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Book review: the english teacher by r. k. narayan.

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Books N Myself

Because life is packed in books…, book review: the english teacher.

Title: The English Teacher

Author: R. K. Narayan

Publisher: Indian Thought Publications

While Krishna teaches at the Albert Mission College his wife and daughter live some distance away with his parents-in-law. But a move to a small rented house soon permits the couple to enjoy a life of marital bliss. Yet paradise is short-lived. …

The English Teacher is a poignant narrative woven around the life of Krishna, an English Teacher. It is the journey of Krishna from being an ordinary teacher to the head of his family and to an enlightened being.

Written in 1945 , this novel is the final part in the series, preceded by Swami and Friends (1935) and The Bachelor of Arts (1937).

About the Author

R. K. Narayan was a pioneer writer of India . He is well known for his works set in the fictional South Indian town – Malgudi . Marked by simplicity, Narayan’s works revolve around the daily life of his characters. Narayan has written Fiction, Non-Fiction & Mythology. He has been honored with a number of awards.

Lets step into Malgudi…

The English Teacher is an autobiographical account dedicated to Narayan’s wife . The story revolves around the life of Krishna, who teaches at Albert Mission College, Malgudi. He has also been a student of the same college.

From the title one expects that the book will showcase the life of an English teacher . I myself thought that it would be about the difficulties that one faces as an English teacher (especially in a country like India, where English is a foreign language). But it’s not so. On the contrary, we get to know Krishna- the protagonist, as a person. We see him going out with his wife, looking after his daughter, interacting with his in-laws, visiting his native place and ofcourse teaching at college and chatting with his colleagues in staff room.

Krishna stays in the college hostel . He gets along with his colleagues. He prepares his lessons & sometimes writes poems in his hostel room. Though he recieves ₹.100 as salary, he is full of self criticism. He feels he is doing the wrong work. He says, “…; my duty in the interval had been admonishing, cajoling and browbeating a few hundred boys of Albert Mission College so that they might mug up Shakespeare and Milton and secure high marks and save me adverse remarks from my chiefs…”.

Krishna’s wife, Susila and their daughter, Leela live with his father-in-law. The elders of the family want Krishna to live with his wife and daughter. They want him to be a family man. Krishna was a bit reluctant at first.

He looks for a rented house and finally manages to find one of his choice. After about 10 days, it’s the day of his wife’s arrival. Krishna was quite anxious as he went to recieve her at Malgudi railway station. The whole episode has been written in a very titillating manner.

As time passes, Krishna settles down with his family . He enjoys the company of his wife and his daughter proves to be a delightful treat for him. After about two & a half years, the couple decides to have a house of their own. 

One day they go out to look for a house. They do find their dream house, but destiny has some different plans for them. I’ll stop with the storyline here.

The best thing about the book is the simple & lucid writing style . I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The simple writing style doesn’t seem dull at all. It’s very much pleasing and one keeps on turning the pages. I kept on singing the tune of the television series Malgudi Days (which is based on Narayan’s works) all the time while I was reading this book.

Krishna is my favourite character from the novel as I could relate myself to him . I also want to be an English teacher. I resemble to him in many other aspects also. Krishna, initially is seen as a practical man, but in the later half of the text, he becomes a bit impractical. He finds happiness in small things & gets excited very soon. He is also a philosopher.

My favourite lines from the text are:

• Gradually, unknown to ourselves, we recline against the wall and sink into sleep. The dawn finds us all huddled on the cold floor. 
• Living without illusion seemed to be the greatest task for me…
• A profound unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life. All else is false. My mother has got away from her parents, my sisters from our house, I and my brother away from each other,  … , my earliest friends- where are they? They scatter apart like the droplets of a water-spray. The law of life. 
• … I can afford to do what seems to me work, something which satisfies my innermost aspiration. 

I loved reading the last chapter. It offers a bitter criticism of Indian education system , where much stress is given on marks rather than acquiring knowledge.

Besides this, I also enjoyed reading about Krishna’s daughter Leela . Her innocence makes one adore her. The only thing that I didn’t like in this novel was the unrealistic track that begins from the mid of novel . But that’s what leads this novel towards its end.

The English Teacher is a simple yet beautiful novel . I won’t mind reading this one again and again. I would recommend it to everyone out there.

My Rating: ***** (4.5/5)

So what do you think about the book? Have you read it or any other work of R.K.Narayan? Is this novel similar to any other novel that you’ve read? Do share your thoughts.

Available for purchase on Amazon.in and Infibeam .

