In Deffence of R. K. Narayan

INDEFENCE OF R. K. NARAYAN

R. K. Narayan is one of the foremost Indian writers of fiction in English. He is one of the engaging short story writers of our time. Many rare distinctions were conferred upon him. He was conferred an honorary membership of the American Academy and Institution of Arts and Letters.

Narayan has a scholar’s pen, a poet’s imagination and the perfect eye of the journalist. “When we consider Narayan’s novels as a to­tality, we are faced with the problem of locating the precise area of his creative genius”.¹ As K. R. Srinivas Iyengar puts it – “Quotation is diffi­cult because the perfume is nowhere concen­trated but fills the entire atmosphere” ². Thus it is very difficult to pin-point the important qualities that brought a universal acclaim to Narayan’s works.

Narayan presents a wide range of char­acters in his novels and short stories. There are no “good” and “bad” characters in his novels and short stories. He presents human nature ‘veraciously and interestingly and memorably, and there is no overt condemnation or praise..........each new novel is a jerk of the keleidoscope when an engaging pattern emerges to hold our atten­tion”.³

“The widespread and universal appeal of R. K. Narayan is due to the predominant middle class milieu in all his novels”.⁴ The hero of Narayan’s short stories and novels the modern unknown warrior’, is the middle class common man. Unlike Mulkraj Anand and Manohar Mulgaonkar, Narayan is not interested in poli­tics and sensationalism as themes of his novels or short stories. He is not interested in local or national political themes. In his interview to the Indian Express (March 28, 1961 – A peep into R.K. Narayan’s Mind) he said: ‘when art is used as a vehicle for political propaganda, the mood of comedy, the sensitivity of atmosphere, the probing of psychological factors, the crisis in the individual soul and its resolution and above an the detached observation which constitutes the stuff of fiction is forced into the -ground’.

R. K. Narayan is content to snap life’s iro­nies, knots of satiric circumstances and tragic-­comedies of mischance and misdirection. “Narayan’s is the art of resolved limitations and conscientious exploration: he is content like Jane Austen, with his little bit of ivory, just so many inches wide......” ⁵

What Malgudi to R. K. Narayan is Wessex to Thomas Hardy. Just as Wessex in Hardy’s novels is the microcosm of the declining English agriculture community, Malgudi repre­sents an Indian small town and stands at a nicely calculated distance between the East and the West. With each novel Narayan develops Malgudi town. In ‘Swami and friends,’ it is a small town and urbanised in ‘the Vendor of sweets’. The familiar details of the early Malgudi are never neglected in the later works but ab­sorbed in the story. “Such familiar land - marks enhance the universal appeal of Narayan’s nov­els as they provide a sense of continuity”⁶ Gra­ham Greene, a renowned novelist, in his pref­ace to R. K. Narayan’s ‘Swami and friends’ has lucidly praised Narayan for the vital picture of life that he has created of Malgudi and its inhab­itants.

R. K. Narayan becomes what Raja Rao calls a true ‘Upasaka’ in having a strong desire to communicate and in achieving a mastery over the language to communicate effectively and forcefully. “Unless the author becomes an ‘Upasaka’ and enjoys himself in himself (which is Rasa) the eternality of the sound (Sabda) will not manifest itself and so you cannot communicate either and the word is nothing but a cacophony”⁷. Narayan’s skilful use of lan­guage suits to his themes and techniques. As Iyengar puts it “he wields so difficult and ‘alien’ a language like English with masterful ease, and conveys the subtlest shades of feeling and thought” ⁸. His thinking process is synchronised with the language he uses. He uses pure and limpid English, devoid of any suggestive epithets and intricate metaphors, easy and natural in its run and tone. “His ultimate success is the clever blend of Indian words interspersed with the regu­lar narrative without creating any jarring effect.” ⁹

Narayan shows a strong affinity to typi­cally Indian tradition of story telling. But he adopts his form and style from the West. He steers clear of a message or doctrine to his readers. “He is an analyst of individual feelings, emo­tions and action in an exploration of hidden hu­man conflicts. Nowhere in his novels does he preach or pontificate”. ¹⁰

His success lies in individualising his char­acters. “His strength of characterization lies rather in his thorough and close observation of life’s little incidents, a healthy sense of humour ..... and more than in his ability to bring a character to life with a few deft strokes of pen” ¹¹. He gently pushes the readers right into the midst of life that he is presenting.

