Narayan, R(asipuram) K(rishnaswamy)

Indian novelist. His immensely popular novels, notably Swami and Friends (1935), his first, and The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1962), successfully combine realism with mythic and grotesque elements. They are comedies of sadness, of the family and middle-class life, set in ‘Malgudi’, intensely local yet representative of India and indeed of humanity. A later work is The Grandmother's Tale (1992).

He was brought up in Mysore, India. His uncle is credited with beginning his interest in literature and he spent long hours in his school library reading classical Indian tales and Vedic poetry. Apart from this he was unsuccessful in both schooling and in his early attempts at writing. Eventually his talent was recognised by English writer Graham Greene. Narayan's vivid autobiographical sketches My Days were published in 1974.