Wikipedia:Peer review/R. K. Narayan/archive1

R. K. Narayan
This peer review discussion has been closed. I've listed this article for peer review because I would like to nominate it for Featured Article status, and would like feedback on improvements that can and should be made to meet the necessary criteria. The article was recently assessed as a GA (the talk page has the GA review).

Thanks, - Spaceman  Spiff  04:45, 7 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't feel righteous enough to judge an article for FA standards, but I do think that this is a pretty fine article, and pretty complete (as far as I can tell). Being an English kind of person I'd like to see a bit more criticism, from a greater variety of sources. This guy was a writer, so I would hope for the incorporation of articles listed in the MLA index (a list of which I've emailed to the editor) and studies from reputable presses--the best press found in the current references is the U of Chicago P.(and that is a 1982 title) with the Michigan State UP second. Peter Lang doesn't hold much water in the profession, nor does Atlantic. But then again, I don't know if FA reviewers have the same standards as the professionals, so to speak (I'm not saying this to claim I'm one, mind you). Still, Narayan generates lots of hits in the MLA, and that accounts for something: incorporation of some of those articles would give a better appreciation of where he stands in the literary and cultural canon. Drmies (talk) 05:32, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I've been asked to update my earlier comments (talk). The article has improved; I'm not sure if enough for FAC.  More dates needed around his marriage, birth of daughter etc. When were his early books published in India, or did the Western publishers reach India then?  Nothing on initial Indian reception - he is presented as initially a writer fropm India publishing only in the West - is this right?  Prose needs touching up I think, though I can't be sure with Indian English. The point is I think often made that though his first novels are set in the British Raj (ie are contemporary), no British people are seen in Malgudi at all. Hope this helps. Johnbod (talk) 14:17, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm no expert on the FA process so feel free to ignore my comments if they don't fit in with the FA requirements. The article reads generally well and I'm impressed by the difference between the current version and the 5th July version. Comments: First, the lead. I'm not sure you can say credited with bringing Indian literature in English to the rest of the world and greatest English language novelists in the lead. The references (opinion pieces in Outlook) are just not strong enough for that. To be honest, many other statements are also too weakly supported to be in the lead (Lahiri comparing him to Maupassant, for example, gets transformed into 'has been compared', which is easily interpreted as 'is generally compared' when that is not the case). Also, the first sentence doesn't read right. If he is known for that series of books, then the lead should say "known for a series of books about ...". Otherwise, just say that he was an Indian writer who wrote in English. Second, the Turning Point section needs rewriting. I'd reduce the length by at least a third and suggest sticking to the chronological sequence more rigorously (for example, the last two paras are chronologically jumbled). Actually, the prose in all four sections of Biography could do with a lot of tightening. The Literary section is weak (too large a chunk relies on Greene and Lahiri for the analysis of his work) and needs bolstering (as does the Legacy section) with some sense of how Narayan fits into, and influenced, English language fiction in India. It would be nice to get a sense for where the author fits into the literary scheme of things and the present article does not do that. --RegentsPark (sticks and stones) 03:43, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Closing PR: Thanks for the feedback folks, it looks like there are some concerns that will take me a while to fix, mostly related to Drmies and Johnbod's comments, as finding those sources is proving to be more difficult than I imagined. The comments on the prose etc, I'll fix that soon, but the major part of referencing is likely to take a little more time. So a peer review in a couple of months when these issues are addressed is probably the way to go. cheers. - Spaceman  Spiff  22:15, 18 November 2009 (UTC)