(1952) was one of a pair of novels written in quick succession immediately after India’s independence, the other being
Mr. Sampath, The Printer of Malgudi(1949). As Lakshmi Holstrom notes in
The Novels of R.K. Narayan(1973), his novels, “like classical Tamil literature, fall into two main divisions: ‘akam’ (the home) and ‘puram’ (the outside—power, wealth, politics)” (35).
This ‘puram’ stage of his career saw Narayan expanding his ambitions as a writer from the gentle, autobiographical comedy of his early works (The Dark Room excepted) to novels with the scope and satire of Fielding’s Tom Jones (1749) or Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers (1836). Conscious of writing to an Indian audience, Narayan adopted an almost journalistic account of the con
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Citation: Grasso, Joshua. "The Financial Expert". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 February 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=869, accessed 24 November 2024.]