THE WRITER WE FORGOT R. K. NARAYAN PART-8-1 DEDICATED TO SUJIT ROY NANDI Critical reception Narayan first broke through with the help of Graham Greene who, upon reading Swaminathan and Tate, took it upon himself to work as Narayans agent for the book. He was also instrumental in changing the title to the more appropriate Swami and Friends, and in finding publishers for Narayans next few books. While Narayans early works were not commercial successes, other authors of the time began to notice him. Somerset Maugham, on a trip to Mysore in 1938, had asked to meet Narayan, but not enough people had heard of him to actually effect the meeting. Maugham subsequently read Narayans The Dark Room, and wrote to him expressing his admiration. Another contemporary writer who took a liking to Narayans early works was E. M. Forster, an author who shared his dry and humorous narrative, so much so that Narayan was labeled the South Indian E. M. Forster by critics. Despite his popularity with the reading public and fellow writers, Narayans work has not received the same amount of critical exploration accorded to other writers of his stature. Narayans success in the United States came a little later, when Michigan State University Press started publishing his books. His first visit to the country was on a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, and he lectured at various universities including Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley. Around this time, John Updike noticed his work and compared Narayan to Charles Dickens. In a review of Narayans works published in The New Yorker, Updike called him a writer of a vanishing breed—the writer as a citizen; one who identifies completely with his subjects and with a belief in the significance of humanity. (To be continued…….) youtube/watch?v=lEwxgI8MH1s
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 12:11:23 +0000
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