Until now the large body of socially focused Bengali literature has remained little known to Western readers. This collection includes some of the finest examples of Bengali short stories—stories that reflect the turmoil of a changing society traditionally characterized by rigid hierarchical structures of privilege and class differentiation.
Written over a span of roughly ninety years from the early 1890s to the late 1970s, the twenty stories in this collection represent the work of five authors. Their characters, drawn from widely varying social groups, often find themselves caught up in tumultuous political and social upheaval.The reader encounters Rabindranath Thakur's extraordinarily spirited and bold heroines; Manik Bandyopadhyay's peasants, laborers, fisherfolk, and outcastes; and Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay's rural underclass of snake-charmers, corpse-handlers, stick-wielders, potters, witches, and Vaishnava minstrels. Mahasweta Devi gives voice to the semi-landless tribals and untouchables effectively denied the rights guaranteed them by the Constitution; Hasan Azizul Huq depicts the plight of the impoverished of Bangladesh.
Of Women, Outcastes, Peasants, and Rebels A Selection of Bengali Short Stories
About the Book
Reviews
"A powerful portrait of the oppressed and the forms of oppression that occur in India."—Theodore Riccardi, Jr., Columbia UniversityTable of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
The Living and the Dead / Rabindranath Thakur
The Punishment / Rabindranath Thakur
The Girl in Between / Rabindranath Thakur
Haimanti / Rabindranath Thakur
Letter from a Wife / Rabindranath Thakur
The Witch / Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay
Variation on "The Witch": An Excerpt
Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay
The Unlucky Woman / Manik Bandyopadhyay
A Tale of These Days / Manik Bandyopadhyay
The Old Woman / Manik Bandyopadhyay
A Female Problem at a Low Level / Manik Bandyopadhyay
Paddy Seeds / Mahasweta Devi
Dhowli / Mahasweta Devi
The Funeral Wailer / Mahasweta Devi
Strange Children / Mahasweta Devi
The Witch-Hunt / Mahasweta Devi
Giribala / Mahasweta Devi
The Daughter and the Oleander / Hasan Azizul Huq
In Search of Happiness / Hasan Azizul Huq
Through Death and Life Hasan Azizul Huq
A Day in Bhushan's Life / Hasan Azizul Huq