The Wife and the Beloved and Other Stories

by Ashapurna Devi, Sanjukta Das (Translator), Trinankur Banerjee (Illustrator)

For almost six decades, Ashapurna Devi's literary works have endeavored to create an awareness of the social atrocities stemming from age-old superstitions, decaying traditions and corrupt practices. By virtue of her words, this unmatched writer has sent out silent and firm messages proclaiming the need for social reformation, often with a dollop of humor. This collection of twenty-five short stories, chosen form her legacy of literary jewels, is a celebration of her life and works. The stories bring to life a society from the past and introduce us to a plethora of characters the young man destined for an arranged marriage while pining away for romance; the erstwhile middle class who looked down in disdain upon the concept of widows? Remarriage; the tenacity with which humans trudged through the quagmire of poverty and need; the black sheep? Of the family whose pure heart remained in neglected oblivion. These stories visit and revisit many such social, economic and emotional aspects of Ashapurna Devi's times.

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Ashapurna Devi (Bengali: আশাপূর্ণা দেবী), also Ashapoorna Debi or Asha Purna Devi, is a prominent Bengali novelist and poet. She has been widely honoured with a number of prizes and awards. She was awarded 1976 Jnanpith Award and the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1976; D.Litt by the Universities of Jabalpur, Rabindra Bharati, Burdwan and Jadavpur. Vishwa Bharati University honoured her with Deshikottama in 1989. For her contribution as a novelist and short story writer, the Sahitya Akademi conferred its highest honour, the Fellowship, in 1994.

Reviews

[Ritika · Rating 5 out of 5]

A far better translation than the previous book.

"Ashapurna Debi's stories opened up something which had remained shut to me despite years of having lived among it- the relationships between men and women in Bengal. Their dreams, their fears, their hopes, their helplessness- a whole society was bared open to me. This is how I realise the need for representation, why our reading needs to go beyond the scope of Western Literature and why it is necessary to go back to our roots in books, if only to understand a part of our own history."

[Treena Sengupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 25 short stories, Each of them with a different flavour. Placed in the era soon after independence, u can smell Bengali household so distinctly in all of the stories. That’s one thing, if nothing, u can pick this book up for. Many of the stories with woman protagonist, u can enjoy intricacy of a woman’s mind, some brings a smile and some makes u cringe. After few, I had to put it down to read a thriller, but then I had to pick it up to see where else, some dark and some happy corners of the mind it took me.