Swami and Friends

Swami and Friends

Cover of Malgudi Schooldays 2009 Puffin Classics edition
Author	RK Narayan
Cover artist	RK Laxman
Country	India
Language	English
Genre	Novel
Published	1935 Hamilton
Media type	Print
Pages	459
ISBN
OCLC	360179
Followed by	The Bachelor of Arts

Swami and Friends is the first of a trilogy of novels written by RK Narayan (1906–2001), English language novelist from India. The novel, Narayan's first, is set in British India in a fictional town called Malgudi. The second and third books in the trilogy are The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher.

Malgudi Schooldays is a slightly abridged version of Swami and Friends, and includes two additional stories featuring Swami from Malgudi Days and Under the Banyan Tree.

Swami and Friends is the first novel written by R K Narayan. It was published through the intervention of a friend and neighbour ("Kittu" Purna) who was studying at Oxford. Through him, Graham Greene came into contact with Narayan's work, became especially interested in it and took it upon himself to place the book with a reputable English publisher (Hamish Hamilton). Graham Greene was responsible for the title Swami and Friends, changing it from Narayan's Swami, the Tate, suggesting that it would have the advantage of having some resemblance to Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co..

Greene arranged the details of the contract and remained closely involved until the novel was published. Narayan's indebtedness to Greene is inscribed on the inside cover of a copy of Swami and Friends Narayan presented to Greene: "But for you, Swami should be in the bottom of Thames now".