{"title":"R. K. Narayan Books","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrowse the books by R. K. Narayan we have in stock, second-hand, in paperback and hardback. Mostly fiction and literary fiction. Every book ships from our own UK warehouse. Free UK delivery on orders of £10 or more.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"swami-and-friends","title":"Swami And Friends","description":"\u003cp\u003eTen-year-old Swaminathan is living in exciting times. The sleeping giant of India is beginning to stir to the dwelling reverberations which herald the great struggle for independence. But it's all rather confusing for the boy. For like his family and friends, Swami has been immutably moulded by his British rulers - and though he might happily demonstrate against them, he wouldn't dream of missing cricket practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780099282273\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £1.50","offer_id":47909000609969,"sku":"SB-0099282275-C3","price":1.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Poor Condition — £1.00","offer_id":47909000642737,"sku":"SB-0099282275-C4","price":1.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/0099282275_e3b403a6-05f5-4dc3-a022-e2029673fd3b.jpg?v=1790303754"},{"product_id":"a-tiger-for-malgudi-penguin-twentieth-century-classics-s","title":"A Tiger For Malgudi (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics S.)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA venerable tiger, old and toothless now, looks back over his life from cubhood and early days roaming wild in the Indian jungle. Trapped into a miserable circus career as 'Raja the magnificent', he is then sold into films (co-starring with a beefy Tarzan in a leopard skin) until, finding the human world too brutish and bewildering, he makes a dramatic bid for freedom. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eR.K. Narayan's story combines Hindu mysticism with ripe Malgudi comedy, viewing human absurdities through the eyes of a wild animal and revealing how, quite unexpectedly, Raja finds sweet companionship and peace.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1984\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 151\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Penguin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780140185454\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin","offers":[{"title":"Poor Condition — £2.97","offer_id":47909189845169,"sku":"SB-0140185453-C4","price":2.97,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/0140185453.jpg?v=1789205243"},{"product_id":"the-vendor-of-sweets","title":"The Vendor of Sweets","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 014342453X\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Very Good — £754.80","offer_id":47909400969393,"sku":"SB-014342453X-C2","price":754.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/014342453X.jpg?v=1789816101"},{"product_id":"mr-sampath-the-printer-of-malgudi-phoenix-fiction-s","title":"Mr Sampath – The Printer of Malgudi (Phoenix Fiction S.)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"There are writers—Tolstoy and Henry James to name two—whom we hold in awe, writers—Turgenev and Chekhov—for whom we feel a personal affection, other writers whom we respect—Conrad for example—but who hold us at a long arm's length with their 'courtly foreign grace.' Narayan (whom I don't hesitate to name in such a context) more than any of them wakes in me a spring of gratitude, for he has offered me a second home. Without him I could never have known what it is like to be Indian.\"—Graham Greene\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Offering rare insight into the complexities of Indian middle-class society, R. K. Narayan traces life in the fictional town of Malgudi. \u003ci\u003eThe Dark Room\u003c\/i\u003e is a searching look at a difficult marriage and a woman who eventually rebels against the demands of being a good and obedient wife. In \u003ci\u003eMr. Sampath,\u003c\/i\u003e a newspaper man tries to keep his paper afloat in the face of social and economic changes sweeping India. Narayan writes of youth and young adulthood in the semiautobiographical \u003ci\u003eSwami and Friends\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Bachelor of Arts.\u003c\/i\u003e Although the ordinary tensions of maturing are heightened by the particular circumstances of pre-partition India, Narayan provides a universal vision of childhood, early love and grief.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"The experience of reading one of his novels is . . . comparable to one's first reaction to the great Russian novels: the fresh realization of the common humanity of all peoples, underlain by a simultaneous sense of strangeness—like one's own reflection seen in a green twilight.\"—Margaret Parton, \u003ci\u003eNew York Herald Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Narayan's limits are meticulously imposed and observed but his humor and compassion come from a deep universal well, with the result that he has transformed his imaginary township of Malgudi into a bubbling parish of the world.\"—Christopher Wordsworth, \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1981\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 219\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780226568393\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £4.95","offer_id":47909664882865,"sku":"SB-0226568393-C3","price":4.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/0226568393.jpg?v=1789699495"},{"product_id":"under-the-banyan-tree","title":"Under the Banyan Tree","description":"\u003cp\u003eA collection of stories about characters from every walk of Indian life - merchants, beggars, herdsmen, rogues - all of whose lives are microcosms of the human experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1985\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 193\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Penguin Random House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780434496150\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Poor Condition — £3.71","offer_id":47911456080049,"sku":"SB-0434496154-C4","price":3.71,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/0434496154.jpg?v=1789694155"},{"product_id":"waiting-for-the-mahatma","title":"Waiting for the Mahatma","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first that young Sriram knows of Gandhi's visit to Malgudi is when a beautiful girl waves a collection box under his nose. His admiration for the quick-witted Bharati leads him to leave Malgudi and join the Quit India campaign, only to find his convictions tested by the rigours of imprisonment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1993\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Minerva\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780749397265\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Minerva","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £1.00","offer_id":47913832349873,"sku":"SB-0749397268-C3","price":1.