Talkative Man

Talkative Man, a young journalist struggling to establish a reputation, pieces together a portrait of the mysterious Dr. Rann--who makes himself TM's extended houseguest and claims to be researching a project for the United Nations--and his effects on the Malgudi people

The concluding title story of Narayan's most recent collection, Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories ( LJ 7/85) , concerned a storyteller who took a vow of silence. As if to assure us that he himself has taken no such vow, Narayan identifies with the title character and raconteur of this, his fourteenth novel of that magical microcosm he calls Malgudi. Talkative Man/Narayan tells us in a postscript that "This is only the story of a wife's attempt to reclaim her erratic, elusive husband who is a wanderer, a philanderer on a global scale. . . ." Readers who have visited Malgudi before will recognize Kabir Street, the Boardless Hotel, and other familiar scenes resonant as ever with the sounds of life and laughter and a whisper of the ludicrous. Newcomers will marvel at this little world and the people in it. L. M. Lewis, Social Science Dept., Eastern Kentucky Univ., Richmond
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