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Stranger
collection of stories from a master of suspense and intrigue, 20 tales on the peculiar and supernatural. a new edition including a new translation of Fotikchand, an adventure story about a kidnapped boy suffering from amnesia. Translated from Bengali by Gopa Majumdar. Revised ed.
323 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2001
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About the author
Satyajit Ray
675 books1,524 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 17, 2022
Just a lovely collection of short stories from famed film director Satyajit Ray. The 20 stories in this volume are varied, but most contain little twists in their storytelling, some with supernatural elements, and all reflecting Ray’s humanity.
Some favorites:
The Pterodactyl’s Egg – a man meets a stranger along a river who claims to have a time machine, and tells him of his travels.
Mr. Brown’s Cottage – a man who loves old books comes across the diary of someone from 1858, one that describes a devoted friend, and after finding the ruins of his old house, encounters a ghostly visitor.
Stranger – the basis for Ray’s final film in 1991, it has an old man turn up and claim to be a long-lost uncle of a family, who then wonder if they should believe him.
Load Shedding – with the electricity in a town cut to conserve power, a man enters his apartment in the dark, only to slowly realize he’s in the wrong one by mistake.
Anukul – Robot technology has advanced to the point where androids look and act just like humans. A man rents one to function as a servant, but when his business fails, realizes he can’t afford to keep him.
The Millionaire – a man who has made a fortune in his business goes back to his hometown and meets an old friend, who tries to remind him of the simple days of his childhood and the better nature of his being.
Shibu and the Monster – a young boy suspects that his maths teacher is in reality a monster.
Fotikchand – a boy emerges from a car accident alone, and with amnesia. He falls in with a juggler, who gradually pieces together what happened to him.
Some favorites:
The Pterodactyl’s Egg – a man meets a stranger along a river who claims to have a time machine, and tells him of his travels.
Mr. Brown’s Cottage – a man who loves old books comes across the diary of someone from 1858, one that describes a devoted friend, and after finding the ruins of his old house, encounters a ghostly visitor.
Stranger – the basis for Ray’s final film in 1991, it has an old man turn up and claim to be a long-lost uncle of a family, who then wonder if they should believe him.
Load Shedding – with the electricity in a town cut to conserve power, a man enters his apartment in the dark, only to slowly realize he’s in the wrong one by mistake.
Anukul – Robot technology has advanced to the point where androids look and act just like humans. A man rents one to function as a servant, but when his business fails, realizes he can’t afford to keep him.
The Millionaire – a man who has made a fortune in his business goes back to his hometown and meets an old friend, who tries to remind him of the simple days of his childhood and the better nature of his being.
Shibu and the Monster – a young boy suspects that his maths teacher is in reality a monster.
Fotikchand – a boy emerges from a car accident alone, and with amnesia. He falls in with a juggler, who gradually pieces together what happened to him.
October 11, 2017
Stranger: Stories showcases some of Ray's memorable explorations into the twilight territories of the peculiar and the supernatural. Nine years and several reprints later, Twenty Stories makes yet another appearance - this time under a different name. Stranger: Stories includes stories like Fritz, Bhuto, Anath Babu's Terror, etc which are really fascinating as supernatural stories. This book also includes Fotikchand, a novella which was made into a film by Satyajit Ray's son Sandip.
The 20 stories in this collection have been translated from Bengali by Gopa Mazumdar. These stories have often, a supernatural element running through most of them while others are tales brimming with gentle humour. Whether it be an eerie tale or a simple good humoured story, each is special in its own right. Ray's pen has brought an equal magic to his stories as his lens has to the world of cinema.
The 20 stories in this collection have been translated from Bengali by Gopa Mazumdar. These stories have often, a supernatural element running through most of them while others are tales brimming with gentle humour. Whether it be an eerie tale or a simple good humoured story, each is special in its own right. Ray's pen has brought an equal magic to his stories as his lens has to the world of cinema.
February 27, 2019
The style of his story telling is spine chilling!
I'm sure people of all ages have since long enjoyed his stories and will continue to be amazed by his peculiar set of ideas, which are both quirky as well as thought provoking!
I'm sure people of all ages have since long enjoyed his stories and will continue to be amazed by his peculiar set of ideas, which are both quirky as well as thought provoking!
July 29, 2017
This book was described as a 'haunting collection' but these short stories were quite predictable. I'd actually recommend them to a younger audience since they weren't that scary either.
September 12, 2012
BRILLIANT COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES.RAY IS A GENIUS.SOME OF THE BEST STORIES WERE BHUTO, ANATH BABU"S TERROR' AND SHIBU AND THE MONSTER,IN FACT ALL OF THEM ARE VERY GOOD STORIES FILLED WITH MACABRE SITUATIONS AND HUMOUR.IN FACT IT IS A BLACK COMEDY COLLECTION IF YOU LOOK AT IT CLOSELY
June 3, 2016
great intriguing short stories from various supernatural genres like aliens, ghosts, time machines, robots, vampires....it has something for every reader .... a very enjoyable read !!
August 1, 2016
Mr.Ray is a genius... This is an amazing collection of spooky stories...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews