The Novels of R.K. Narayan: A Critical Evaluation (Hardbound - 2014)

R.K. Narayan is ranked among the greatest novelists of the world and certainly he is a great literary figure of English in India in 20th century. Almost all his novels are set in the imaginary and fictional town, Malgudi which is his own splendid creation. His novels mirror microcosmic India caught in the conventions, traditions and social changes. His characters are lively presentations of common Indians. His heroines are replicas of common Indian women. Despite a pure Indian living absorbed in religion and family, he achieved a feat to express his creative urge in English literature and has become almost a craze for English literary world. He received applause for his work from men of genius like E.M. Forster, Graham Greene and W. Somerset Maugham.

The book is a humble attempt to assign him a due place among the Indian English Novelists of international repute. This book reveals how R.K. Narayan presents witty, vital and perceptive descriptions of everyday village life in India with protagonist’s search for identity.

Pramod Kumar Singh, born on March 03, 1959, is on the faculty of English at S.P. Jain College, Sasaram (Veer Kunwar Singh University, Arroh). He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1986. He has contributed a large number of papers to literary journals and edits ‘The Literary Mirror’, a bi-annual journal, exclusively devoted to creative writing, research and criticism.