''Talkative Man'' is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

R. K. Narayan Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001) was an Indian writer known for his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mul ...

first published in 1986 by

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

. Like his earlier novels, this one is also set in the fictional town of

Malgudi Malgudi is a fictional town located in Agumbe in Karnataka in the novels and short stories of R. K. Narayan. It forms the setting for most of Narayan's works. Starting with his first novel, ''Swami and Friends'', all but one of his fifteen nov ...

. The novel is a bit short by Narayan's standards but provides the same level of enjoyment one experiences with his other writings.

Plot

The main character is an ordinary man who is wealthy and works as a journalist. He has a regular routine in his life: posting articles in the post box, having a talk with people at the tea shop, going to the library and the house. One day, he meets a man from an unknown land called "Timbuctoo", another of Narayan's creations, the land being similar to the US. The man seems to have come for an official duty for the UN and seeing the calmness of the place, decides to stay there for his work.

References

Novels by R. K. Narayan Novels set in India Novels about journalists Heinemann (publisher) books 1986 Indian novels {{1980s-novel-stub