Stream Within: Short Stories by Contemporary Bengali Women

by Teacher of English. Swati Ganguly

This collection explores a direct link between women’s writings–from India and some from Bangladesh too–and the turbulent milieu that inspired them. The stories speak of the tragedy of violent displacement, of Partition, of riots, of wars, of deprivation, of middle class and working class lives, on both sides of the border. They speak of women as agents who reclaim the history of the time as their own, revealing, as the editors suggest, how women’s writing creates an alternative discourse that has the power to destabilize the status quo. The editors present thirteen writers: Jyotirmoyee Debi, Ashapurna Debi, Sabitri Ray, Sulekha Sanyal, Chhobhi Basu, Rajlakshmi Debi, Jehanara Imam, Mahasweta Debi, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Purabi Basu, Bani Basu, Selina Hossain, Anita Agnihotri and Nasreen Jahan.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is always difficult to review collections of stories because inevitably the stories are not all equally good. I really enjoyed "Salt" by Mahasweta Devi (which is not surprising--she is a fabulous writer) and "The Corpse" by Bani Basu.