The Delineation of the Complicated Marital and Extra-Marital Affairs in R.K. Narayan's Novel THE GUIDE

Abstract

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami who is one of the most versatile and prolific novelists in the history of the Indian English Literature, has presented the typical Indian characters and the true Indian atmosphere to show the contemporary Indian society in his works. The most distinguished fact of his novel is that he has dealt with essentially the middle class characters and has created a fictional South Indian Malgudi town like Thomas Hardy‘s Wessex or William Faulkner‘s Yoknapatawpha County. His fictional world has projected an exploration of the conjugal relationship in the domestic world and the themes of marital and extra marital relationships have always been the focus of many literary works in the Indian English Literature. However, his novels are deeply rooted in customs, traditions, beliefs, and superstitions of the Indian society and are preoccupied with the theme of family relationship, East- West encounter, education etc. Here in this paper an attempt has been made to reveal his portrayal of marital and extra marital affairs and at the same time it also aims to find out the reasons of extra marital relationship. However, through this exploration, we can observe that he has vividly presented the contemporary scenario of the Indian society which always follows the stream of conventional and unconventional way of life.