Author: Atma Ram
/
Editor(s): Atma Ram
Publisher: Sahitya Akademi
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 640
ISBN/UPC (if available): 812602173
Description
Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004) was an Indian English writer of world repute. His first ten books were from London. He has over 22 books of fiction and a large number of publications on art, education and culture, and thousands of letters. Although considerable research on Anand has been done and numerous critiques have appeared, there is hardly any book that caries a careful selection from his writings. Only three volumes of his letters have been published. Some of his works have gone out of print.
Mulk Raj Anand: A Reader is the first attempt of its kind to fill this gap and introduce the author to a large readership. It offers in one volume representative selections from his writings. Here is an earnest endeavour to give a feel of his immortal art and vision. Besides the Editor’s Introduction and Author’s (freshly written) Preface, and a self-obituary by Mulk Raj Anand, the Reader contains four sections. It opens with the Lost Child and records, in all, 15 novels have been given.
Two samples of his discursive prose are presented: one each from apology for Heroism and Conversations in Bloomsbury. The final part carries four letters of Anand, culled from three anthologies of letters. The Appendices comprises a telling example of literary comment on the novelist E M Forster’s perceptive Preface to Untouchable (1935) and a Select Bibliography. A brief note of the Editor follows each section. Mulk Raj Anand himself had kindly provided consistent guidance for the ambitious project while alive and his valuable suggestions have been gratefully incorporated.
Contents
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
SELF-OBITUARY
SHORT STORIES
The Lost Child
The Barber’s Trade Union
Lullaby
The Liar
The Cobbler and the Machine
A Pair of Mustachios
The Tractor and the Corn Goddess
The Thief
The Parrot in the Cage
The Signature
Old Bapu
The Gold Watch
The Price of Bananas
Lajwanti
The Dreamer
NOVELS
Untouchable
Coolie
Two Leaves and a Bud
The Village
Across the Black Waters
The Sword and the Sickle
The Big Heart
Seven Summers
Private Life of an Indian Prince
The Old Woman and the Cow
The Road
Death of a Hero
Morning Face
Confession of a Lover
The Bubble
ESSAYS AND CONVERSATIONS
Apology for Heroism
Conversations in Bloomsbury
LETTERS
Author to Critic
Old Myth and New Myth
Anand to Atma
APPENDICES
An Appraisal by E M Forster
Select Bibliography