Author: Vilas Sarang
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 283
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143061844
Description
With his debut collection of short stories in English, Fair Tree of the Void (1990), Vilas Sarang established himself as a writer of great gifts, and one with a unique sensibility and literary vision. His works since-in Marathi and English-have confirmed his reputation as one of India’s finest and most daring contemporary writers.
The Women in Cages brings together all his short stories written in English, both previously published and new, brilliantly highlighting his singular imagination and style. From the desecration of a funeral pyre by the simple act of warming one’s hands on the blaze to the transformation of a man into a gigantic phallus enticing crowds of devotees as a live symbol of Lord Shiva; from the prostitute who uses the occult to generate numerous vaginas all over her body to a military general who abolishes an entire season for fear of revolution, Sarang presents startling thematic variety, always suggestive of strange and haunting alternative universes that transcend time and space.
Gritty and disturbing, and leavened by wit and compassion, The Women in Cages is a masterful attempt at capturing the myriad nuances of modern life.
REVIEWS
One of the finest Indian writers of his time.
-Dom Moraes
Sarang is an original: he writes clearly and beautifully about often bizarre events in a precisely realized world.
-Anthony Thwaite, poet and former editor of Encounter
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
THE CITY BY THE SEA
An evening at the beach
An afternoon among the rocks
Musk Deer
An Excursion
On the Stone Steps
A revolt of the Gods
LIBIDO ZONES
The Missing Link
The Women in Cages
The Odour of Immortality
Om Phallus
An Interview With M Chakko
Barrel and Bombil: A Love Story
SMALL CREATURES
Flies
Spider in the Clock
Rabbit
The End of History
Testimony of an Indian Vulture
THE SHADOW OF THE GULAG
Return
Kalluri’s Escapade
The Terrorist
A Tale of Two Generals
Tree of Death
VISIONS OF NIRVANA
The Phonemate
Letters From Nikhil
The Life and Death of Manu
The Departure
Notes of a Working Writer