Greatest Short Stories

by Mulk Raj Anand

Indian version: Greatest Short Stories

A born story teller, Mulk Raj Anand is one of the most outstanding short story writers. The present selection is a group of Anand's short stories selected from a collection of his writings over the last forty years. His contributions to the Indian short story is truly impressive. His stories reveal modes such as strong satire, uproarious laughter and acute psychological perception.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, India

247 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Mulk Raj Anand was an Indian writer in English, notable for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R.K. Narayan, Ahmed Ali and Raja Rao, was one of the first India-based writers in English to gain an international readership. Anand is admired for his novels and short stories, which have acquired the status of being classic works of modern Indian English literature, noted for their perceptive insight into the lives of the oppressed and their analyses of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune. He is also notable for being among the first writers to incorporate Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English.

Reviews

[saraanshauthor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review Video: https://youtu.be/HbXMEOvI9Uk
Mulk Raj Anand
Title: Greatest Short Stories
Author: Mulk Raj Anand
Genre: Anthology
Short Stories: 22
Pages: 247
Publisher: Jaico Publishing House
First Edition: 4 February 2013
Rating: 4.5/5

SUMMARY AND REVIEW:
This book becomes unique with the organisation of short stories in five groups. Each group entitle under the mood of stories.

Group I - Lyric Awareness present symbolism on the universal events - Birth, Death, Beauty, Love and Childhood. This group has six short stories and the fifth short story title “Five Short Fables” have a group of 5 separate short stories. Except for the sixth short story and one-two short stories under “Five Short Fables”, I found symbolism and hence enjoyed these short stories.
Warning: The fourth has adult content.

Group II - Tears at the Heart of Things
This group gives a symbolic dimension that added to the realistic presentation. Domestic Violence, Partition, Privilege of work and Technology were the key themes in this group.
Worth to read all of them because of emotional narration in harsh reality.

Group III - The Social Scene
However, I could observe the scene of the 20th-century Indian economy well. Here he presented two dominant themes - Modernity clash with Tradition and, Feudalism.
All these stories were powerful and impactful.

Group IV - The Comic Vein
Here, social criticism presented comically. Division of men community based on appearance; feudalism, bigamy presented in comic. Last short under this group is the most entertaining one, but unable to find any social criticism here.

Group V - Probing the Mind
Here, human psychology and humanitarian presented on social criticism. Suppression under fear from elders.
Jealousy as a wife doubts an extramarital affair between her husband and sweeper girl.
A pang of the guilt of punishes an innocent and unprivileged person.
Warning: This last short story has subtle non-veg narration as well.

BOOK COVER REVIEW:
Perfect balance with the colour combination in imagery and the whole cover.

RECOMMENDATION:
Vocabulary and creative narration make this book a choice of readers who like to read some quality stuff (which may take little time to interpret).
A beginner can take time for creative and imaginative writing.
Fiction and Non-Fiction readers can read.
This book does not recommend for readers who are fond of fast-paced books.

Greatest Short Stories

[Sudha Subramanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read one of Anand's stories as a student because it was part of our English text book. That was for the first time that I had read something in English set in India and I enjoyed the rural texture layered that story. Ever since, I have been wanting to read that very story I had read as a child. It was that quest that prompted me to pick this book and boy am I thrilled. Not only did I read that story again, I also read a great selection of stories. They have such a magical way of coming alive as I sift through the pages. One of the greatest story tellers indeed.

[Anil Swarup · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories provide an extremely fascinating insights into a variety of aspects of social existence in India during mid 20th Century. The colonial existence and the Indian mindset gets portrayed beautifully in the inimitable Anand style.

[Navneet Kaur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a nice collection of stories, some are funny, some are sad and some will bring smile to your face.
Most of the stories are based in the northern indian villages and Delhi. Most of the stories capture essence of villages in before Independence era.

[parttimereader · Rating 3 out of 5]

--

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

The Lost Child --2
*Lullaby
Birth
*A Village Idyll
Five Short Fables (The Dove and the Crow, The Butterfly, The Golden Cockerel, The Peacock, A Leaf in the Storm)
Little Chicks
*Lajwanti
*The Parrot in the Cage
*The Gold Watch
*Old Bapu
*The Cobbler and the Machine
The Power of Darkness
*The Tractor and the Corn Goddess
*A Kashmir Idyll
The Price of Bananas
*A Pair of Mustachios
*The Signature
The Two Lady Rams
*The Liar
*The Tamarind Tree
The Silver Bangles
*The Thief
***
On the border
Why Does the Child Cry? --2

[Ankur Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

To understand the potency of this book, you need to back up your thought process to pre-independence days. Mulk Raj Anand is one of the most astute english writer of that generation and it reflects in his short stories.

[Mhd Nazarudin]

nice

[Abhaya Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing stories from all faces of life. :) :)