The Interplay of Reality and Memory in R K Narayan’s Memoir My Days
Article Details
Pub. Date
:
Jun, 2014
Product Name
:
The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type
:
Article
Product Code
:
IJES11406
Author Name
:
Prerna Vanjani
Availability
:
YES
Subject/Domain
:
English Studies
Download Format
:
PDF Format
No. of Pages
:
7
Price
For delivery in electronic
format: Rs. 50;
For deliv e4ery through courier (within India): Rs.
50 + Rs. 25 for Shipping & Handling Charges
Download
To download this Article click on the button below:
Abstract
Writing about the self is a daunting task as it represents its writer’s life as a large matrix of his personality, age, culture and society. It unfolds a life pattern reshaped by recollections, omissions and distortions with the interplay of memory functioning at various levels of existence. This paper provides a glimpse of the uncomplicated life of one of the 20th century’s literary giants, R K Narayan, by analyzing his memoir My Days. The paper highlights various stages of evolution of the self and studies the dynamics of memory that has produced many memorable characters along with the imaginary world of ‘Malgudi’. The paper delineates Narayan’s consciousness as he goes through the arduous process of experimenting with artistic techniques creating his fascinating fictional world. This study also unfolds the making of a sensitive and prolific writer R K Narayan, whose objectivity has made his works appear as psycho anatomies at the realistic level. The thrust is on the different phases of Narayan’s life that give a clear impression of his genius. The paper also brings to light several situations of his life in which he exhibited immense determination in pursuing what his heart desired.
Description
The travels in the spaces of the mind may appear to be lucid descriptions of inward
journeys, but the fact is that they are filled with embedded meanings and play a
significant and polysemic role in the growth of text as well as the psychology of the writer. Most of these digressions camouflage the inherent symbolic interpretations of the inner mind. Even though it is the author who begins to transverse as the designer of the text, it is the travels of the mind that redesign all the experiences. R K Narayan works through multidimensional levels of experiential boundaries to understand the feelings he has grown up with.
Memory and imagination seem to explore inner spaces of the mind. The writer crosses borders of past-happenings which reinvent fused patterns with present experiences in the mind of the creator. The autobiography of a writer of fiction is generally superfluous, since he has already, in rearrangement and disguise, written out the material of his life many times. Writing about the self is a daunting task as it represents not only the writer’s life but also uncovers a large matrix of his personality, age, culture and society. Such an exercise unfolds a life pattern reshaped by recollections, omissions and distortions in which memory and feeling interplay at various levels of existence.
Keywords
English Studies Journal, Interplay of Reality, Memory, R K Narayan, Dreams, things of truth, Lalgudi, things of fact.
