Author: Saroj Pathak
Publisher: Stree
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 108
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8185604142
Description
The twelve beautiful stories included in this collection delve deep into the human mind in all its aspects and it is undoubtedly this aspect of these stories that make this collection immensely readable.
These English translations from the Gujarati bring Saroj Pathak’s work to a wider audience, giving it the greater attention it deserves. Delving deep into the human mind, the stories depict the pitfalls of communication, the infinite possibilities of misunderstanding, of doubt and despair. At the same time they celebrate the human psyche’s ability to bridge these chasms and make connections, of love, understanding, and friendship. Pathak considers the predicaments of both women and men as they grapple with the modernity that has been thrust upon them. Indeed, Pathak’s interest in men as well as women characters distinguishes her from many other women novelists.
In her stories love and cruelty are closely intertwined, whether between a young loafer who tries to befriend a cripple girl with devastating results, or between an old couple, where the husband sends the wife away on a fool’s errand through a misplaced concern for her. In ‘The Vicious Round’, a ladies tailor becomes obsessed with one of his young clients, who in turn is single-mindedly involved with a trousseau, while in ‘The Ace of Trumps’, a single, middle-aged working woman plots to escape from her servitude to her brother’s family.
One of Gujarat’s leading women writers, when Saroj Pathak died in 1989 at the age of sixty, she had published seven collections of stories and six novels. Her columns in ‘Samachar’ and ‘Gujarat Mitra’ aroused violently mixed reactions. She w as keenly interested in theatre and dance productions.
Shirin Kudchedkar, a feminist critic, was formerly Head, Department of English, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. She was the editor of the Gujarati section of the two-volume ‘Women Writing in India’, edited by Susie Tharu and K. Lalita. She has taught English for forty years and is an experienced translator.
Susie Tharu is founder-member of Anveshi Research Centre of Women, Hyderabad. She is professor, School of Critical Humanities, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Hyderabad.
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Hero-Heroine
Dazed, Tormented, Terrified
Whom Can I Tell? How Can I Explain?
Quandary
The Vicious Round
Sarika Caged
Divorcee
The Vow
The Ace of Trumps
Drafting
Hidden Meanings
Not Confined by Nature’s Laws
Works by Saroj Pathak