A Rare Literary Relationship: R.K.Narayan and Graham Greene

LITERARY WRITERS

Henry James powerfully allegorized these two sides of the creative artist in "The Private Life" (1893), in which two (literally) different Clare Vawdreys are represented. One "talks . . . circulates . . . [and is] awfully popular." The other lives apart from the world and dedicates himself completely to his "genius," his literary art. The myth of the isolated artist is easily exaggerated. But literary companionship is of intense importance to many writers.

Close friendship of Melville and Evert A. Duyckinck, oversaw publication of his first book and it facilitated the acquaintance with Nathaniel Hawthorne. In England we know how the close friendship of Wordsworth and Coleridge made the publication of 'Lyrical Ballads' possible, which later gave rise to nineteenth century romanticism of England. Emily Dickinson had her friendship with Helen Hunt Jackson, even in her later years. Writers undoubtedly stand reflectively apart from society, imaginatively engaged with life's essentials, critiquing commonly held assumptions and illustrating the rifts in ideological systems that others take for granted. But they are, at the same time and to lesser or greater extent, engaged and functioning members of that society. Indeed, this peculiar sense of standing both within and without social, conceptual, and ideological boundaries also defines the artist's role and identity. Never is this truer than about the friendship between Graham Greene and R.K.Narayan.

V. S. Naipaul once assessed the fictional mode of R.K.Narayan by saying that he "wrote from deep within his community", and did not, in his treatment of characters, "put his people on display". This is a technique which we find abundantly used also in Graham Greene's novels. In R.K.Narayan's apartment in Madras, Greene's books, all in autographed hardbacks, have pride of place. "He was a big support for me," says R.K.Narayan, "editing, titling and proofing my works besides finding publishers." This continued up to the '60s when Narayan became more established. The tale of friendship started long back in 1934. At that time, the publishers rejected his novel. The dejected writer told one friend to dump his manuscript into the Thames. Fortunately, that friend, instead, showed it to Graham Greene who was then living in Oxford, gave the manuscript its name, Swami and Friends in which the fictional town of Malgudi was first introduced in Swami and Friends. With Graham Greene as the mentor in England, the novel was published. What is more, it was acclaimed as one of the most evocative accounts of childhood ever. Today we all know that this novel marked the beginning of a rare friendship in the literary world. In fact, Narayan's mentor and friend Greene was instrumental in getting publishers for Narayan's first four books including the semi-autobiographical trilogy of Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher. By now all know that Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan, is known the world over as R.K. Narayan who shortened his pen name to R.K. Narayan after British novelist Graham Greene, who became his mentor and friend for more than 50 years, advised him in 1935 because his name sounded difficult for the old ladies in libraries in England to remember and that is done to increase sales of his books in England.. After meeting Graham Greene, Narayan stopped in England on his way to the US, where he was going on a Rockefeller grant. They discussed the plot for The Guide and Greene suggested that Raju, the main character, should finally die. Narayan began and finished The Guide while at Berkeley and in his autobiography My Days, noted how they had killed Raju before he was born. Greene kept Narayan informed of what he was writing and Narayan often commented on what Greene had written. Narayan overcame his immense grief and wrote The English Teacher (1945), an account of his wife's death and how he communicated with her spirit through psychic experiments. All these days Graham Greene supported him immensely. At Greene's suggestion Narayan rewrote - and in 1977 republished - his 1938 Karnataka travelogue, The Emerald Route. Greene also asked him why he had left out of Malgudi Days (a collection of short stories published in 1982) one of his best stories, "a story about all us storytellers", as Greene described it. A few years later Under the Banyan Tree appeared in a collection of short stories with the same title.

This friendship between Graham Greene and R.K.Narayan is one of the central themes of Narayan's first biography written by journalist N. Ram and his wife Susan who knew Narayan since 1936. According to N.Ram, 'A relationship like theirs is rare in the literary world."

But the driving force behind the project is Susan, a book critic and admirer of R.K.Narayan. The couple have been allowed access to over 100 letters written by Greene to Narayan, and 50 from Narayan to Greene which were earlier supposed to be lost. These letters, which continued till 1990, are of exceptional value.

It may not be irrelevant here to recall that Graham Greene's 'Babbling April', his first set of poems was published in 1925, while he was at the Balliol College, Oxford, from where he graduated with a second-class degree in history. It is here Narayan met him for the first time. By that time Greene published his first novel The Man Within in 1929 to favorable reviews, which led him to quit his job the next year to concentrate on his writing fully. In 1930, he published 'The Name of Action' and the 'Rumour at Nightfall', a couple of years later, both of which did not do well His novel 'Stamboul Train', published in1932 was his breakthrough novel, which was later adapted into a film. His next popular novel was 'A Gun For Sale' published in 1936 and was filmed no less than five times under several titles. During this time he met R.K.Narayan and after that one of his best novels, 'Brighton Rock' was published in 1938 and was later adapted into films. 'Brighton Rock', a murder thriller, by Greene is considered one of his best novels and was adapted for two films, one play, one radio dramatization and a musical. 'The Power and the Glory' published in 1940, was made into the film 'The Fugitive' in 1947. There is some similarity between 'The Guide' and 'The Power and The Glory'. Narayan's writing technique was unpretentious, with a natural element of humour about it. He also employed the use of nuanced dialogic prose with gentle Tamil overtones based on the nature of his characters. Critics have considered Narayan to be the Indian Chekhov due to the similarities in their writings, the simplicity and the gentle beauty and humour in tragic situations. Greene considered Narayan to be more similar to Chekhov than any Indian writer. According to Pulitzer, Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri Narayan's short stories have the same captivating feeling as his novels, with most of them less than ten pages long, and taking about as many minutes to read. Lahiri tried to classify him as belonging to the pantheon of short-story geniuses that include O. Henry, Frank O'Connor and Flannery O'Connor. Lahiri also compares him to Guy de Maupassant for their ability to compress the narrative without losing the story, and the common themes of middle-class life written with an unyielding and unpitying vision. But it was Greene whose influence helped Narayan to begin his literary journey. On 8 November 2019, his book Swami and Friends was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World and this was the book which he published with Graham Greene's appreciation in England. It shaped no less than the career of R.K.Narayan as the world acclaimed novelist.

Dr Ratan Bhattacharjee

a senior academician and writer may be reached at profratanbhattacharjee@gmail.com

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