प्रतिनिधि कहानियां

by Geetanjali Shree

यह गीतांजलि श्री की कहानियों का प्रतिनिधि संचयन है। गीतांजलि की लगभग हर कहानी अपनी टोन की कहानी है और विचलन उनके यहाँ गभग नहीं के बराबर है और यह बात अपने आपमें आश्चर्यजनक है क्योंकि बड़े-से-बड़े लेखक कई बार बाहरी दबावों और वक़्ती ज़रूरतों के चलते अपनी मूल टोन से विचिलत हुए हैं। यह अच्छी बात है कि गीतांजलि श्री ने अपनी लगभग हर कहानी में अपनी सिग्नेचर ट्यून को बरकरार रखा है। लेकिन सवाल यह है कि गीतांजलि कीकहानियों की यह मूल टोन आखिर है क्या? एक अजीब तरह का फक्कड़पन, एक अजीब तरह की दार्शनिकता, एक अजीब तरह की भाषा और एक अजीब तरह की रवानी। लेकिन ये सारी अजीबियतें ही उनके कथाकार को एक व्यक्तित्व प्रदान करती हैं। यहाँ यह कहना ज़रूरी है कि यह सब परम्परा से हटकर है और परम्परा में समाहित भी।

Genres: Short Stories

134 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2021

About the author

Geetanjali Shree गीताजंली क्ष्री (She was known as Geentanjali Pandey, and she took her mother's first name Shree as her last name) (born 1957) is a Hindi novelist and short story writer based in New Delhi, India. She is the author of several short stories and three novels. Mai was short listed for the Crossword Book Award in 2001. She has also written a critical work on Premchand.

Her first story, Bel Patra (1987) was published in the literary magazine Hans and was followed by a collection of short stories Anugoonj (1991)

The English translation of her novel Mai catapulted her into fame. The novel is about three generations of women and the men around them, in a North Indian middle-class family. Mai is translated into Serbian, Korean and German. It has been translated into English by Nita Kumar, who was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for the translation. It has been also translated into Urdu by Bashir Unwan with preface by Intizar Hussain. Furthermore, it has been translated into other languages: into French by Annie Montaut, into German by Reinhold Schein...

Her second novel Hamara Shahar Us Baras set loosely after the incidents of Babri Masjid demolition.

Reviews

[Pradnya · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has a range of writing styles I never witnessed earlier. The stories are collected from her early writings to the recent and I guess that could be the reason it has so versatile styles. Some of them are easy and deep, the others are complex and deep - I am talking of writing. All the stories are based on a slice of life theme- a day, a phase, some incidents with flashbacks- that’s how the author sheds light on real life and social fabric. I wanted to read Tombs of sand in Hindi but the way her styles vary at times, I think I’d stay with English translation.

[Sreya Mukherjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been meaning to read Geetanjali Shree's work since her novel Tomb of Sand won the International Booker Prize in 2022. I found a copy of this book in my university library and immediately issued it. I started reading this book in the last week of December 2022 but could complete it today. So, technically this becomes my first read of 2023.
As the title of the book suggests it is an anthology of selected short stories of Geetanjali Shree. This was my first interaction with Geetanjali Shree's work and I concede that I am truly impressed by her literary skills. She infuses her works with an innovativeness of form as well as content. The stylistics of her stories is what makes her as a writer stand apart from the rest. Though I have only a limited knowledge of contemporary Hindi literature, I have never come across any writer who experiments with Hindi language the way Geetanjali Shree does. There is a certain irreverence and frivolousness in her treatment of language that makes even the harshest of her stories seem less bitter. She has the ability to treat even the most mundane topic with a certain charm that makes them endearing to read. In this anthology, I enjoyed almost all the stories but if I were to choose my most favourite ones they would be 'Bheetraag', 'Kasak', and 'Peela Suraj' respectively.
I am looking forward to exploring more of her works especially the novel Tomb of Sand, but I would like to read it in Hindi because now I beleive that the charm of Geetanjali Shree lies in her experimental use of Hindi.

[naveen gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nice stories. she has a different style no doubt