Author: Manjushree Thapa
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2007/3
Language: English
Pages: 184
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780143102649
Description
In "Tilled Earth" several compressed, poetic and deeply evocative micro-stories offer fleeting glimpses of small, private dramas of people caught midlife: an elderly woodworker loses his way in a modern Kathmandu neighbourhood; a homesick expatriate nurses a hangover; a clerk at the Ministry of Home Affairs learns to play Solitaire on the computer; a young man is drawn to politics against his better judgement; a child steals her classmate's book . . .
The longer stories in the collection, too, span a wide course, taking subjects from rural and urban Nepal as well as from the Nepali diaspora abroad. In 'Tilled Earth' a young woman goes to Seattle as a student, and finds herself becoming an illegal alien. 'Love Marriage' is an inner narration by a young man who-defying family pressure-falls in love with a woman of the wrong caste. In 'The Buddha in the Earth-Touching Posture', a retired secretary visits the Buddha's birthplace, Lumbini, only to find his deepest insecurities exposed.
With their unexpected, inventive forms, these stories reveal the author's deep love of language and commitment to craft. Manjushree Thapa pushes the styles of her stories to match the distinctiveness of their content, emerging confidently as a skilled innovator and formalist.
: an elderly woodworker loses his way in a modern Kathmandu neighbourhood; a homesick expatriate nurses a hangover; a clerk at the Ministry of Home Affairs learns to play Solitaire on the computer; a young man is drawn to politics against his better judgement; a child steals her classmate's book . . .
The longer stories in the collection, too, span a wide course, taking subjects from rural and urban Nepal as well as from the Nepali diaspora abroad. In 'Tilled Earth' a young woman goes to Seattle as a student, and finds herself becoming an illegal alien. 'Love Marriage' is an inner narration by a young man who-defying family pressure-falls in love with a woman of the wrong caste. In 'The Buddha in the Earth-Touching Posture', a retired secretary visits the Buddha's birthplace, Lumbini, only to find his deepest insecurities exposed.
With their unexpected, inventive forms, these stories reveal the author's deep love of language and commitment to craft. Manjushree Thapa pushes the styles of her stories to match the distinctiveness of their content, emerging confidently as a skilled innovator and formalist.
Contents
Heera Mahajan Looses His Way
Soar
Solitaire
Sounds that the Tongue Learns to Make
Nineteen Years His Junior
The Secretary of the Student Union makes a career Choice
Friends
Three Hundred Rupees
Diesel
I Don't Like Shanta Khanal
Love Marriage
In the World as Hard as a Betel Nut
The Student in love
The Hungry Statistician
The Buddha in the Earth Touching Posture
Ta'Angzoum Among the Cows
The Newly Appointed Chemistry Professor
The Eldest Son Thinks of Home
Tilled Earth
The European Fling
The Girl of No Age
Credits and Acknowledgements