The Painter of Signs (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) [Paperback]

R. K. Narayan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin | Publication Date: May 1, 1993

In this wry, funny, bittersweet story, love gets in the way of progress when Raman, a sign painter, meets the thrillingly independent Daisy, who wishes to bring birth control to the city of Malgudi.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

R.K. Narayan was born in Madras, South India, in 1906, and educated there and at Maharaja's College in Mysore. His first novel, Swami and Friends and its successor, The Bachelor of Arts, are both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi and are only two out of the twelve novels he based there. In 1958 Narayan's work The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor. In addition to his novels, Narayan has authored five collections of short stories, including A Horse and Two Goats, Malguidi Days, and Under the Banyan Tree, two travel books, two volumes of essays, a volume of memoirs, and the re-told legends Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. In 1980 he was awarded the A.C. Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1982 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Narayan died in 2001.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (May 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140185496
• ISBN-13: 978-0140185492
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,662,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh, fun, and full of charm., April 28, 2003

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Painter of Signs (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

This bittersweet novel is as fresh and charming today as it was when originally published in 1976. Telling the story of Raman, a conscientious sign-painter, who is trying to lead a rational life, the novel is filled with busy neighborhood life and gossip, the alternating rhythms and sounds of the city from morning till night, and the pungent smells and tantalizing flavors of home cooking, as Narayan portrays everyday life in Malgudi. The city is growing and changing, as its inhabitants try to carve out some individual successes within the juggernaut of "progress."

Raman, a college graduate, brings a sense of professionalism to his sign-painting, taking pride in his calligraphy and trying to create exactly the right sign, artistically, for each client. Living with his aged aunt, a devout, traditional woman whose days are spent running the house and tending to her nephew's needs and whose evenings are spent at the temple listening to the old stories and praying, Raman prefers a rational approach to life. Then he meets Daisy. A young woman devoted to improving the lives of women and the standard of living of the country through strict family planning, Daisy becomes his biggest customer, commissioning signs for all the family planning clinics she helps establish through the city and outlying rural areas. Ram soon finds his attraction to Daisy more powerful than this desire to remain "rational."

Narayan is a master of domestic scenes, presenting the major and minor conflicts of family life through the different points of view of the participants. Respect for his characters and a good-humored (and often humorous) presentation of their issues give warmth to his scenes and allow the reader to feel real empathy with the characters. Raman's belief in his own rational enlightenment and his simultaneous vulnerability to Daisy's manipulations provide the author with unlimited opportunities for dramatic irony. Scenes between Ram and his devout, elderly aunt provide a glimpse of the conflicts between old and new India, in addition to the generational conflicts every family faces between its young and its old. Scenes between Ram and Daisy reflect the changes in the role of women in society, as women become more assertive and liberated. Though he is presented as a unique, individualized character, Ram, the painter of signs, is, in a sense, Everyman, facing his coming-of-age as all men before him have done in cultures around the world. Only the details (and the sights, and sounds, and smells) are different. Mary Whipple

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intro to Feminism?, February 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Painter of Signs (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

One of Narayan's most imaginative works; it speaks of human agency and feminism. Its aimless male protagonist becomes infatuated with a visionary career woman; she alone infuses meaning into his tepid life. The novel is short and easy to read by design (perhaps)- it leaves its reader unsatisfied and begging for more. My favorite Narayan novel so far.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a charming travelogue, March 11, 2007

By 

Anthony Covatta (cincinnati, ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Painter of Signs (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Narayan's The Painter of Signs is considerably more than a charming travelogue or a narrow slice of provincial Indian life. While giving us all of that and with considerable charm, Narayan creates characters and situations that touch the heart and delve deeply into the essential contradictions of human life.

While some, including Monica Ali, who wrote the informative introduction to the latest edition call Narayan a comic writer, he can more accurately be called a serio-comic one. This book, like many of his novels, has its tragic components.

There is a basic dichotomy within Daisy, the committed family planner and sexually repressive young woman. Similarly, Raman yearns to be a rationalist but finds himself overcome by sexual thoughts. Thus, when the two young people inevitably get together, it creates a hopeless tension that finally destroys their relationship.

The complications of their "modern" love story is played out against the tranquil life of Raman's aunt, who has her act together. This would all seem cheery if we didn't know that the aunt is leaving Malgudi to go to Benares, the holy city, to die, alone, separated from Raman, her surrogate child. (Raman's parents were victims of modern life--killed in a railway accident.)

While the book gives us considerable insight into daily Indian life, it gives us even more into the lives of young people trying to find their way in a world changing before their very eyes. Narayan does not avoid the controversies of the times. Set in the days of Mrs. Gandhi's Emergency, Painter of Signs deals with the contradictory impulses of family planning: to make a good life for some, we deny potential life for others, an ironic opposition almost no one on either side of the issue is willing to confront, probably because it is basically unsolvable. And Narayan sees that. At the end of the book, Daisy is off on her Quixotic quest to limit births; the aunt is deprived of her home; and Raman is left with only his memories of the time with Daisy. He returns to the lesser life of The Boardless and his cronies , and his own business life as a minor artist, a painter of signs.

Narayan has painted for us a very charming and deceptively simple picture of the complexities of Indian and human life.