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Synopsis This comprehensive study of R.K. Narayan's fiction is an endeavour honoris causa. By honouring the great fictionist we honour ourselves. The more we talk about him, the fuller is our find of artistic skill and subterranean meaning. It is ever expanding, ever rewarding and ever satisfying our inquisitive aspirations. His contribution to Indian literature is purely indigenous. The vast corpus of his writings is a testimony to his Indian sensibility deeply anchored in age-old traditions and still responsive to current compulsive influences. Moreover, Narayan's India has an essential monumental foundation and is not just an exhibit for foreigner's consumption. There fiction is fact, art-coated fact appearing as delectable novels and short stories. The middle class man's manners and morals, joys and sorrows, social incongruities, domestics bliss and blisters and little ironies of life are the stuff his comedies are made of and they are the issues addressed to in this anthology. The present book is an anthology of contemporary criticism on his novels by perceptive academic-critics belonging to different universities of India. It includes general introduction to his life and works, a paper on My Dateless Diary, ten synoptic research papers on his themes, style and art, nine comprehensive papers on his individual novels. While the volume offers a spectrum  of critical views on the novels and indepth analysis of his short stories of R.K. Narayan, it adds immensely to our awareness of the Indian literature and culture.