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/0749397268.jpg?v=1789675417"},{"product_id":"very-best-of-r-k-narayan-timeless-malgudi","title":"Very Best of R.K. Narayan: Timeless Malgudi","description":"\u003cp\u003eOver a career spanning seven decades, R.K. Narayan, easily one of the most influential and important writers of India, populated the fictional town of Malgudi with a host of unforgettable characters: Swami and his gang of friends, the Talkative Man, Raju the guide and Sampath the printer, among many others. These characters have carved out a place for themselves in popular imagination and live on, still fresh and endlessly entertaining, many decades after they first appeared. Timeless Malgudi brings together a selection of the best and the most enduring of R.K. Narayan's fiction and nonfiction. The Guide examines, with wit and irony, how a man becomes a godman. The story 'A Horse and Two Goats' describes an attempt at crosscultural communication which goes haywire, with hilarious consequences. The excerpt from My Days, Narayan's autobiography, paints a poignant picture of the author's childhood while the 'Misguided Guide' is a cynical, sharply written chronicle of the making of the film Guide, based on his novel. Also included in this volume are excerpts from the travelogue My Dateless Diary and a brilliant retelling of the Tamil epic Silappadikaram.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 378\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Rupa Publications India\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9788129131027\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Rupa Publications India","offers":[{"title":"Poor Condition — £7.91","offer_id":47919714894001,"sku":"SB-8129131021-C4","price":7.91,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/8129131021.jpg?v=1789699864"},{"product_id":"gods-demons-and-others","title":"Gods, Demons and Others","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere is R.K. Narayan's delightful selection of stories from India's vast treasure-house of myths and legends handed down through the ages. Drawing his stories for The Ramayana, The Mahabharata and other great Indian epics, Narayan tells the tales as they might be recounted by the wise village storyteller. In the legends, where all things are possible, one thousands years seem only a second, and good ultimately triumphs over evil. The Devi, who is the personification of the highest beauty and energy, vanquishes the demon Manisha who has invaded the heavens: Manmata, the god of love, is burned up physically when he engages the austere god Shiva. Yama, the god of death, is persuaded for the first the first time to relinquish a soul when the mourning but determined savitri pleads for the return of her husband.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 243\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Vision\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9788170940067\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vision","offers":[{"title":"Poor Condition — £19.38","offer_id":47919718400177,"sku":"SB-8170940060-C4","price":19.38,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/8170940060.jpg?v=1789443224"},{"product_id":"the-english-teacher","title":"The English Teacher","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis novel completes the informal trilogy which began with Swami and Friends and The Bachelor of Arts. The protagonist, Krishna, is an English teacher at the same college he had attended as a student. Although Krishna has recently married, his wife Susila and their daughter live with his parents-in-law some miles away. The story opens with his immediate family deciding to join him in Malgudi. Krishna is initially frightened by his new state of affairs, but he soon finds that his love for both his wife and child grows deeper than he could have imagined.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Mr. Narayan has repeatedly been compared with Chekhov. Ordinarily such comparisons are gratuitous and strained, but in this case there are such clear and insistent echoes that any careful reader will be aware of them. There is that sense of rightness which transcends mere structure. There is the inexplicable blending of tragedy and humor. Most of all, there is a brooding awareness of fate which makes the story seem not authored, but merely translated.\"--J.F. Muehl, Saturday Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Narayan] does not deal in exemplary fates, and the Western novel's machinery of retribution is far too grandiose for him. . . . In Narayan's world, scores are not settled but dissolved, recycled, restated. 'Both of us will shed our forms soon and perhaps we could meet again, who knows? So goodbye for the present.' These are the concluding words for the novel A Tiger for Malgudi, but they constitute a universal epilogue one could append to most of Narayan's fiction.\"--Russell Davies, Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1994\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 183\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Indian Thought Publ.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9788185986036\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Indian Thought Publ.","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £1.71","offer_id":47919738421425,"sku":"SB-8185986037-C3","price":1.71,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/8185986037.jpg?v=1789691467"},{"product_id":"malgudi-schooldays-the-adventures-of-swami-and-his-friends","title":"Malgudi schooldays: The adventures of Swami and his friends","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis Is R.K. Narayan's Classic Chronicle Of The Adventures Of A Boy Named Swami, And His Friends Rajam And Mani, In A Sleepy And Picturesque South Indian Town Called Malgudi. Swami's Days Are Full Of Action When He Is Not Creating A Ruckus In The Classroom Or Preparing In His Inimitable Way For Exams, He's Trying To Acquire A Hoop From The Coachman's Son To Run Down The Malgudi Streets, Playing Tricks On His Grandmother, Or Stoning The School Windows, Inspired By A Swadeshi Demonstration. But The Greatest Feat Of Swami And His Friends Lies In Putting Together A Cricket Team For The Mcc (The Malgudi Cricket Club) And Challenging The Neighbouring Young Men's Union To A Match. Just Before The Match, However, Things Go Horribly, Horribly Wrong, And Swami Has No Option But To Run Away From Home, Wanting Never To Return To Malgudi Again . . . \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMalgudi Schooldays Is A Brilliantly Evocative And Delightfully Funny Account Of The Growing-Up Years From One Of The Greatest English Language Writers Of Our Time. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIncludes A Slightly Abridged Version Of The Novel Swami And Friends Along With Two Other Swami Stories, Available Together For The First Time \u003cbr\u003eFeatures Fifteen Black-And-White Illustrations By R.K. Laxman \u003cbr\u003eAttractive Design \u003cbr\u003eThe First In A Series Of Indian Literature Classics On The Puffin List\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rk-narayan-books\"\u003eR. K. Narayan\u003c\/a\u003e (all their books in stock)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 263\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Puffin Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780143335412\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"R. K. Narayan,R. K. Narayan","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £4.32","offer_id":47975344734385,"sku":"SB-0143335413-C3","price":4.32,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/0143335413.jpg?v=1790299864"}],"url":"https:\/\/sellbooks.co.uk\/collections\/rk-narayan-books.oembed","provider":"Sell Books .co.uk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}