The Guide

by R.K. Narayan, Michael Gorra (Introduction)

Formerly India's most corrupt tourist guide, Raju—just released from prison—seeks refuge in an abandoned temple. Mistaken for a holy man, he plays the part and succeeds so well that God himself intervenes to put Raju's newfound sanctity to the test. Narayan's most celebrated novel, The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.

Genres: Fiction, India, Classics, Indian Literature, Literature, Novels, Asia

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

R. K. Narayan is among the best known and most widely read Indian novelists who wrote in English.

R.K. Narayan was born in Madras, South India, in 1906, and educated there and at Maharaja's College in Mysore. His first novel, Swami and Friends and its successor, The Bachelor of Arts, are both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi and are only two out of the twelve novels he based there. In 1958 Narayan's work The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.

In addition to his novels, Narayan has authored five collections of short stories, including A Horse and Two Goats, Malguidi Days, and Under the Banyan Tree, two travel books, two volumes of essays, a volume of memoirs, and the re-told legends Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. In 1980 he was awarded the A.C. Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1982 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Most of Narayan's work, starting with his first novel Swami and Friends (1935), captures many Indian traits while retaining a unique identity of its own. He was sometimes compared to the American writer William Faulkner, whose novels were also grounded in a compassionate humanism and celebrated the humour and energy of ordinary life.

Narayan who lived till age of ninety-four, died in 2001. He wrote for more than fifty years, and published until he was eighty seven. He wrote fourteen novels, five volumes of short stories, a number of travelogues and collections of non-fiction, condensed versions of Indian epics in English, and the memoir My Days.

-Wikipedia & Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

[Hoora · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب درباره راجو مردی از طبقه متوسط هند است که شغلش راهنمای جهانگردان و توریست هاست و به این واسطه با زن و شوهری آشنا می شود که باعث تغییر مسیر زندگی اش می شود. عاشق زن می شود و رابطه زن و شوهر را خراب می کند. تمام تلاشش را برای شکوفایی هنر زن می کند و در این راه پول زیادی را به دست می آورد و ...
به عنوان اولین کتاب از نویسنده، فضای داستان و زبان ساده و طنز گونه متن را دوست داشتم

[Saman]

چقدر ناراحت کننده است که حوصله نداشته باشی درباره‌ی کتاب خوب از نویسنده‌ای خوب و بزرگ بنویسی و بنویسی چقدر از خوشحالی پس از مدت‌ها یک رمان را دست گرفته‌ای و یک نفس بدون وقف آن را خوانده‌ای. بس که زلال بود و خوش‌طعم

بنویسی که (نارایان) بسیار خوب نوشته و او بود که برای اولین بار به انگلیسی نوشت و راه باز کرد برای دیگر نویسندگان هندی زبان که به انگلیسی بنویسند و ما ایرانیان داستان‌هایشان را بخوانیم و بعدها نویسنده‌گان آن‌ها برنده ی جایزه‌های بین‌المللی

و بعد باز (غبرایی) است و یک ترجمه‌ی خوب دیگر از او که باید دست مریزاد گفت بر او که بدون حاشیه راه خود را می‌رود و خوش خرامان می‌رود

[Mamad · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتابی زیبا و کمتر دیده شده
تشکر از دوست بزرگواری که این کتاب را به من هدیه داد. هدیه گرفتن کتابی که نویسنده اش را تا بحال نشناختی و انقدر خوب از آب در بیاد مثل وقوع معجزه، فراموش نشدنیه