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Another Dozen Stories
Celebrating 100 years of Satyajit Ray
A classic keepsake edition, featuring 12 fascinating stories by a master storyteller
Featuring Ray's original artwork
Another Dozen Stories brings to you the magical, bizarre, spooky and sometimes astonishing worlds created by Satyajit Ray, featuring an extraordinary bunch of characters!
While 'The McKenzie Fruit' trails a humble man trying to leave his mark in history, 'Worthless' is a moving story about a seemingly hapless character not quite able to win the confidence of his family. Meet Professor Hijibijbij, the eccentric scientist bent on creating living replicas of peculiar creatures and follow Master Angshuman into a nail-biting and unexpected adventure on the sets of his very first film. This collection includes twelve hair-raising stories that will leave you asking for more!
Translated for the very first time into English by noted translator Indrani Majumdar, this edition is a tribute to Ray's immaculate literary genius and a gift for his many fans and followers on the centenary of his birth.
A classic keepsake edition, featuring 12 fascinating stories by a master storyteller
Featuring Ray's original artwork
Another Dozen Stories brings to you the magical, bizarre, spooky and sometimes astonishing worlds created by Satyajit Ray, featuring an extraordinary bunch of characters!
While 'The McKenzie Fruit' trails a humble man trying to leave his mark in history, 'Worthless' is a moving story about a seemingly hapless character not quite able to win the confidence of his family. Meet Professor Hijibijbij, the eccentric scientist bent on creating living replicas of peculiar creatures and follow Master Angshuman into a nail-biting and unexpected adventure on the sets of his very first film. This collection includes twelve hair-raising stories that will leave you asking for more!
Translated for the very first time into English by noted translator Indrani Majumdar, this edition is a tribute to Ray's immaculate literary genius and a gift for his many fans and followers on the centenary of his birth.
256 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2021
11 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Satyajit Ray
675 books1,525 followersSatyajit Ray (Bengali: সত্যজিৎ রায়) was an Indian filmmaker and author of Bengali fiction and regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of world cinema. Ray was born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and watching Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist 1948 film, Bicycle Thieves.
Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, graphic designer and film critic. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents.
Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. This film, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Award in 1992. The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.
Early Life and Background:
Ray's grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a writer, illustrator, philosopher, publisher, amateur astronomer and a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a religious and social movement in nineteenth century Bengal. Sukumar Ray, Upendrakishore's son and father of Satyajit, was a pioneering Bengali author and poet of nonsense rhyme and children's literature, an illustrator and a critic. Ray was born to Sukumar and Suprabha Ray in Calcutta.
Ray completed his B.A. (Hons.) in Economics at Presidency College of the University of Calcutta, though his interest was always in Fine Arts. In 1940, he went to study in Santiniketan where Ray came to appreciate Oriental Art. In 1949, Ray married Bijoya Das and the couple had a son, Sandip ray, who is now a famous film director.
Literary Works:
Ray created two of the most famous fictional characters ever in Bengali children's literature—Feluda, a sleuth in Holmesian tradition, and Professor Shonku, a genius scientist. Ray also wrote many short stories mostly centered on Macabre, Thriller and Paranormal which were published as collections of 12 stories. Ray wrote an autobiography about his childhood years, Jakhan Choto Chilam (1982). He also wrote essays on film, published as the collections: Our Films, Their Films (1976), Bishoy Chalachchitra (1976), and Ekei Bole Shooting (1979).
Awards, Honors and Recognitions:
Ray received many awards, including 32 National Film Awards by the Government of India. At the Moscow Film Festival in 1979, he was awarded for the contribution to cinema. At the Berlin Film Festival, he was one of only three to win the Silver Bear for Best Director more than once and holds the record for the most Golden Bear nominations, with seven. At the Venice Film Festival, he won a Golden Lion for Aparajito(1956), and awarded the Golden Lion Honorary Award in 1982. In 1992 he was posthumously awarded the Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, graphic designer and film critic. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents.
Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. This film, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Award in 1992. The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.
Early Life and Background:
Ray's grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a writer, illustrator, philosopher, publisher, amateur astronomer and a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a religious and social movement in nineteenth century Bengal. Sukumar Ray, Upendrakishore's son and father of Satyajit, was a pioneering Bengali author and poet of nonsense rhyme and children's literature, an illustrator and a critic. Ray was born to Sukumar and Suprabha Ray in Calcutta.
