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R.K. Narayan

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Author

The Resume

    (October 10, 1906-May 13, 2001)
    Born in Chennai (formerly Madras), India
    Birth name was Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami
    Wrote the novels 'Swami and Friends' (1935), 'The Dark Room' (1938), 'The English Teacher' (1945), 'The Financial Expert' (1952), 'The Guide' (1958), 'The Vendor of Sweets' (1967), 'The Painter of Signs' (1977) and 'Talkative Man' (1986)
    Published the short story collections 'Malgudi Days' (1942), 'A Horse and Two Goats' (1970), and 'The Grandmother's Tale and Select Stories' (1992)
    Served in the upper house of the Indian Parliament (1986-92)

Why he might be annoying:

    After graduating high school, he failed the university entrance exams. (He passed on a second try, after a year spent at home reading.)
    He quit an early job as a schoolteacher in protest after the headmaster asked him to substitute for the physical education instructor.
    When novelist W. Somerset Maugham tried to meet him during a trip to Mysore, too few of the locals had heard of Narayan to arrange the encounter (1938).
    He was convinced that a medium was able to put him in touch with the spirit of his late wife.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His setting his novels in the fictional town of Malgudi was compared to <3555>William Faulkner<3555>'s creation of Yoknapatawpha County.
    He writing style was likened to Anton Chekhov, E.M. Forster, and Guy de Maupassant.
    Graham Greene called him 'the novelist I most admire in the English language.'
    'Swami and Friends' was included on the BBC's list '100 Novels That Shaped Our World.'

Credit: C. Fishel


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Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying