NARAYANA K.V., b. 1948

Narayana K.V., (nArAyaNa K.V.) (ನಾರಾಯಣ ಕೆ.ವಿ.) is one of the foremost literary critics and linguists of his generation. He has forged new ways of looking at culture and society in general and literature in particular over the past few decades. His ideas of creating tools of literary analysis from within the text and his consistent refusal to use critical tools manufactured in the west have made his position unique. He has questioned the traditional method of depending on Sanskrit for linguistic resources. (Vocabulary)

Narayana was born in kamplApura, a small village in piriyATTaNa talluk of Mysore district. He secured a bachelor’s degree in science from the Yuvaraja’ College in Mysore and a master’s degree in Kannada from the University of Bangalore. ‘Dhvanyaloka’ by Anandavardhana was the subject of his Ph.D. dissertation. He joined the Kannada department of Bangalore University in 1971 and rose to become a professor of Kannada. He was a visiting scholar in the Stonybrook University, New York for an year. He moved over to the newly formed Kannada University at Hampi in 1992 as the registrar. He was the professor and head in the Department of ‘Kannada Language Studies’. for a long stint. He retired from the university in 2007 as the Vice Chancellor. (In Charge) After that, he accepted the position of a senior fellow in the Central Institute of Indian Languages. He has occupied a number of important positions in his official capacity and also on the grounds of personal merit.

Literary theory, literary criticism, linguistics, the Kannada language in its historical and contemporary setup and the Kannada theatre have constituted the major academic interests of Narayana. He has made seminal comments on various stages of Kannada language and literature and has toiled to create relevant links between the past and the present in the context of technological and societal developments. His ideas on Pampa, Marga-Desi and Vacanas are trendsetting. A few among the important publications of Narayana are as follows:

1. ‘DhvanyAlOka- ondu adhyayana’, Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Bangalore.

2. ShailishAstra’, Karnataka Sahitya Academy, Bangalore

3. ‘bEru kAnDa ciguru’, Bangalore.

4. ‘BASeya suttamutta’, Christ College Kannada Sangha, Bangalore.

5. ‘dviBASikate’, 1998, Kannada University, Hampi.

6. ‘matte BASeya suttamutta’, Bangalore University, Bangalore

7. ‘huttava baDidare’, (Play), Samudaya, Bangalore.

8. ‘innomme BASeya suttamutta’

9. ‘Dashavarshika Sahitya Vimarshe’, (Edited, with others), Karnataka Sahitya Academy, Bangalore.

10. KannaDa vishvavidyAlaya VishvakOsha-1:BASe, Kannada University, Hampi, 2007.

11. ‘Krishi Padakosha’ (Edited), Kannada Vishvavidyalaya, Hampi.

12. ‘Kannada Shaili Kaipidi’, (With others), Kannada University, Hampi.

13. ‘Kannada-Ardha Shatamana’, 2007, Kannada Vishvavidyalaya, Hampi.

K.V.Narayana has won many awards and accolades. Sahitya Academy Award for life time achivement, Dr G.S.S. Award for literary criticism, Dr L. Basavaraju award, Siddayya Puranika award and Vi.Chi. Prashasti are some of them.

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