The Man-eater of Malgudi revolves around Nataraj, a mild-mannered
owner of a small printing press, who leads a contented life with his circle
of friends: a poet, a journalist, and Sastri, his assistant. One day, Vasu, a
pugnacious taxidermist, moves into Nataraj’s house, and soon begins to
encroach on his life, scaring away his friends and customers. Nataraj is
intimidated by Vasu, but when the taxidermist covets the beloved temple
elephant to add to his collection of stuffed hyenas, tigers and pythons,
Nataraj rises to the occasion.
About the Author
R. K. Narayan was born in Madras in 1906 and educated there and at
Maharaja College of Mysore. His first novel Swami and Friends (1935)
was set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi. Narayan’s other
novels are The Bachelor of Arts , The Dark Room, The English Teacher ,
Mr Sampath, The Financial Expert, Waiting for the Mahatma, the Sahitya
Akademi award-winning The Guide, The Man-eater of Malgudi, The Vendor
of Sweets, The Painter of Signs, A Tiger for Malgudi, Talkative Man and
The World of Nagaraj. Besides six collections of short stories, Narayan
published two travel books, five collections of essays, translations of
Indian epics and myths, and a memoir, My Days, A Town Called Malgudi,
The World of Malgudi, The Magic of Malgudi and Memories of Malgudi,
collections of Narayan’s fiction, and Malgudi Landscapes, a selection
of his best writings, are available in Penguin Books. The Writerly Life, a
volume of his selected non-fiction, is available in Viking.
In 1980 R.K. Narayan was awarded the A. C. Benson medal by the Royal
Society of Literature and was made an Honorary Member of the American
Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1989 he was made a member
of the Rajya Sabha. In 2000 the Government of India conferred on him the
Padma Vibhushan. R. K. Narayan died in May 2001.
