R.K. Narayan, Father of Malgudi Stories

R.K. Narayan His Brief Biography:

R.K. Narayan was a famous Indian English writer. He was born on 10th October 1906 in Madras, at present Chennai. His full name was Rasipuram Krishna Swamy Iyer Narayan Swamy. He is one of the leading English writers, along with Mulkaraj Anand and Raja Rao.

He studied for his education in Mysore and settled there for nearly fifty years. R.K. Narayan became famous after publishing Malgudi through his novels and short stories. His stories captivated his readers throughout the world. His novels were also picturised and telecast on air; these stories attracted the children very much. Among his books, Malgudi days’ and ‘Swamy and his Friends’ are famous and have vibrant English literature.

R.K. Narayan as the Writer:

His first Novel “Swamy and Friends’ was published in 1935, and the second book ‘Bachelor of Arts’ was published in 1937. Malgudi’s stories were of rich quality, and his books were published in America, Britain and India. His books have also been translated into several European and other languages. His other novel ‘the guide’ won a national prize from the Indian literary academy. The book discussed the slender values of human relations. In 1970 the Karnataka Government asked him to write a book to promote tourism in their state.

In 1980 the Indian government nominated him to the Rajya Sabha for his contribution to the literature. During the tenure of six years term, he has raised the issues of school children’s problems and their heavy load of school books. So these problems are also mentioned in his book Swami and Friends.

In 1980, he was awarded the A.C. Benson medal from the Royal Society of Literature. The American Academy and institutes of arts and letters honoured him by appointing him an Honorary member of the Society. However, he also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Leeds, the University of Mysore, and Delhi University also awarded him honorary doctorates. The Indian government honoured him by citing the Indian outstanding civilian award Padmavibhushan in 2000. His famous books were ‘A horse and two goats’ an Astrologer’s day and ‘Lawley Road, Under the Banyan tree and the Grand Mother’s tale. He also published two travel books and four collections of essays. The famous Indian Cartoonist R.K.Laxman was his brother.