The English Teacher

by R.K. Narayan

Book Overview

This 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226568350
• ISBN13: 9780226568355
• Release Date: October 1980
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Narayan's best

Through his unobtrusive insights, Narayan paints a beautiful picture of a small fictional South Indian town - Malgudi (which is in reality, a mixture of images derived from his hometown in the Kumbakonam District of Tamilnadu and Mysore in Karnataka. Narayan's description of the life of South Indians- their simple houses, grandmothers, earnest young men, garrulous retired men, street dogs, cricket playing youngsters- all make for a compelling picture, funny and poignant simultaneously. I cannot recollect the number of times I have read this book - The old Indian TV serial "Malgudi Days" immortalized Narayan's imagination on Indian television. Of course, Malgudi days dealt primarily with Narayan's celebrated "Swami and his friends", but the small town also serves as the backdrop for this semi-autobiographic novel of Narayan. The English teacher- Krishnan leads a blissful life with his wife and daughter. Life takes a cruel turn when his wife dies of typhoid. The rest of the book deals with Krishnan's struggle, seances through which he communicates with his wife's soul and finally- the magnificent ending of the book, when the author finally realizes the true meaning of life and he experiences "a moment of pure immutable joy; a moment for which one feels grateful to life and death" The book is based on Narayan's real life; In his own words, very little of the book is fiction...There are loving references to Susheela- her height (in reality, Narayan's wife was taller than him!), the description of her midnight-blue silk saree, the fragrance of jasmine that enveloped everything associated with her....One can only begin to sense the magnitude of Narayan's loss. Through this book, Narayan has accorded the Indian way of life and his love the greatest possible respect and honor.

touching

amazingly tender. Narayan is a master story-teller.

There's no better way to be taught English

Writers such as R.K. Narayan, P.G. Wodehouse, write without aspiring for greatness. Like a flower which grows without thinking, their words flow naturally filling page after page with the innate simplicity of life. There are no bones, attached strings or dark clouds with silver linings looming on the horizon. How simple is life!An extremely funny book that at the same time evokes empathy and makes the heart flow with the milk of human kindness. Certainly not his best writing (Guide, Swami & Friends, The Vendor of Sweets), but definitely recommended. He is indeed in the top 5 list of all time. Not merely as an Indian author, but very universal, making us realize how similar we all are. I would certainly include his books in the package we send out to the first extra-terrestrial species we spot.It would give them an excellent idea of humanity.

Bewitching!

This book is one of the author's masterpieces. The only thing which really put me off being an Indian is the cover that has been chosen for this book. It is a stereotyped western notion of India,A mughal setting . I cannot see anything more illfitting or anachronistic. It is almost absurd.The Mughals were only in the north of India and never came down to anywhere where Narayan was, or ever wrote about. Its like putting a victorian drawing room as a cover page to a current work of fiction.I wish the publishers would at least consider setting a fitting cover picture, which depicts South india in Narayan's age which was much later and in the 20th century in a modern India, Instead of propagating such stale set-notions about India and its culture.

great

Critics have often compared with Russian writer Gogol , his imaginary town of Malgudi , peopled with characters potrayed with a gentle irony as they struggle to accommodate tradition with western attitudes inherited from the British . ' The English Teacher ' , one of his finest works , tells the story of a young man Krishna, just married with a new job . The domestic tenderness of an Indian arranged marriage makes an adventure out of ordinary. Readings of Palgrave's , the outings of the newly married, hagglings over household accounts are endearing images that stay with you forever . The marriage ends in a death, and the way Narayan encompasses this with sadness and loss, simply moves one to tears. What follows then are frustrating attempts to contact his wife through a medium. This book is really a semi-autobiographical account, as narayan himself suffered a bereavement in his married life and in ' My Days ' he decribes his attempts to use a medium. Although other books by Narayan are more popular , namely ,'Swami and his freinds ' and ' Guide ' , it is this book, which , i beleive to be his finest creations. Sadness and humour go hand in hand ,like twins, their shadows inseparable . Like Chekhov all his comedies have a under-tone of sadness. In all his novels , Narayan has never strayed from his Malgudi, making us hear stories under its Banyan tree , taking us for a stroll along Market road , look with awe at those villas in Lawley extension , the cinema , the railway station,the hair-cutting saloon . He has lived in Malgudi all his life , and we , his readers have stayed with him I am waiting to go out of my door into those loved and shabby streetsof malgudiand see with excitement and certainty of pleasure, who, with some unexpected and revealing phrase will open a door on to yet another human existence.