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The English Teacher

• By Yiftach Reicher Atir; translated by Philip Simpson
• Penguin Books
• Reviewed by Philip K. Jason
• August 25, 2016

This psychological thriller probes the damaging uncertainties of life undercover.

Rachel Goldshmitt, Rachel Brooks, Rachel Ravid. Who is Rachel, exactly? Knowing she is a Mossad operative involved in a dangerous undercover assignment only begins to answer the question.

In this dark, interior tale, identity is scrutinized from several angles: identity hidden, identity adopted, identity lost. How does an operative playing out her cover story hold on to who she really is underneath? What does she have to sacrifice to be effective? And is she, herself, the sacrifice?

The English Teacher begins with the disappearance of this seasoned and exceptionally successful operative. Her former mentor and handler, Ehud, along with another senior Mossad operative, is assigned to determine what happened to her.

While Ehud cares deeply about this woman, whom he has known and secretly loved for a long time, it is not caring alone that motivates him. A stray agent is a danger to the Mossad and to Israeli security. She knows too much. How could this person, who as a young woman immigrated to Israel and whose Zionist passion made her a fairly easy recruit, simply disappear?  

Much of the novel follows the investigation conducted by Ehud and his associate, Joe. Their dialogue is a rich blend of their personal and professional lives. For Ehud, his future is at stake. While the two men have a high degree of trust and shared understanding of the spy business, there is a game going on in which Joe has the upper hand.

Another dimension of the novel follows Ehud’s interior life at various times in his life and in his relationship with Rachel. And yet another segment, by far the most provocative, though dependent on insights afforded by the other characters, follows Rachel: her challenges, her loneliness, her search for a way of holding on to a centered self among the variable selves she dons for her country.

Rachel, whose cover is as a Canadian citizen raised in England, enters an Arab city (probably left unidentified due to Israeli censorship) and finds work at a school specializing in teaching English. She had already developed this skill while living in the Israeli town of Rehovot.

Breaking every rule, but perhaps still with a spy’s intent, she allows herself an affair with an Arab man named Rashid. In his company, she can visit places at which she might otherwise seem out of place.

Author Reicher Atir handles the growth of their passionate love within the context of Rachel’s duplicity with astounding skill. Who can a liar trust? The narrator observes that, “You even look at people differently, listen to them in another way, assessing every word and inflection. This is the punishment of the liar — the one who lies habitually can’t trust anyone.”

Rachel’s missions include obtaining important information, taking photographs, performing an assassination, and blowing up an enemy facility. Her terror is the fear of error, the fear of discovery, and the fear of not being able to control herself — to stay fully in her role without ever striking others as role-playing.

She becomes a Mossad superstar, but of course private celebrity affords little satisfaction. No one outside the Mossad can know.

Reicher Atir, who served in Israeli intelligence, raises important issues in this remarkably revealing novel. At one point, Ehud says, “There’s something intoxicating in our work; suddenly it’s permissible to lie, you can put on an act, and everything is sanctioned by the state. The operative is licensed to commit crimes. He steals, sometimes he even kills, and instead of going to prison he gets a commendation.”

The justifications for asking people to accept this inverted morality are at hand (saving the lives of others, etc.), but readers are left to wonder about the costs to the operative. Essentially, secret agents are on their own. They have no recourse to justice if captured, no expectation of assistance if things go wrong. They are expendable.

Ehud’s search for Rachel is simultaneously a search for himself. The end of the search is a chilling surprise, a fitting resolution to the many questions the novel explores, not only about these haunted characters, but also about the nations and institutions that train, employ, and brutalize such brutal operatives. 

Philip K. Jason is professor emeritus of English at the United States Naval Academy. A former editor of Poet Lore magazine, he is the author or editor of 20 books, including Acts and Shadows: The Vietnam War in American Literary Culture  and  Don’t Wave Goodbye: The Children’s Flight from Nazi Persecution to American Freedom . His reviews appear in a wide variety of regional and national publications.

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The English Teacher by R. K Narayan

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• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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The English Teacher

R. K. Narayan | 4.05 | 3,626 ratings and reviews

Ranked #98 in Indian Author

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The English Teacher from the world's leading experts.

Mark Tully Krishnan is often seen as RK Narayan. I have chosen it as a tribute to Narayan, who was internationally discovered by Graham Greene. I love the writing of Graham Greene and I love the writing of Narayan, in part because it is such clean writing. I get terribly bored with overly adjectival writing. I get bored with writing which is unnecessarily complex and unnecessarily descriptive. You can hardly get a more lean writer than R K Narayan. And again he is writing about very ordinary people. There is nothing sensational, heroic or deeply tragic about his writing. Of course it is very sensitive... (Source)

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