Oblivion and Other Stories - by Gopinath Mohanty (Hardcover)

About the Book

Originally written in Oriya by the Padma Bhushan awardee, these have now been translated for the first time into English and recreate the social life of mid-twentieth century India.

Book Synopsis

Oblivion and Other Stories is an anthology of twenty short stories by Gopinath Mohanty, the doyen of Oriya (now Odia) literature. The stories, written across a half-century (1935-1988), sample his oeuvre of writings and the variety of his themes-from 'Dã' (mid-1930s) to 'Oblivion' (1951) to 'The Upper Crust' (1967) to 'Lustre' (1971) and 'Festival Day' (1985).They capture the forgotten others, the banality of marginal living on life's edge-of the poor, the tribals and ordinary people-invisible in the feudal landscape of Orissa in the twentieth century.

Review Quotes

The monotony of domesticity, revealed through the eyes of men in stories like 'A Good Samaritan' and 'Town Bus', juxtaposes the sexual proclivities of the male against the composite goodness of the female. ― The Tribune

About the Author

GOPINATH MOHANTY (1914-1991), one of the chief architects of modern Indian literature, was the first recipient of the Kendriya Sahitya Akademi Award (1955) and other prestigious honours, including the Soviet Land Nehru Award (1970), Jnanpith Award (1973) and Padma Bhushan (1981). He wrote twenty-four
novels, ten collections of short stories, three plays, two biographies, two volumes of critical essays and two works of translation.