R'K' Narayan

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R.K. Narayan

• A Horse and Two Goats

By Udo Gemmerich, Jan Wortmeier
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Content

• Summary
• Setting
• Characters
• Language
• Narrative Technique
• Relationship
• Why Post- Colonial Literature
• Historical Background
• Author

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Summary

• setting small village, called Kiritam, in
  India
• Red faced man from New York appears
• American ? is interested in buying the
  horse-statue
• Indian ? talking about Indian mythology
• American ? just talking about the horse
• End of story ? red faced man gives money for
  the horse-statue / old Indian gives him the two
  goats

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Setting

• Place of action a small village, called
  Kiritam, in India.
• Kiritam? crown in Tamil language
• Statues of a warrior and a massive guardian in
  shape of a horse in front of the village
• Warrior in gay colours
• Dry and hot area full of rocks cactuses
  lantanas

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Characters

• Old Indian man
• Name Muni
• He owns two goats
• Drowsing in the shadow of a cactus
• He needs a capital of 20 rupees for opening a
  souvenir shop
• monolingual only Tamil

• American tourist
• red face
• khaki- coloured shirt and shorts
• looks like a policeman
• comes from NY
• has travelled 5000 miles in India
• smokes
• wants to buy the horse- statue
• has much more money than the old man

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Language

• Good English
• Nobody realy tries to communicate

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Narrative Technique

• 3rd person narrator
• Narrator is omniscient

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Relationship

• Old man wants to sell his pets? He needs money
• Proud of his village ? wants to tell the myth
  of the horse and the rider

• Red faced manWould be a sound of policy to
  show an interest in the old mans pets

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Why Post- Colonial Literture

• The problem of communication
• The meeting of different cultures
• The difference in wealth
• The difference in social signs

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Historical Background

• 18/19 century ? 3/5 of India was controlled by
  Britain / ? 2/5 ruled by lords
• Reason for the rebellion (1857/58) was the fear
  of a growing influence by the western
  civilisation ? mogul-empire was destroyed / India
  was put under rule by the British majesty

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Author

• Was born in Madras on October 10,1906
• Grew up and was educated in Madras and Mysore,
  took his B.A. at Maharajas College and decided
  to become a writer
• Has written 12 novels between 1937-1990
• Narayans family speaks Tamil / (but he
  decided to write in English)