Page 59 - DENG202_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_III

Elective English—III

Notes persuaded by a friend that taking a Master’s degree (M.A.) would kill his interest in literature, he
briefly held a job as a schoolteacher; however, he quit in protest when the headmaster of the
school asked him to substitute for the physical training master. The experience made Narayan
realise that the only career for him was in writing, and he decided to stay at home and write
novels. His first published work was a book review of Development of Maritime Laws of
17th-Century England. In 1930, Narayan wrote his first novel, Swami and Friend] an effort
ridiculed by his uncle and rejected by a string of publishers. With this book, Narayan created
Malgudi, a town that creatively reproduced the social sphere of the country; while it ignored the
limits imposed by colonial rule, it also grew with the various socio-political changes of British
and post-independence India.

5.1.1 Turning Point

While vacationing at his sister’s house in Coimbatore, in 1933, Narayan met and fell in love with
Rajam, a 15-year-old girl who lived nearby. Despite many astrological and financial obstacles,
Narayan managed to gain permission from the girl’s father and married her. Following his
marriage, Narayan became a reporter for a Madras based paper called The Justice, dedicated to
the rights of non-Brahmins. The publishers were thrilled to have a Brahmin Iyer in Narayan
espousing their cause. The job brought him in contact with a wide variety of people and issues.
Earlier, Narayan had sent the manuscript of Swami and Friends to a friend at Oxford, and about
this time, the friend showed the manuscript to Graham Greene. Greene recommended the book
to his publisher, and it was finally published in 1935. Greene also counselled Narayan on
shortening his name to become more familiar to the English-speaking audience. The book was
semi-autobiographical and built upon many incidents from his childhood. Reviews were
favourable but sales were few. Narayan’s next novel The Bachelor of Arts (1937), was inspired in
part by his experiences at college, and dealt with the theme of a rebellious adolescent transitioning
to a rather well-adjusted adult. A different publisher published it again, at the recommendation
of Greene. His third novel, The Dark Room (1938) was about domestic disharmony, displaying
the man as the oppressor and the woman as the victim within a marriage, and was published by
yet another publisher; this book also received good reviews. In 1937, Narayan’s father died, and
Narayan was forced to accept a commission from the government of Mysore, as he was not
making any money.
In 1939, his wife died of typhoid and Narayan went through a mental breakdown. However, his
pain served as a source of inspiration and he came with the novel the English Teacher.
His first collection of short stories, Malgudi Days, was published in November 1942, followed
by The English Teacher in 1945. After the publication of his fourth novel, The English Teacher,
in 1945, Narayan’s writing entered a period of greater maturity and condence.

5.1.2 The Later Years

Narayan was commissioned by the government of Karnataka to write a book to promote
tourism in the state. The work was published as part of a larger government publication in the
late 1970s. He thought it deserved better, and republished it as The Emerald Route (Indian
Thought Publications, 1980). The book contains his personal perspective on the local history and
heritage, but being bereft of his characters and creations, it misses his enjoyable narrative. The
same year, he was elected as an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
and won the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature. Around the same time,
Narayan’s works were translated to Chinese for the first time.
In 1983, Narayan published his next novel, A Tiger for Malgudi, about a tiger and its relationship
with humans. His next novel, Talkative Man, published in 1986, was the tale of an aspiring

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