New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) As many as 20 short stories by doyen of Odia literature Gopinath Mohanty have been translated into English in a new book, titled “Oblivion and Other Stories”.
Originally written in Odia, the anthology, translated by Sudeshna Mohanty and Sudhansu Mohanty, include short stories — ‘Da’, ‘Oblivion’, ‘The Upper Crust, ‘Lustre’ and ‘Festival Day’ — written over the course of five decades (1935–1988).
Mohanty, one of the chief architects of modern Indian literature, was the first recipient of the Kendriya Sahitya Akademi Award (1955) as well as other prestigious honours — Soviet Land Nehru Award (1970), Jnanpith Award (1973) and Padma Bhushan (1981).
He wrote 24 novels, ten collections of short stories, three plays, two biographies, two volumes of critical essays, besides two translations.
The stories, published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI), capture the forgotten others — the tribals, the poor, the dispossessed and the disenfranchised — invisibilised in the feudal landscape of Odia society in the 20th century.
While ‘Oblivion’ (1941), the title story of this collection, is about the innocence of a young man — the Noble Savage — in the back-of-beyond tribal district of Koraput in Orissa; ‘Da’ (1935–36), Mohanty’s first short story, brings into sharp relief how women, especially the poor, were treated as chattels by feudal zamindars.
“Gopinath Mohanty’s short fiction reaches back to the1930s, spinning tales around everyday lives and ordinary people with whom he shared deep empathy. The milieu may have changed, but the spectrum of unadulterated, earthy human emotions — naive, gritty, undisguised, poignant — portrayed in the stories is timeless,” wrote translator Sudeshna in the book.
According to the publishers, the collection will help readers recreate the social life of mid-twentieth-century India curated from the everyday life of Oriya society.
“The embellished past in the stories is not one of nostalgia but a full-toned portrait of society. Marginalization is the running thread: dispossession, disenfranchisement, class/caste social exclusivity and lack of education,” they said.
“Oblivion and Other Stories” is currently available for sale across online and offline stores. PTI MG RB RB
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