Author of more than a dozen novels, short stories, and critical writings, Mulk Raj Anand alongwith Raja Rao and R K Narayan, is frequently referred to as 'founding father' of Indo-English writing. Anand's prolific writing career spanned more than 75 years. For him the written word was a medium through which he voiced his social protest. He wrote extensively on political instability, class and caste exploitation, corruption and abject poverty in India and other parts of the world. This choice selection of his early stories develops the high pitch of excellence which his readers later came to expect from him. With a sensitiveness which is uniquely tender and an imaginative fervour which is contagious, he explores some odd corners of the Indian soul and shows the technical virtuosity of a master of the short story form. All the moods are represented here, from lyricism and satire to the macabre intensity of the Lament on the Death of Master of Arts. Above all his book is inspired by 'the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad' which has from the beginning characterized the works of Mulk Raj Anand and through which he has called attention to a great deal of our tinsel glory and mawkish despair. Always, however, Anand's fiction reveals a deep sympathy and valiant humanism, the graces of one of the finest and most gifted writers of our time.

Mulk Raj Anand, novelist, short story writer, essayist and art critic, along with Raja Rao and R.K. Narayan, is frequently referred to as ‘founding father’ of Indo-English writing. He began his career by writing for T.S. Eliot’s Criterion and went on to win international fame with his heart-warming portraits of the Indian landscape and its people. Anand’s prolific writing career spanned more than 75 years, during which he was widely identified with the quest for a just, equitable, and forward-looking India. He wrote extensively in areas as diverse as art and sculpture, politics, Indian literature and the history of ideas. He was honoured with Sahitya Akademi Award, the most prestigious Indian award for literary writing in 1972. This volume of short stories is remarkable for the variety of its inspiration. ‘Anand is an excellent raconteur, telling a story with grace and point. He commands an easy urbane style… The stories have the power to charm.’ — Weekend Review ‘Anand’s picture is real, comprehensive, and subtle, and the shifts in moods, from farce to comedy, from pathos to tragedy, and from the realistic to the poetic, are remarkable.’ — V S Pritchett, British Literary Critic 'With great deftness, Anand pictures India... He impresses with his profound knowledge of Indian religion and culture.' — Books Abroad, USA

The Book Is Be A Valuable Addition To The World Of Literary Criticism And Of Immense Utility To Those Who Want To Further Explore The Areas Of Critical Exposition Of Anand S Life And Works.The Book Will Be Found Of Great Interest By The Students Of English Literature, Researchers And The General Readers.

A great deal can be learned about a given civilization through its literature. The living image of a people—acting and thinking, of themselves. and of the world as they see it—can only be apprehended by the creative productions of a nation's best minds. Thus students of Indian civilization and culture who cannot afford to overlook its literature will find in this book a way to approach the Indian spirit through the work of Indian authors. Fiction in India, particularly the novel, is a product of Western influences. As a literary form, the novel, with its emphasis on character analysis and related plot, is not native to the Indian temperament. Nevertheless, during the last fifty years, India has produced a wealth of fine fiction : novels and short stories, sketches and satires. In this book, Dorothy M. Spencer has selected and annotated some three hundred items for the ethnographical and cultural material they can be made to yield. English translations, works written directly in English, and translations from the various regional dialects have been included—on the whole a rather sweeping cross-section of Indian literary creativity. With the aid of Spencer's notes, the student can decide which of the works deal with specific attitudes and values that are of interest to him. The sociologist interested in institutions and interpersonal relations, in the beliefs and ideas regarding the Indian character held by the people themselves, the philosopher concerned with the Indian world-view, the anthropologist, and the political scientist will find an abundance of material in these pages to heighten his appreciation of Indian culture. The attitudes toward social institutions and fixed relationships, the family, the place of women as mothers and sisters, the caste-system—all the intricacies of a civilization's development can be revealed to the perceptive student. Naturally enough, fiction in India has also dealt with political and social themes. In this connection, autobiographies and propagandistic or moralistic novels are most useful. Both have been included in this bibliography, as well as historical novels, a genre which, though it has recently fallen into disfavor, is one of the most fruitful sources for an investigation of the Indian past. More than a comprehensive guide to Indian fiction and autobiography, this volume is also a fine introduction to Indian culture, suggesting and developing directions which a study of India may take. It will be helpful and important to all scholars in the humanities and social sciences who are concerned with understanding the people and way of life of an ancient land that has recently taken great strides into the modern era.

Over 3,200 entries An essential guide to authors and their works that focuses on the general canon of British literature from the fifteenth century to the present. There is also some coverage of non-fiction such as biographies, memoirs, and science, as well as inclusion of major American and Commonwealth writers. This online-exclusive new edition adds 60,000 new words, including over 50 new entries dealing with authors who have risen to prominence in the last five years, as well as fully updating the entries that currently exist. Each entry provides details of a writer's nationality and birth/death dates, followed by a listing of their titles arranged chronologically by date of publication.