The English Teacher

A powerful, compassionate novella about one man''s search for meaning in the wake of losing his greatest source of joy, his wife. Krishna, an English teacher in the town of Malgudi, is nagged by the feeling he''s doing the wrong work. His days are given purpose by his relationship with his family, with his wife and young daughter, who welcome him home from school every afternoon. Yet when his wife dies suddenly, Krishna faces a reckoning of existential proportions, as he begins a quest for a life worth living. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days.

About the author

R K Narayan's writing spans the greatest period of change in modern Indian history, from the days of the Raj - Swami and Friends (1935), The Bachelor of Arts (1937) and The English Teacher (1945) - to recent years of political unrest - The Painter of Signs (1976), A Tiger for Malgudi (1983), and Talkative Man (1987). He has published numerous collections of short stories, including Malgudi Days (1982), and Under the Banyan Tree (1985), and several works of non-fiction.

Product details

• Authors: R K Narayan
• Publisher: Vintage UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Release: 02.07.2026
• EAN: 9781529983661
• ISBN: 978-1-5299-8366-1
• No. of pages: 176
• Series: Brief Encounters
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), FICTION / Literary, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general