Introduction
THE MODERN ODIA short story is a century and a quarter old; the period from 1898 to 1945 marks the early phase in the development of the genre. It was a time when Odia literature underwent a remarkable transformation, adopting new narrative styles and themes that reflected the shifting social and cultural landscape. Far-reaching political and social changes were effected by British colonial rule through the use of English as the language of higher learning and governance. This, together with the new employment and occupational opportunities and the rise of industrialism, with rapid mechanization and urbanization, newer and swifter modes of communication and travel, world wars and the struggle for Independence, created what is now called 'colonial modernity'. This impacted the consciousness of writers and demanded that the expansive and digressive oral narration suited to tales and fables told by a garrulous, avuncular narrator be replaced by an authorial presence controlling the economy of the narrative. Writers became increasingly preoccupied with giving voice to the anxiety of coping with a rapidly fluctuating world, which often appeared hostile and incomprehensible.
'Rebati, by Fakir Mohan Senapati, was published in the autumn of 1898. A haunting narrative of a young girl's burning desire for learning, it depicts ordinary people and does so in a down-to-earth language spoken in real life. Senapati unshackles Odia from its high-flown Sanskritized version to show that complicated truths underlying the human predicament and the exploration of modern problems, could be expressed in an earthy, everyday prose. The lack of sentimentality, of heavy-handed didacticism and of value judgement makes this story a pioneering work. While Senapati's characteristic wit and humour, amply demonstrated in 'Patent Medicine' also included in this volume-is missing here, he makes up for it by using irony instead. The writer, who sent his own daughter to a Christian missionary school, lets his young heroine's wish to study end tragically. Although in favour of women's education, he allows every superstitious fear of the grandmother to come true. It is as if by a literary sleight of hand that the reverse and the obverse of the issue are made to look the same. Not surprisingly, the story continues to be read and discussed, admired and anthologized to the present day; age has not withered nor custom dulled its appeal.
About The Book
TO EARN HIS LIVING MAGUNI DESPERATELY HOPES FOR PASSENGERS TO CHOOSE HIS OLD BULLOCK CART OVER A BUS A GNARLED SAHADA TREE IN A FAMILY'S COURTYARD BEARS WITNESS TO A SERIES OF DEATHS. A YOUNG WOMAN SOLD INTO PROSTITUTION FACES THE HYPOCRISIES OF A PATRIARCHAL WORLD. AN INDIA ALMOST LINKNOWN TO US FLOODS THE PAGES OF THIS SIGNIFICANT SERIES OF SHORT STORIES SOURCED FROM THE LATE NINETEENTH TO THE MID-TWENTIETH CENTURIES. RINGING WITH THE MUSIC OF INDIA'S REGIONAL LANGUAGES AND PEPPERED WITH WIT AND SOCIAL COMMENTARY, THESE STORIES ARE WINDOWS TO THE PAST AND ITS PEOPLE-THE EVERYDAY STRUGGLES AND JOYS THE TIES OF FRIENDSHIP AND FAITH THE POLITICS OF LOVE AND REJECTION THE INTRICACIES OF BETRAYAL AND ENVY: AND THE CONFLICTS OF CLASS AND CASTE-WHILE CONTINUING TO BE RELEVANT TO OUR PRESENT, PUNCTURING THE BOUNDARIES OF TIME AND SPACE HOW MUCH HAS INDIAN SOCIETY CHANGED? HOW MUCH OF IT HAS NOT?
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