Ray completed his B.A. (Hons.) in Economics at Presidency College of the University of Calcutta, though his interest was always in Fine Arts. In 1940, he went to study in Santiniketan where Ray came to appreciate Oriental Art. In 1949, Ray married Bijoya Das and the couple had a son, Sandip ray, who is now a famous film director.
Literary Works:
Ray created two of the most famous fictional characters ever in Bengali children's literature—Feluda, a sleuth in Holmesian tradition, and Professor Shonku, a genius scientist. Ray also wrote many short stories mostly centered on Macabre, Thriller and Paranormal which were published as collections of 12 stories. Ray wrote an autobiography about his childhood years, Jakhan Choto Chilam (1982). He also wrote essays on film, published as the collections: Our Films, Their Films (1976), Bishoy Chalachchitra (1976), and Ekei Bole Shooting (1979).
Awards, Honors and Recognitions:
Ray received many awards, including 32 National Film Awards by the Government of India. At the Moscow Film Festival in 1979, he was awarded for the contribution to cinema. At the Berlin Film Festival, he was one of only three to win the Silver Bear for Best Director more than once and holds the record for the most Golden Bear nominations, with seven. At the Venice Film Festival, he won a Golden Lion for Aparajito(1956), and awarded the Golden Lion Honorary Award in 1982. In 1992 he was posthumously awarded the Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 26, 2021
A collection of 12 stories by Satyajit Ray- The life and Death of Aryasekhar, Professor Hijibijbij, Poisonous flowers, The McKenzie Fruit, The First-Class compartment, A Hoax, Worthless, Ramdhan's flute, Master Angshuman, Rocket, A Portrait and Telephone. Translated from Bengali by Indrani Mazumdar, these stories bring alive a magical, bizzare, spooky and sometimes scary bunch of characters. Published on occasion of Satyajit Ray centenary celebrations the stories are a toast to Ray’s literary genius.
May 13, 2021
This collection includes 11 stories and a play by Satyajit Ray. The translation work done that tries and keeps the readers interest.
September 18, 2022
A strangely varied collection of stories from Satyajit Ray, translated from Bangla. Ray published many stories for a young audience in popular magazines. They were popular with young and old alike. There are adventure stories, fantasy stories, sci-fi stories, detective stories and others. This collection starts with the only story he ever wrote specifically for adults: it involves a man on an LSD trip. The next involves a character meeting a strange little man who is apparently making experimental animal hybrids. It contains many references to the HJBRL and other nonsense stories written by Ray's father. (I wouldn't have known that without the translators notes.) A couple of stories involve ghosts. One is about a man who thinks everything good in India is due to the English, until he meets an English ghost who constantly refers to him as a filthy n*gg*r. One story, about a pulp magazine, is in the form of a play. The longest story is about a child who gets to play a role in a film and is designed to make film-making sound exciting.
While I enjoy some of the stories, none of them wowed me, and I don't understand why these particular stories were packaged together. (Ray tended to publish his stories in groups of 12, but it isn't clear to me whether these 12 were published together in the original Bengla versions.)
While I enjoy some of the stories, none of them wowed me, and I don't understand why these particular stories were packaged together. (Ray tended to publish his stories in groups of 12, but it isn't clear to me whether these 12 were published together in the original Bengla versions.)
May 23, 2024
My wonder and amusement while reading Satyajit Ray's stories will never cease! Another Dozen Stories is another collection by the master storyteller, published in Bengali as Aro Ek Dojon, beautifully translated by Indrani Majumdar. As the name suggests, this collection has 12 stories:
1. The Life and Death of AryasekharAs usual, Ray has given us a bunch of stories with supernatural, eerie, adventurous, and funny elements with exciting twists and turns hidden inside them. I'm getting more and more drawn towards the Ray stories with each of his books.
2. Professor Hijibijbij
3. Poisonous Flowers
4. The McKenzie Fruit
5. The First-Class Compartment
6. A Hoax
7. Worthless
8. Ramdhan's Flute
9. Master Angshuman
10. Rocket
11. A Portrait
12. Telephone
September 14, 2021
This is the first short stories book that I have read and it most certainly did not disappoint me. Satyajit Ray was, indeed, a great screenplay writer as it reflects in his writings. This book in particular is a great start for school kids to pick up the habit of reading.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews