Imagine a place called Malgudi and whatever feature you want to give to this happy town, has already been done by the renowned writer RK Narayan. It is said that people search the map of India to find this imaginary place which is so fondly and quaintly visualized by the novelist in most of his stories and is nearly the central character of his writing. Wessex is another such place and all of Thomas Hardy’s novels are set in Wessex and readers are often confused about this imaginary county of Britain. Yoknapatawpha is another imaginary county created by William Faulkner to locate his novels.
Place is a powerful presence in all Literature and even James Joyce’s Ulysses remains rooted to Dublin to trace the events in the life of Leopold Bloom. The Wessex characters of Hardy carry the weight of destiny and are mostly brooding, melancholic figures. The Malgudi characters are mostly humorous and lively, but also steeped in superstition and ritual.
Place is what a writer banks on to create the aura and texture of the story and even a biography like “The life of Charlotte Bronte” by Elizabeth Gaskell has a remarkable presence of the Yorkshire moors to evoke the sadness and mystery in the life of the Bronte sisters. Can anyone imagine the novels of Gabriel Marquez in a place other than ‘Macondo’ which has a celebrated status by itself, although it is a fictional place. For a writer to imagine a place, and create all its attributes along with its sights, scenes, smells and history is what great writing is all about.