Hindi Short Stories: Editor's Choice

Paper Type: Book Print Paper | Size: 216 x 140mm
Black and white; 220 pages; Flexiback
ISBN-10: 93-86906-61-8 | ISBN-13: 978-93-86906-61-8

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Presented here is a dharohar of 17 short stories based on the period between 1960 and 1970—a highly eventful decade in the unfolding of the history of independent India. Translated from Hindi into English, these short stories are the evident outcome of the era of the Nayi Kahani or the new story in Hindi literature. They represent, in narrative form, the desolation of the educated Indian of a time when the society was going through changes on a global scale; words like democracy, universalism, non-obscurantism, liberalism, secularism seemed to carry a lot of conviction. 

These tales portray the imbalance of work and life, receding job opportunities, migration, alienation, loss of personal connection with one’s family, the futility of pseudo-sophistication, and an overall existentialist consciousness of the urban society at large. Will the common Indian be able to overcome the shadows of despair and move on to a brighter future?—is a question that haunts the reader in every story. 



Girdhar  Rathi
Girdhar Rathi
Translator

A poet, journalist, critic, editor, a screenplay writer and a human activist, Girdhar Rathi is also a master translator of works in different Indian languages into English. In 2010, he won the Bihari Puraskar for his poetry collection, Anta ke Sanshaya. He has been the editor of the Sahitya Academy’s Hindi journal Samkaleen Bharatiya Sahitya (1992–2003) and Pratipaksh, managing editor of the international journal Alternatives (1978–1991), and editorial assistant for China Report and Janyug. 

His published works include books of poetry (Baahar Bheetar, Uninde kee Loree and Nimit), of criticism, a travelogue (Naye Cheen mein Das Din) and a co-edited publication (Survival: An Experience and An Experiment in Translating Modern Hindi Poetry) with another renowned poet, editor and translator, Daniel Weissbort. Rathi has also translated and edited Hungarian plays and poetry.