around the fourth century BC, poets have produced countless versions in different languages. Here, drawing on the work of an eleventh-century poet called Kamban, Narayan employs the skills of a master novelist to re-create the excitement he found in the original. A luminous saga made accessible to new generations of readers, The Ramayana can be enjoyed for its spiritual wisdom, or as a thrilling tale of ancient conflict. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Download or read book A Story Teller s World written by R K Narayan and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2000-10-14 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: REQUIRED, THE STORY-TELLER COULD HAVE AN AUDIENCE BUT IN THIS CASE HE WOULDN'T BE READING FROM HIS MS, BUT WOULD BE LOOKING AT THE VILLAGERS. I MUCH PREFER THE STORY-TELLER ALONE.
Download or read book The World of Nagaraj written by R. K. Narayan and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grandly uninvolved in the bustle of Malgudi, Nagaraj enjoys a purposeless but orderly life of prayer, gossip and a little book-keeping at Coomar's Boeing Sari Centre. Fulfilment, however, eludes him. And even in his desultory determination to write his magnum opus, something always seems to prevent him getting started.Then crisis visits Nagaraj in the person of Tim, his tearaway young nephew, whose escapades not only serve to expose his weaknesses, but also to give him a hundred and one excuses for delay .
Download or read book Malgudi Adventures written by R. K. Narayan and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2004 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unforgettable Stories For Children From The Masterly Pen Of R.K. Narayan After The Stupendous Success Of Malgudi Schooldays, R.K. Narayan S Chronicle Of The Escapades Of Swami And His Friends, Comes Malgudi Adventures, Which Contains More Delightful Stories Of Children S Adventures In The Magical South Indian Small Town Of Malgudi. There Are The Memorable Stories Of Babu, Who, In Trying To Set Up The Lights For His Sisters Navaratri Display, Manages To Plunge The Entire Household Into Darkness; Of A Snake Charmer Boy Who Grows Up With A Monkey Named Rama As His Companion; And Of Raju, Who Decides To Become A Guide When A Train Station Is Built At Malgudi. Also Included Are The Fascinating Stories Of Balu, Who Dumps His Father S Accounts Ledger In The Gutter; Of A Little Boy Who Finds Himself Lost On The Streets Of Malgudi Late One Night; Of Chandran, Who Falls Head Over Heels In Love On The Banks Of The Sarayu One Evening; And Of The Hilarious Sequence Of Events That Unfolds When Raja The Tiger Decides To Seek Refuge In The Local School.
Download or read book Grandmother s Tale and Selected Stories written by R. K. Narayan and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-07-30 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It is not too much to compare Mr. Narayan to Chekhov." -The New York Times There is no better introduction to R.K. Narayan than this remarkable collection of stories celebrating work that spans five decades. Characters include a storyteller whose magical source of tales dries up, a love-stricken husband who is told by astrologers he must sleep with a prostitute to save his dying wife, a pampered child who discovers that his beloved uncle may be an impostor or even a murderer. Standing supreme amid this rich assortment of stories is the title novella. Told by the narrator's grandmother, the tale recounts the adventures of her mother, married at seven and then abandoned, who crosses the subcontinent to extract her husband from the hands of his new wife. Her courage is immense and her will implacable -- but once her mission is completed, her independence vanishes. Gentle irony, wryly drawn characters, and themes at once Indian and universal mark these humane stories, which firmly establish Narayan as one of the world's preeminant storytellers.
Download or read book R K Narayan written by Geoffrey Kain and published by MSU Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Narayan, who began to acquire an international reputation in the second half of this century, reveals the India of his experience by focusing on the details of the lives of the characters who live in this complex community.
