Author: Saros Cowasjee
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 345
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195658493
Description
This robustly bound anthology, edited with care, brings together in one volume some of the best short stories of the Raj.
A legacy of the British Raj in India is the literature produced by it. This comprehensive and wide-ranging anthology includes not only the work of master such as Kipling and Orwell but also of several lesser known-but equally compelling—writers whose stories provide a vivid portrait of colonial India. The evocation of the interaction between British rulers and their Indian subjects through a mix of ironic, entertaining, and even eerie tales is especially interesting. They also reveal the British themselves and their varied perceptions of the Raj as it moved from confidence to despair. Undoubtedly of interest to students of literature and historians, this collection is also for general readers curious about India’s colonial past.
Saros Cowasjee is Professor Emeritus at the University of Regina, Canada.
EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS::
‘This robustly bound anthology, edited with care by Saros cowasjee, brings together in one volume some of the best short stories of the Raj.’
—The Indian Express
‘Taken together, these stories provide an effective and honest self-portrait of the British in India; the effects of power on the rulers themselves. . . the racism, the weariness and waste, the desire to understand and belong, the endless task of civilization.’
—The Pioneer
‘. . . it showcases the way in which the Empire constructed itself, filtered through the daily life of appearances.’
—The Hindu
‘All in all, a good addition to one’s library.’
—The Book Review
Contents
Introduction
FLORA ANNIE STEEL
Lal
The Doll-Maker
At the Great Durbar
The Gift of Battle
Surabhi
Shub’rat
BITHIA MARY CROCKER
Jack Straw’s Castle
SARA JEANNETTE DUNCAN
A Mother in India
RUDYARD KIPLING
The Head of the District
At the End of the Passage
ALICE PERRIN
Justice
The Rise of Ram Din
The Centipede
The White Tiger
Mary Jones
Caulfield’s Crime
MAUD DIVER
The Gods of the East
LIONEL JAMES
The Honour of Daud Khan
EDMUND CANDLER
The Testimony of Bhagwan Singh
OTTO ROTHFELD
In the Twilight
LEONARD WOOLF
Pearls and swine
A Tale Told by Moonlight
GEORGE ORWELL
A Hanging
Shooting an Elephant
CHRISTINE WESTON
A Game of Halma
The Devil Has the Moon
The Mud Horse
PHILIP MASON
The Box
The Crook
JOSEPH HITREC
The Fearless will always have it
Whiteness is all
Biographical Notes
Glossary