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A review by grubstlodger
The Bachelor of Arts by R.K. Narayan
3.0
Narayan’s The Bachelor of Arts succeeds in many of the ways Swami and Friends did. While the first book played with the universal pre-occupations of childhood, particularly the impatience and downright importance of things as a child, The Bachelor of Arts touches on the confusion of young adulthood.
It’s amazing that a book written in India in 1937 can feel so recognisable to me as a graduate in England in 2007. There’s the first section at the university itself, where Chandran’s studies are overtake by his clubs, his motions at the Union meetings and the history society his teacher asks him to form. As a societies office at my student union and member of too many clubs, I had the same problem. The chapter where he creates a timetable he’ll never follow before manically hitting his books reminded me of third year very closely.
Then comes the lull after. Both Chandran and I didn’t really know what to do with their lives. I wrote stories and moped, he fell in love. The love stories in this book are where 1930s India and 2000s UK part company. He falls in love with a girl and is afraid she might be a bit too old, possibly even 16. When his mum hear about this, she doesn’t want a fat old maid over the age of 15 and when it’s discovered that she’s just a well-developed 14, there are sighs of relief. As a reader there’s nothing to do but swallow the rising vomit and chalk it down to cultural difference. In terms of the emotions of love, the games people play with themselves when they are in love and the despair of love unfulfilled, the book is playing on universal themes again.
It’s an odd twist that the love affair is not scuppered by her not being into him but clashes in horoscopes (though, those clashes might just be to conceal that she’s not into him). Chandran moves to the big city of Madras to overcome his loss. I moved to London to pursue my dreams of literary stardom. He’s tempted to go on a bender but doesn’t, I was tempted and did - this is where our stories part, I stayed in London… Chandran becomes a holy beggar. (To be fair, I didn’t really have that as an option).
After some time begging, he pulls himself together, gets a job and secures a marriage with his 15 year old cousin. Age and relation of wife aside, I haven’t got to this part in my story (I have a job but it’s no huge earner).
What struck me about this book is it’s universality, or at least for middle-class, university going types. Even despite the (very worrying) youth of Chandran’s love interests, this felt like a warm, relatable story of university and starting off in the world. Though, it does make him the second Narayan character to run off when times got hardest.
It’s amazing that a book written in India in 1937 can feel so recognisable to me as a graduate in England in 2007. There’s the first section at the university itself, where Chandran’s studies are overtake by his clubs, his motions at the Union meetings and the history society his teacher asks him to form. As a societies office at my student union and member of too many clubs, I had the same problem. The chapter where he creates a timetable he’ll never follow before manically hitting his books reminded me of third year very closely.
Then comes the lull after. Both Chandran and I didn’t really know what to do with their lives. I wrote stories and moped, he fell in love. The love stories in this book are where 1930s India and 2000s UK part company. He falls in love with a girl and is afraid she might be a bit too old, possibly even 16. When his mum hear about this, she doesn’t want a fat old maid over the age of 15 and when it’s discovered that she’s just a well-developed 14, there are sighs of relief. As a reader there’s nothing to do but swallow the rising vomit and chalk it down to cultural difference. In terms of the emotions of love, the games people play with themselves when they are in love and the despair of love unfulfilled, the book is playing on universal themes again.
It’s an odd twist that the love affair is not scuppered by her not being into him but clashes in horoscopes (though, those clashes might just be to conceal that she’s not into him). Chandran moves to the big city of Madras to overcome his loss. I moved to London to pursue my dreams of literary stardom. He’s tempted to go on a bender but doesn’t, I was tempted and did - this is where our stories part, I stayed in London… Chandran becomes a holy beggar. (To be fair, I didn’t really have that as an option).
After some time begging, he pulls himself together, gets a job and secures a marriage with his 15 year old cousin. Age and relation of wife aside, I haven’t got to this part in my story (I have a job but it’s no huge earner).
What struck me about this book is it’s universality, or at least for middle-class, university going types. Even despite the (very worrying) youth of Chandran’s love interests, this felt like a warm, relatable story of university and starting off in the world. Though, it does make him the second Narayan character to run off when times got hardest.