R. K. Narayan | |
|---|---|
 Narayan on a 2009 stamp of India | |
| Born | 10 October 1906 Madras, Madras Presidency, British Raj |
| Died | 13 May 2001 (aged 94) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | Maharaja's College, Mysore |
| Genre | Fiction, mythology and non-fiction |
| Notable awards | |
| Spouse |
Rajam
(m. 1934; died 1939) |
| Children | Hema Narayan |
| Relatives | R. K. Laxman (brother) |
| Signature | |
 | |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 12 May 1986 – 31 May 1992 | |
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanaswami (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001),[1] better known as R. K. Narayan, was an Indian writer and novelist known for his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.
Narayan's mentor and friend Graham Greene was instrumental in getting publishers for Narayan's first four books including the semi-autobiographical trilogy of Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher.
Narayan highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters. He has been compared to William Faulkner who created a similar fictional town and likewise explored with humor and compassion the energy of ordinary life. Narayan's short stories have been compared with those of Guy de Maupassant because of his ability to compress a narrative.
In a career that spanned over sixty years Narayan received many awards and honours including the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan, India's second and third highest civilian awards,[2] and in 1994 the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour of India's National Academy of Letters.[3] He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Telegraph-obituarywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ^ George, Rosemary Marangoly (2013). Indian English and the Fiction of National Literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-107-04000-7. Quote: "S. Radhakrishnan was the first “Fellow of the Akademi” to be given this title in 1968 after he left the service of both the government and the Akademi. ... Mulk Raj Anand was the first Indian English writer to be inducted in 1989 and R. K. Narayan the second Indian writer working in English to be inducted in 1994."