 Narayan first broke through with the help of Graham Greene who , upon reading Swaminathan and Tate , took it upon himself to work as Narayan 's agent for the book . He was also instrumental in changing the title to the more appropriate Swami and Friends , and in finding publishers for Narayan 's next few books . While Narayan 's early works were not commercial successes , other authors of the time began to notice him . Somerset Maugham , on a trip to Mysore in 1938 , had asked to meet Narayan , but not enough people had heard of him to actually effect the meeting . Maugham subsequently read Narayan 's The Dark Room , and wrote to him expressing his admiration . Another contemporary writer who took a liking to Narayan 's early works was E. M. Forster , an author who shared his dry and humorous narrative , so much so that Narayan was labeled the " South Indian E. M. Forster " by critics . Despite his popularity with the reading public and fellow writers , Narayan 's work has not received the same amount of critical exploration accorded to other writers of his stature . 
