The world of Nagaraj - Hardcover

Narayan, R. K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434496170 ISBN 13: 9780434496174

Publisher: Viking, 1990

Synopsis

Set in the fictional town of Malgudi, this novel evokes the atmosphere of a small town in Southern India. The author's other novels include "Swami and Friends", "The Bachelor of Arts" and "The Man-Eater of Malgudi".

About this title

From Library Journal

In this, the 14th of his well-known Malgudi novels (e.g., Talkative Man , LJ 2/1/87), Narayan takes us into the daily routine of 50-year-old Nagaraj, who peacefully lives and acts inside his thoughts and whose associations with his family and friends are usually peripheral. Nagaraj perpetually dreams of writing the definitive treatise on the Sanskrit sage, Narada, yet he never studies Sanskrit. Though his story is told with much sensitivity and deft humor, he ultimately becomes a tragic figure defeated by his own character traits--a symbol of all humanity, whose dreams can never become reality because of inherent weaknesses. Nagaraj is supremely accurate in his depiction of an India that is a paradox of contrasts--of wealth and squalor, elegance and poverty, beauty and disease, erudition and ignorance--yet he wondrously renders Nagaraj's little world to represent the entire big world where we love and strive, unable to see that we are primarily responsible for our own lives.
- Glenn O. Carey, Eastern Kentucky Univ., Richmond
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

The fictional town of Malgudi, India, is home to tranquil Nagaraj, whose daily routine of religious ritual and study of a Sanskrit scholar's oeuvre is unsettled by the arrival of his modern nephew. "The Malgudi residents are talkative, philosophical and able to confront events with wonder and humor," said PW. "Narayan captures the rhythm of generally contented lives."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0434496170
• ISBN 13: 9780434496174
• Binding: Hardcover