R.K. Narayan is one of the most famous Indian English writers. His short stories delight us for much the same reason as his novels do. They give us sustained pleasure of short stories, and story telling has always been his forte, Narayan's stories belong to the native Indian soil and are redolent to its culture. They mainly depict the South Indian life and clearly express his view of the world and those who live in it. Simple but fascinating plot lively characterization, strict economy of narration and beautiful simplicity of language are some of the most outstanding features of his short stories. They serve as a good introduction to a foreigner who wants to acquire knowledge of Indian life. In his short stories, Narayan has depicted familiar situations and explored ways of life with which he was intimate. The present book gives a critical introduction to Narayan's short stories. It analyzes the major themes found in these short stories as well as the techniques adopted by Narayan to narrate these stories.
R.K Narayan is one of the most famous Indian English writers. His short stories delight us for much the same reason as his novels do. They give us sustained pleasure of short stories, and story telling has always been his forte. They create successfully the illusion of authentic social reality, and present a wide variety of people, all belonging to the little world of Malgudi. In them too is at work Narayan's unique comic vision of life which enables him to contemplate with his characteristic blend of humour and compassion the absurdities and pathos, fantasies and frustrations, illusions and ironies of everyday life. Narayan's stories belong to the native Indian soil and are redolent of its culture. They mainly depict the South Indian life and clearly express his view of the world and those who live in it. Simple but fascinating plot lively characterization, strict economy of narration and beautiful simplicity of language are some of the most outstanding features of his short stories. They serve as a good introduction to the foreigner who wants to acquire knowledge of Indian life. In his short stories, Narayan has depicted familiar situations and explored ways of life with which he was intimate. But the people here represent humanity at large and hence Narayan's stories have universal appeal. Some of Narayan's stories contain parallel characters.
It is indisputable that Narayan has a wide variety of themes. Though Narayan's novels have been studied from different angles, his short stories have been neglected by the critics. There are no full length studies of his short stories from the point of view of themes and techniques. This I hope will lead to a better understanding of R.K. Narayan as a writer.
Telling stories and listening to them must be as old as language itself. Its popularity never waned but in modern times it has further increased. With the increasing speed of life in modern times, people find it less and less possible to read long novels. The short story is a convenient substitute, for it offers on a smaller scale and in a brief manner the same pleasure that the novel does. The short story is an art form that defies definition and so there has been no completely satisfactory definition. However, there has been no dearth of definitions. These definitions differ regarding the exact nature of short story. No summary phrase encapsulates the diversity of all possible story types, lengths and approaches. Consequently, no one theory of short story form prevails. lan Reid is of the opinion that it would be unsatisfactory to make word count the sole criterion. Genre is not arithmetically defined. (Nair 14) Edgar Allan Poe links brevity with intensity. He maintains that emotion or aesthetic arousal can be sustained only for brief periods. The story culminates in a moment of psychological reaction for the character and insight for the reader.
In 1842, Edgar Allan Poe had offered a definition of short story, which is still valid. He said it was "A short prose narrative requiring from a half-hour to one or two hours in its perusal." (Hudson 337) There is another definition of short store given by Sherwood Anderson, which highlights this point:
The short story is the result of a sudden passion. It is an idea grasped whole as one would pick an apple in an or- chard. All of my own short stories have been written in one sitting, many of them under strange enough circumstances.
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