The Harpercollins book of New Indian Fiction

by Khushwant Singh (Editor)

In this unparalleled collection of short stories, The HarperCollins Book of New Indian Fiction presents an absorbing view of one of the most fertile literary landscapes in the world. Traversing continents and orbits, styles and themes, in rich, original and frequently surprising ways, the stories testify to the range and depth of Indian writing in English. Variously lyric, satiric, tragic and fantastic, they are unified in their vigour and humanity. T

The anthology features a rich assortment of voices from both new authors and established names including Abraham Verghese, Manju Kapur, Githa Hariharan and Amitava Kumar. With an insightful introduction by Khushwant Singh, one of India s foremost literary personalities, this is the definitive survey of a lively modern scene....

Genres: Fiction, India

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Khushwant Singh, (Punjabi: ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ਵੰਤ ਸਿੰਘ, Hindi: खुशवंत सिंह) born on 2 February 1915 in Hadali, Undivided India, (now a part of Pakistan), was a prominent Indian novelist and journalist. Singh's weekly column, "With Malice towards One and All", carried by several Indian newspapers, was among the most widely-read columns in the country.

An important post-colonial novelist writing in English, Singh is best known for his trenchant secularism, his humor, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit.

Reviews

[Saritha]

The 3 stars (and not 4) is only because this is a textbook example of selecting the most contemporary short stories in India, when it could have been so much more. The presence of a genre like science fiction, to me, was too much of a jump from other genres. With all due respect to Mr. Singh, if the net were cast a little wider, maybe there would have been other stories that could infuse the book with freshness in contemporary writing in English. But I'm happy and grateful that short stories are even getting published in the first place. these were brecious 10 minute breaks from the routine and I finished this book in a couple of days (i took frequent breaks!).

From among the 13 stories that make up this collection, I particularly loved Encounters with the Kodambakkam Hyena by Vivek Narayanan (for its depiction of Chennai's mindset at a particular point in time), Madame Kitty by Navtej Sarna (for its ability to narrate a simple story that with its sheer relatability, lingers in the mind), The Necklace by Manju Kapoor (that makes a scathing commentary on colonialism), The Scoop by Shankar Vedantam (for its ability to capture the absurdity of India, even in the most morbid of situations), Ajji's Miracle by Anita Rau Badami (just for Ajji's spunk!), Bollox by Farrukh Dhondy (for its nimble balance between the East and the West), During the Long Riots, the Fragrance of Cuticura by Amitava Kumar (for its evocative point of view), Naina by Shauna Singh Baldwin (for its use of surreality to paint a larger picture of life as a single woman) and The Tailor by Rana Dasgupta (for the fable-like narration about how a windfall can change the even-keel of a tailor's life).

This is like a tasting menu of the style of writing of the contributors to the collection and I've come away with some names whose books I'm eager to read now.

[Lester]

The beauty of this book is that the stories are diverse, written in many styles and telling many tales. Unfortunately, this means that amongst the gems, there are quite a few stories which I ended up skipping over, as the were - although interesting - not really readable for all.

[NIRALI UPADHYAY]

most of the stories are ordinary not so good

[Yuti]

A nice collection of stories from the pre and post independence era. My favorite one has to be 'Encounters with the kodambakkam hyena by Vivek Narayanan

[Chloe]

Did not look at publication date. Stories were many I had read; but happy to own a copy.

[ReadingLove]

Anyone care for sharing the summaries of all the chapters? I would love for your help.
Thank you

[Yokusun Basi]

The HarperCollins book of New Indian Fiction by K. P. Singh (2005)

[Sanket Patil]

Khushwant Singh says in his foreword: "The stories in this collection have been judiciously selected and represent the best of Indian writing around the world." I beg to differ. Except for a couple of short stories, the rest of them are rather ordinary.

[Mahesh]

I was amazed with few short stories. Its really good to see comtemporary attempts from indian authors. I am looking forward to read more about them :-)

[Tanvi Bhakta]

I'm not really all that big on Indian fiction, but this book was an eye opener that sometimes things aren't all the bad they seem to me. A must read!

[Manguesh]

1 or 2 stories interesting..otherwise very O.K

[Surabhi]

Some really interesting stories... Some very different from the usual short-story fiction..