R. K. Narayan is an expert in making use of different techniques in unfolding the story. At times, he dramatizes the events and uses dia­logue with an amazing effectiveness. As it is said earlier, it is difficult to locate the precise area of his creative genius. We like him for his excellent plots, captivating characterization, lyrical lan­guage, sharp irony, wit and humor /rare tech­niques in unfolding the mysteries of human na­ture in his novels and stories.

There are some critics who find fault with Narayan for the ending of his stories in an un­convincing way. Just like O’Henry, he ends some of his stories with a ‘sudden reversal of situation.’ In his collection of short stories ‘A Horse and two Goats’, Narayan left his oft­beaten track i.e., the brilliant tradition of his better known stories. For some, some of these stories are inexcusably lengthy and discursive. They feel that Narayan has lost his grip over the successful narrative technique he employed in his earlier stories. Variety is the spice of life and it is not good to find fault with a great writer for not being monotonous in his themes and techniques. Even in these stories, we find a rare and differ­ent kind of technique which bewitches the read­ers and keeps them spell-bound. Just like ‘Gen­eration Gap’, ‘communication gap’ gives much scope to an imaginative writer to spin a beautiful storyout of it. This communication gap depends on various factors and exists on different levels. This ‘gap’ may be a result of the difference in the linguistic, physical, intellectual or spiritual levels of the characters involved. R. K. Narayan a great fiction writer and expert storyteller makes use of this technique (let us call it so!) in some of his novels and short stories with an amazing success. This collection of short stories ‘A Horse and Two Goats’ stands as a proof to R. K. Narayan’s craftsmanship in exploring this technique to the maximum possible limits. In addition to this novel narrative technique, his luring lyrical language , which has remained as witty, as humorous and fresh as ever holds our atten­tion.

Just like each season has its own beauty and glory, each stage in the creative life of a great writer has its own beauty and glory.Here we can conclude with John Keats memorable lines.
“Where are the songs of spring? Ah,     where are they? Think not of them thou hast thymusic too”,        (To Autumn)   

NOTES

¹ Rajeev Taranath, ‘The Average as the Positive’ - A note on R. K. Narayan ‘Critical Essay on Indian Writing in English’ - Silver Jubi­lee Student Edition, Macmillan 1977; P.P.307.

² K. R. Srinivas Iyengar, ‘Indian Writing in English (1985 Ed.), Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, p.p. 338 .

³ Ibid p.p. 364.

⁴ Novy Kapadia - Middle class Milieu in R. K. Narayan’s Novels. Commonwealth Fic­tion Ed. R. K. Dhawan, Classical Publishing company, New Delhi, Vol. I, p. p. 146 - 147

⁵ K. R. Srinivas Iyengar, Indian Writing in English, (1985 Ed ) P. P. 360

⁶ Novy Kapadia , Middle class Milieu in R. K. Narayan’s novels p.p. 150.

⁷ Raja Rao ‘The Writer and the Word’, the literary criticism Vol. VIII, No. 1, Winter. 1965.

⁸  K. R. Srinivas Iyengar. Indian Writing in English; (1985 Ed) p.p. 384.

⁹ Novy Kapadia , Middle class Milieu in R. K. Narayan’s novels p. p. 158.

¹⁰ C. Paul Verghese ‘Problems of the Indian Creative Writer in English - Somaiya Publishing Ltd. Bombay, 1971, p. p. 139.

¹¹ C. Venugopal, The Indian Short Storyin English (A Survey, Prakash Book Depot, Bareilly - p.p. 85.