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Swami and Friends

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MouthShut

Country
  
India

Pages
  
459

OCLC
  
360179

Author
  
R. K. Narayan

Page count
  
459

4.2/5
Goodreads

Cover artist
  
RK Laxman

Media type
  
Print

ISBN
  
978-0-09-928227-3

Originally published
  
1935

Genre
  
Novel

Original language
  
English

Swami and Friends t0gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcSB3hyRmnotZ8QHpQ

Characters
  
Swami's Father, Swami's Grandmother

Similar
  
R K Narayan books, India books, Novels

Swami and Friends is the first of a trilogy of novels written by RK Narayan (1906–2001), English language novelist from India. The novel, Narayan's first, is set in British India in a fictional town called Malgudi. The second and third books in the trilogy are The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher.

Contents

Malgudi Schooldays is a slightly abridged version of Swami and Friends, and includes two additional stories featuring Swami from Malgudi Days and Under the Banyan Tree.

Publication

Swami and Friends is the first novel written by R K Narayan. It was published through the intervention of a friend and neighbour ("Kittu" Purna) who was studying at Oxford. Through him, Graham Greene came into contact with Narayan's work, became especially interested in it and took it upon himself to place the book with a reputable English publisher (Hamish Hamilton). Graham Greene was responsible for the title Swami and Friends, changing it from Narayan's Swami, the Tate, suggesting that it would have the advantage of having some resemblance to Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co..

Greene arranged the details of the contract and remained closely involved until the novel was published. Narayan's indebtedness to Greene is inscribed on the inside cover of a copy of Swami and Friends Narayan presented to Greene: "But for you, Swami should be in the bottom of Thames now".

Albert Mission School friends

  • Swaminathan: A ten-year-old boy studying at Albert Mission School, Malgudi. He lives in Vinayaka Malgudi Street. He is later transferred to Board High School.
  • Mani: Swami's classmate at Albert Mission School, lives in Abu Lane, he is known as 'Mighty good-for-nothing'. He carries around a club sometimes, and threatens to beat his enemies to a pulp.
  • Rajam: Swami's classmate at Albert Mission School, lives in Lawley Extension. His father is the Deputy Police Superintendent of Malgudi. He previously studied at an English Boys' School, Madras. He is also the Captain of Malgudi Cricket Club (Victory Union Eleven).
  • Somu : Monitor of 1st Form A Section, lives in Kabeer Street. He fails in 1st Form and is "automatically excluded from the group".
  • Sankar: Swami's classmate in 1st Form A Section. His father gets transferred at the end of the term. He is the most brilliant boy of the class.
  • Samuel ("The Pea"): Swami's classmate in 1st Form A Section. He is known as "The Pea" because of his height.

    • Swami's house

  • WT Srinivasan: Swami's father, a lawyer
  • Lakshmi: Swami's mother, homemaker
  • Swami's grandmother (father's mother )
  • Swami's late grandfather (sub-magistrate)
  • Swami's little brother
  • Cook

    • Cricketers mentioned

  • Jack Hobbs
  • Donald Bradman
  • Duleep
  • Maurice Tate

    • Cultural depictions

  • Swami and Friends was adapted by actor-director Shankar Nag into the television drama series Malgudi Days in 1986. The series was directed by Nag and Carnatic musician L. Vaidyanathan composed the score. R. K Narayan's brother and acclaimed cartoonist R. K. Laxman was the sketch artist.

    • References

    Swami and Friends Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA