R.K. Narayan and His Social Perspective

R.K. Narayan and His Social Perspective deals with the caste-ridden Hindu society which Narayan largely portrays in his novels. His characters are fatalists–with explicit faith in the invisible. The book presents their half-hearted attempts at self-assertion. However, their so-called sentimentalism does not bear fruit and they fall back to their former position accepting defeat in life. The book brings out vividly Narayan’s attitude to life, his firm grip of Hindu ethos of which he is the product, and his failure to come out of it, though the West Wind has blown much of its dust. However, detached he sounds himself to the readers, his true spirit finds vivid expression in the book. At any rate R.K. Narayan is a thoroughly Indian novelists par excellence, and this aspect is hardly to be overlooked. The book will be highly useful to the students, teachers and researchers of English literature particularly Indian writing in English. Those who have keen interest in R.K. Narayan will find it rewarding.