Writing style of R.K Narayan

 

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami (October 10, 1906 - May 13, 2004), popularly known R.K. Narayan was an Indian author who wrote in English. His works include novels and short stories.

The inception of  his writing career is marked by the novel  Swami and Friends in 1935. Most of his work including Swami and friends is set in the fictional town of Malgudi which captures every aspects of local Indian culture. R.K. Narayan's writing style was marked by simplicity and subtle humor. He narrated stories of ordinary people trying to live their simple lives in a changing atmosphere. 

 

His best known works include The Bachelor of Arts (1937), The Dark Room (1938), The English Teacher (1945), The Financial Expert (1952), The Guide (1958), The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The Vendor of Sweets (1967), Malgudi Days (1982), and The Grandmother's Tale (1993). 

 

NATURAL and MODEST STYLE OF WRITING

 The writing style of R. K. Narayan abounds in natural construction of humour and humble style. He takes the everyday life of an ordinary individual and develops it in a way relatable to the common readers. He reminds the audience of their immediate family relationships, neighbours, and their surroundings.For example, in “The Financial Expert”, the common theme of love of money and its consequent evils are depicted. In the trend of rising materialism, yearning for financial stability was the problem of every household.  These common life issues make Narayan’s works popular and universal among the Eastern and Western readers.

COMPASSIONATE REPRESENTATIONS

 Narayan is often likened to William Faulkner in his construction of stories. They both have a compassionate humanitarian spirit and represent in humorous style.  Also, they have the quality of juxtaposing individual perplexities with the demands of social surroundings. In constructing his characters, Narayan creates the feeling of empathy between his readers. Therefore, there is a natural sensibility and commonality in his works.  For example, “Swami and Friends” recounts the curious and adventurous nature of teenage schoolboys that is common to young boys.

Along with the other two significant writers, Raja Rao and Mulk Raj Anand, Narayan was the leading Indian writer who played a vital role in the development of early English literature.

The English novelist, Graham Greene was a mentor and close friend of Narayan and helped him remarkably in publishing the beginning four works of R. K. Narayan. 

These books included “The English Teacher”, the semi-autobiographical trilogy “Swami and Friends”, and “The Bachelor of Arts”. In the work “Swami and Friends”, Narayan’s most famous fictional setting of Malgudi was first introduced.

 
Furthermore, the style of short story writing of Narayan is likened to Guy de Maupassant, a French short story writer who was widely considered as the master of the form of short story genre.

DEPICTION OF TRUE INDIAN SOCIETY

 R.K. Narayan depicts the real face of Indian society with its realities and intricacies in his works. He does not modify life according to the demands of a fictional narrative. In a simplistic tone and style, Narayan portrays the traditions and rituals of Indian social life and provides an insight into their values.

 
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LANGUAGE

Narayan’s works consist of meaningfully expressive dialogues in prose style with certain Tamil connotations to predict the nature of his characters. 

He was considered by many critics including Graham Greene as Indian Chekov. It is because of their similar writing styles in which they combine complex ideas of life in aesthetic simplicity. 

SHORT STORIES

The short stories of R.K. Narayan are so full of captivating life. Narayan provides an insight into human nature and individual lives in his stories. Due to compression of complex ways of life in small works, Jhumpa Lahiri, the Pulitzer Prize winner, places him within the class of geniuses of short story O’ Henry, Flannery O’Connor, and Guy de Maupassant.

 
The compilations of short stories of R.K. Narayan include “A Horse and Two Goats and Other Stories”, “Gods, Demons, and Others”, “Under the Bunyan Tree and Other Stories”, “The Grandmother’s Tale and Selected Stories”, “Malgudi Days”, and “The World of Malgudi”.

R. K. Narayan said that he found English the most rewarding medium to employ for his writing because it came to him very easily: “English is a very adaptable language. And it’s so transparent it can take on the tint of any country.” Critics frequently praise the unaffected standard English with which Narayan captures the Indian sensibility, particularly the South Indian ambiance. His unpretentious style, his deliberate avoidance of complicated expressions and grammatical constructions, his gentle and subtle humor—all this gives his writing an elegant, unforced simplicity that is perfectly suited to the portrayal of ordinary life, of all classes and segments of Indian society—household servants, herdsmen, saints, crooks, merchants, beggars, thieves, unfortunate students.