प्रतिनिधि कहानियाँ

by Munshi Premchand

प्रतिनिधि कहानियां – प्रेमचंद भारतीय ग्रामीण जीवन और जनमानस की विभिन्न स्थितियों के अप्रतिम चितेरे मुंशी प्रेमचंद विश्व विख्यात साहित्यकारों की पनकी में आते हैं! उनकी ये प्रतिनिधि कहानियां प्रायः पूरी दुनिया की पाठकीय चेतना का हिस्सा बन चुकी हैं! सुप्रसिध्ह प्रगतिशील कथाकार भीष्म साहनी द्वारा चयनित ये कहानियां भारतीय समाज और उसके स्वाभाव के जिन विभिन्न मसलो को उठती हैं, ‘आजादी’ के बावजूद वे आज और भी विकराल हो उठे हैं, और जैसा कि भीष्म जी ने संकलन की भूमिका में कहा है कि ‘प्रेमचंद की मृत्यु के पचास साल बाद आज उनका साहित्य हमारे लिए एक चेतावनी के रूप में उपस्थित है! जिन विषमताओं से प्रेमचंद अपने साहित्य में जूझते रहे, उनमें से केवल ब्रिटिश शासन हमारे बीच मौजूद नहीं है, शेष सब तो किसी-न-किसी रूप में वैसी-की-वैसी मौजूद हैं!’वस्तुतः प्रेमचंद ने हमारे साहित्य में जिस नए युग का सूत्रपात किया था, साहित्य को वे जिस तरह जीवन के निकट अथवा जीवन को साहित्य के केंद्र में ले आए थे, वह हमारे लिए आज भी प्रासंगिक है!

139 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Munshi Premchand (Hindi: मुंशी प्रेमचंद) was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent,and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindustani writers of the early twentieth century.

Born Dhanpat Rai, he began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai", but subsequently switched to "Premchand", while he is also known as "Munshi Premchand", Munshi being an honorary prefix. A novel writer, story writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the "Upanyas Samrat" ("Emperor among Novelists") by some Hindi writers. His works include more than a dozen novels, around 250 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi.

Premchand is considered the first Hindi author whose writings prominently featured realism. His novels describe the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class. His works depict a rationalistic outlook, which views religious values as something that allows the powerful hypocrites to exploit the weak. He used literature for the purpose of arousing public awareness about national and social issues and often wrote about topics related to corruption, child widowhood, prostitution, feudal system, poverty, colonialism and on the India's freedom movement.

Several of his early works, such as A Little Trick and A Moral Victory, satirised the Indians who cooperated with the British colonial government.

In the 1920s, he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement and the accompanying struggle for social reform. During this period, his works dealt with the social issues such as poverty, zamindari exploitation (Premashram, 1922), dowry system (Nirmala, 1925), educational reform and political oppression (Karmabhumi, 1931).

In his last days, he focused on village life as a stage for complex drama, as seen in his most famous work Godan as well as the short-story collection Kafan (1936).Premchand believed that social realism was the way for Hindi literature, as opposed to the "feminine quality", tenderness and emotion of the contemporary Bengali literature.

Reviews

[Purnima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved reading Premchand! I picked up this book only to read one of my all time favourite stories "idgah" in original, but to my utter surprise, each and every story in it brought similar delight. His Hindi was easy, the sentence formation was simple and I read this work at much faster pace.

Each of the stories are honest and compelling insights into the lives of Indians during pre-Independence era. Without doubt, Premchand is a writer of world caliber.

Highly recommended to anybody interested in short stories and can manage reading Hindi, even with difficulties. This is surely worth the effort and pain.

[Vijay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice heart touching stories...

[Abhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

👍👍👍

[Khushboo Velani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came back to this book after so long!
The stories were quite impactful while also being very lucid. It was good to really get inside the heads of characters to better understand their motivations.
What stayed with me was the ending of one of those stories about bonded labour - the narrator adds a postscript of sorts asking the reader to believe that this story is based on truth prevailing at that time. Sadly, it's true even today. This book is a reflection of not only times past but even today.

[Anshul Goel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Munshi Premchand ji. His stories have encapsulated the social fabric of this country so aptly. His subtle way of challenging the status quo thinking of the then society is so good. A 5/5 to his collection of short stories.