A uniquely diverse Pocket Classics collection of short stories from all of the major cultures and languages of India
India has a long tradition of storytelling. To use Salman Rushdie’s phrase it is “an ocean of stories.” When British rule brought the Western forms of the novel and the short story to India, they were grafted onto more ancient and varied oral traditions. Rabindranath Tagore was the first to popularize this form of writing with the short story collections he published in the 1890s, but the form swiftly captured the imagination of literary figures across India and in every Indian language.
India is not only rich in stories but also in languages, and the thirty-seven stories in this collection are taken from all the major languages of India, including Tamil, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, and many more, as well as writers in some regions who wrote primarily in English (N. K. Narayan, for example). This anthology includes one story from each region or culture, notably including several areas that are traditionally marginalized.
The stories reflect a variety of themes, ideas, and emotions, with subjects including the poverty aggravated by the dominance of landlords and the caste system; the position of women within the family; and the call of the city in a country that was and still is predominantly rural and agricultural. Indian literary fiction, born though it was under a Western star, reflected invariably realities that were distinctly Indian, and this unique anthology offers a dazzlingly varied overview of the rich cultures of the subcontinent.
Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free, cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preface by Rudrangshu Mukherjee
ASSAMESE
Mamoni Raisom Goswami, “Values”
Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi, “The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms”
BENGALI
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, “Mahesh”
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, “Drobomoyee’s Sojourn in Kashi”
ENGLISH
R. K. Narayan, “An Astrologer’s Day”
Kritika Pandey, “The Great Indian Tee and Snakes”
GUJARATI
K. M. Munshi, “A Letter”
Dhumketu, “Jumo Bhishti”
HINDI
Prem Chand, "Deliverance"
Nirmal Verma, "Mirror of Illusion"
KANNADA
U. R. Ananthamurthy, “Mouni”
Vivek Shanbhag, “Sharavana Services”
Banu Mushtaq, “Be a Woman Once, Oh Lord!”
KASHMIRI
Dinanath Nadim, “Reply-Paid Card”
Taj Begum Renzu, “The Beggars at the Dargah”
KONKANI
Damodar Mauzo, “Coinsanv’s Cattle”
Ramnath Gajanan Gawade, “Tale of a Toilet”
MALAYALAM
O. V. Vijayan, “After the Hanging”
M. T. Vasudevan Nair, “Vision”
MANIPURI
Kshetrimayum Subadani, “As Spring Arrived”
MARATHI
Anna Bhau Sathe, “Gold from the Graves”
Vilas Sarang, “Kalluri’s Radio”
MEGHALAYA
Anjum Hasan, “Immanuel Kant in Shillong”
MIZORAM
Cindy Zothanpuii Tlau, “The Missing Portrait”
NAGALAND
Emisenla Jamir, “Where the Hills Grow Houses”
Avinuo Kire, “The Power to Forgive”
ODIA
Fakir Mohan Senapati, “Rebati”
Gopinath Mohanty, “The Solution”
PUNJABI
Amrita Pritam, “Stench of Kerosene”
Mohinder Singh Sarna, “Savage Harvest”
RAJASTHANI
Vijaydan Detha, “Countless Hitlers”
TAMIL
Subramania Bharati, “The Story of a Crow Learning Prosody”
Kalki, “The Governor’s Visit”
TELEGU
Chalam, “The Madiga Girl”
Kavana Sarma, “House Number”
URDU
Ismat Chughtai, “The Quilt”
Rajinder Singh Bedi, “Laajwanti”
Notes
Acknowledgments
