A Game of Chess: Classic Assamese Stories

by Dhirendra Nath Bezboruah (Editor)

From the sensitive portrayal of a father's relationship with his daughter of marriageable age in Bhabhendranth Saikia's 'Bats' to the woman-centric 'A Nymph of the Desert' by Arupa Patangia Kalita; from Apurba Sarma's story of the legendary king Vikaramaditya and Monica, a modern, trophy wife to 'Cavern', an unusual story of a heart transplant; from 'The Journey', Indira Goswami's deeply moving story of terrorism to the deliciously naughty 'Parable of an Ancient Triangle' by Moushumi Kandali, A Game of Chess brings together stories which, with their simplicity and wide variety of themes, bring out the most poignant aspects of life in its myriad forms.
Superbly translated and carefully selected, A Game of Chess is a remarkable collection of new as well as established writers.

Genres: Short Stories

285 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Parikhit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Game of Chess is a collection of fifteen short stories originally written in Assamese. I was under the impression that the stories would be based on the state of Assam but I was in for a surprise. Authors excelling in storytelling in the Assamese language bring in unimaginable situations and circumstances that contribute to a beautiful collection.

‘The Cavern’ by Bhanbendra Nath Saikia is a tale of bitter racism. The story that gives this book the name, ‘A Game of Chess’ has to be one of the best stories in this collection. It is the portrayal of thoughts of one of the players about his opponent intermingled with the strategies he had been employing for his chess moves. It was beyond anything that I had expected. Pranavjyoti Deka’s non-fiction work ‘The Unwritten Story’ is another amazing story here. Though non-fiction, the author describes a of couple of real life incidents that prevent him from writing. Indira Goswami, Harekrishna Deka and Manoj Goswami mention about terrorism in their stories. There are a couple of humour and love tales completing this anthology.

[Tanvi Hussain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book "A Game of Chess" is a compilation of 15 stories showcasing the richness and variety of themes in Assamese short stories such as “The Decision” by Syed Abdul Malik, a path-breaking writer from the 1950s, who etched the portrait of an independent strong woman back in the time when such idea was a distant dream. The Cavern” by Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia threw sardonic look at White supremacy in oblique reference to South Africa. Manoj Goswami's “Samiran Borua is on his way” which reverberate with the emotions of the people who lost their youth and home hoping to change an unjust society. Jnanpith Award winner, Mamoni Raisom Goswami's “The Journey” and so on. The book is a representative collection of literary work of different time period. It's a fact that a piece of literature is reduced and not fully imbibed in translation despite the shortcomings many translated literary pieces have touched people and are highly acclaimed. However, in this case I personally felt a gap. Undoubtedly, flavour of the original is lost. May be I felt strongly cause I belong to the region and have read most of the stories in their original format but I have also read many such translation pieces of regional literature like Malyalam, Dongri, Odia, Maithali, Tamil, Telegu, Marathi, Bangla and Assamese as well but this time it didn't work. Regional literature in India is of great dimension and the lovers of literature would be in a limbo of the flavours of regional literature without good translation rather to say transcription.

[Horny Saint · Rating 2 out of 5]

The three stories by Bhabendra Nath Saikia - The Cavern, Bats, Rats - are exceptionally good. Some of the other stories (The Decision, Munni's legs) are good too. The others don't read as well, maybe because a lot is lost in translation. Some of the stories do seem a drag and lacks a good plot

[Ankita Bora · Rating 2 out of 5]

All the stories were great, but I found a few boring – especially the non-fiction one.

Otherwise, an average read.

[Karthikeyan Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant collection of quintessentially Indian short stories.