| Specifications |
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Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers |
| Author Mini Krishnan | |
| Language: English | |
| Pages: 222 | |
| Cover: PAPERBACK | |
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8.5x5.5 Inch |
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Weight 140 gm |
| Edition: 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9789365691573 | |
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HBR322 |
| Delivery and Return Policies |
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Ships in 1-3 days |
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Returns and Exchanges accepted within 7 days |
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Free Delivery |
THE MODERN
ODIA short story is a century and a quarter old; the period from 1898 to 1945
marks the early phase in the development of the genre. It was a time when Odia
literature underwent a remarkable transformation, adopting new narrative styles
and themes that reflected the shifting social and cultural landscape. Far-reaching
political and social changes were effected by British colonial rule through the
use of English as the language of higher learning and governance. This,
together with the new employment and occupational opportunities and the rise of
industrialism, with rapid mechanization and urbanization, newer and swifter
modes of communication and travel, world wars and the struggle for
Independence, created what is now called 'colonial modernity'. This impacted
the consciousness of writers and demanded that the expansive and digressive
oral narration suited to tales and fables told by a garrulous, avuncular
narrator be replaced by an authorial presence controlling the economy of the
narrative. Writers became increasingly preoccupied with giving voice to the
anxiety of coping with a rapidly fluctuating world, which often appeared
hostile and incomprehensible.
'Rebati,
by Fakir Mohan Senapati, was published in the autumn of 1898. A haunting
narrative of a young girl's burning desire for learning, it depicts ordinary
people and does so in a down-to-earth language spoken in real life. Senapati
unshackles Odia from its high-flown Sanskritized version to show that
complicated truths underlying the human predicament and the exploration of
modern problems, could be expressed in an earthy, everyday prose. The lack of
sentimentality, of heavy-handed didacticism and of value judgement makes this
story a pioneering work. While Senapati's characteristic wit and humour, amply
demonstrated in 'Patent Medicine' also included in this volume-is missing here,
he makes up for it by using irony instead. The writer, who sent his own
daughter to a Christian missionary school, lets his young heroine's wish to
study end tragically. Although in favour of women's education, he allows every
superstitious fear of the grandmother to come true. It is as if by a literary
sleight of hand that the reverse and the obverse of the issue are made to look
the same. Not surprisingly, the story continues to be read and discussed,
admired and anthologized to the present day; age has not withered nor custom
dulled its appeal.
TO EARN
HIS LIVING MAGUNI DESPERATELY HOPES FOR PASSENGERS TO CHOOSE HIS OLD BULLOCK
CART OVER A BUS A GNARLED SAHADA TREE IN A FAMILY'S COURTYARD BEARS WITNESS TO
A SERIES OF DEATHS. A YOUNG WOMAN SOLD INTO PROSTITUTION FACES THE HYPOCRISIES
OF A PATRIARCHAL WORLD. AN INDIA ALMOST LINKNOWN TO US FLOODS THE PAGES OF THIS
SIGNIFICANT SERIES OF SHORT STORIES SOURCED FROM THE LATE NINETEENTH TO THE
MID-TWENTIETH CENTURIES. RINGING WITH THE MUSIC OF INDIA'S REGIONAL LANGUAGES
AND PEPPERED WITH WIT AND SOCIAL COMMENTARY, THESE STORIES ARE WINDOWS TO THE
PAST AND ITS PEOPLE-THE EVERYDAY STRUGGLES AND JOYS THE TIES OF FRIENDSHIP AND
FAITH THE POLITICS OF LOVE AND REJECTION THE INTRICACIES OF BETRAYAL AND ENVY:
AND THE CONFLICTS OF CLASS AND CASTE-WHILE CONTINUING TO BE RELEVANT TO OUR
PRESENT, PUNCTURING THE BOUNDARIES OF TIME AND SPACE HOW MUCH HAS INDIAN
SOCIETY CHANGED? HOW MUCH OF IT HAS NOT?
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