The Guide

Formerly India's most corrupt tourist guide, Raju-just released from prison- seeks refuge in an abandoned temple. Mistaken for a holy man, he plays the part and succeeds so well that God himself intervenes to put Raju's newfound sanctity to the test. Narayan's most celebrated novel, The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.

Formerly India's most corrupt tourist guide, Raju-just released from prison- seeks refuge in an abandoned temple. Mistaken for a holy man, he plays the part and succeeds so well that God himself intervenes to put Raju's newfound sanctity to the test. Narayan's most celebrated novel, The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.

R. K. Narayan (1906-2001), born and educated in India, was the author of fourteen novels, numerous short stories and essays, a memoir, and three retold myths. His work, championed by Graham Greene, who became a close friend, was often compared to that of Dickens, Chekhov, Faulkner, and Flannery O'Connor, among others. October 10, 2006, is the centennial of Narayan's birth.

Pankaj Mishra, author of An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World, is an award-winning novelist and frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, Granta, and other publications.

Monica Ali, one of Granta's "Best of Young British Novelists," is the author of Brick Lane, finalist for the Man Booker Prize.

Jhumpa Lahiri won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, and is the author of The Namesake.

Michael Gorra is a professor of English at Smith College. His books include The Bells in Their Silence: Travels Through Germany and After Empire: Scott, Naipaul, Rushdie.