INTRODUCTION
This study deals with the prominent themes that appeared in'^The Illustrated Weekly of India' ( Henceforth referred to as ' The Weekly' ) from January 1971 to
December 1980." The Weekly' published 415 stories during this decade. These stories covered various major and minor themes. This study deals mainly with the analysis of those stories which contain one of the following themes — sex, marriage, the east-west encounter, bureaucratic tendencies and personality crisis.The seventh chapter of this thesis deals with some minor themes like revenge, avarice etc.
I have divided this chapter in the following six
sect ions.
(i) The concept of short story.
(ii) A thumbnail history of the short story in
India and abroad
(iii) Relationship between periodicals and the
short story followed by the assessment of
short stories published in 'The Weekly'
during the seventies,
(iv) Some observations on the ethos of
translation of stories written in regional
Indian languages to English and published in 'The Weekly' during the seventies. (v> The differences between the traditional Indo-Anglian short story and th» modern Indo-Anglian short story (vi) Evaluation of the Indo-Anglian short story
The apparently simple genre of the short story poses various problems for a comprehensive definition. Literally^ it means a story that is relatively short in length. In reality, it takes various shapes and acquires different characteristics. Inspite of its protean nature, literary critics like H.E. Bates, Brander Matthews, Ellery Sedgewick, Flannery O.' Connor have attempted to explain it. Bates says, "I can make the axiom that the short story can be anything the author decides it shall be. It can be anything from the death of a horse to a young girl's first love affair, from the static sketch without plot to the swiftly moving machine of bold action. In that infinite flexibility indeed lies the reason why the short story has never been adequately defined". Bates's definition of a short story embraces everything from a short composition to an artistic piece of writing. A dictionary of the world literature provides information on the origin and development of the short story. It says, "Short story is a collection of short prose narratives bequeathed to us by the ancient Egyptians. Brevity dictates the structure of a short story. The writer conceives a certain unique or single effect that he wishes to create and proceeds to invest such incidents and to clothe them with such words as will produce it. Totality of effect is the objective. Appropriateness and economy of incidents and style are 2 of technical means." H.G. Wells, who was a prolific writer of modern fiction demands a single vivid effect. According to him, the story should seize the attention of the reader at the outset. It must explode and finish before interruption occurs. The above explanations point to the various significant features of the short story. The short story touches almost all topics, characters and styles. It is never opposed to experimentation. The lucidity, brevity, concentration and readability add to the effectiveness of the form of the short story. The truncated length of this form necessitates an attractive beginning, sustained interest and satisfying closure. A short story in various countries has its roots in the territorial myths and the ancient collective conscience of the race. In her introduction to 'Re-reading the Short Story' the editor Clare Hanson mentions that this genre has been a 'marginal' one. She attributes a mysteriously 'unknown' dimension of subjective experience to the short story. According to her^ "The short story is a convenient form to losers, loners, exiles, women and blacks.... writers who for one reason or another have not been part of the major 'narrative' or the experimental framework of their society." Edgar Allan Poe, the father of the modern short story considered the form as "a structurally "^unified whole' like a watch or a mosaic. From this whole theoretically at any rate nothing could be taken out or nothing can be added without weakening the overall effect or indeed destroying the very purpose for which the story was conceived and in terms of which it was 4 produced." The above views make it obvious that there are deviant stances regarding the nature and scope of the short story. The term 'short'has no specific inherent meaning to it. After all what matters more is the deeper meaning of the work of art and not its length. The short story can never be a novel in a nutshell. The novella is distinguished from the genuine short novel by its limited number of characters, its less varied setting and its simple plot. The short story has a limited canvas. One story can not portray a variety of incidents, characters, themes and locales. The short story needs to be enjoyed and experienced. It need not be critically appreciated with dozens of evidences from the text. It defies heavy loaded philosophy of life. It gets crushed under verbiage. A Sanskrit scholar Kolahalacharya has defined short story as ''~^W According to this scholar, imaginary construction with a grain of truth in it is called story. (ii) A THUMBNAIL HISTORY OF THE SHORT STORY IN INDIA AND ABROAD (a) The ancient Indian short story Our classical literatures in Sanskrit, Pali and Ardhamagadhi uiere replete with tales, parables and allegories. Although it is impossible to ascertain the authorship of all these stories, it is an acknowledged fact that they played a vital role in the expansion of religious doctrines. A. K. Ramanujan observes, "Before writing was known in India, the village story -teller, the Katha Vachak, the Yogi with his ektara (single stringed instrument) travelled from village to village. The story-tel1inc included visual pictures, puppets and mime presenting a holistic view to the listener." The Vedic Literature was full of tales denoting the wisdom of our ancient sages. These tales instructed and entertained our ancestors for a long time. Eventhough Vedic philosophy was challenged by Jain and Buddha sects, they preserved and honoured Vedic stories. Ravisena's Padmapurana, Jinasena's Mahapurana and Churni stories contained Jain philosophy of asceticism and non-violence. Jataka Katha and Awadan stories demonstrated the Buddhist philosophy of compassion and public good. These scriptural tales belonging to the pre-Christian era were mainly didactic in aim and prescriptive in nature. Even today these anthologies are called a treasure house of knowledge and philosophy. The other noteworthy collections of short stories in the Pre-British India were Kathasaritasagar,Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantra, Narayan Pandit's Hitopdesh. These volumes show a slight shift in emphasis.The scriptural tales of the past were exclusively religious ; these volumes contained stories on worldly wisdom. They were able to transfer our attention from celestial altitude to mundane reality. Birbal's quibbles,Tenaliraman's tales and Kalidas' stories demonstrated the worth of India's creative talent in the generation of short stories. These tales included characters from everyday life. Illiterate villagers, maid servants, beggars, farmers, widows and court servants all found place in these stories. The uninterrupted journey of this short fiction for nearly two thousand years is commendable. During the course of time, restrictions on the selection of characters and themes were loosened and discarded. The high-sounding phrases and argumentative language of the past were also replaced by the everyday utterances. The 17th and 18th centuries in India are marked by; conspicuous scarcity in the field of short stories. The war-ravaged land of the ancient religions witnessed ghastly scenes of bloodshed. K. R. S. lyenger comments^ "No serious attempt was made - or could be made in the prevalent conditions - to bridge the widening gap between the few still surviving centres of traditional learning and teaching illiterate millions. Ar unutterable lethargy, at once physical, intellectual anc spiritual possessed the body and soul of the Indian people and the stream of Indian culture seemed to have lost itself in the parched desert of the national enslavement." (b> The short story in Indo-Anglian literature In the nineties of this century, the Indo-Anglian short story is barely hundred years old. It has been a confluence of various forces. As far as its medium is concerned, it came from England along with the rulers. The initial readers of this form were mostly the Englishmen in India and abroad. Only a handful of its readers came from India. Its writers included people in the East India Company's service and some England returned individuals from India. The history of the Indo-Anglian short story could be roughly divided into three broad periods i) from its beginning in the eighteen eighties to the nineteen twenties ii) stories that originated with the freedom movement in India iii) The post Independence stories. The title of the first known published collection of the short stories is "Stories from Indian Christian Life" (1898) by Kamala Sathianandan. The similar collections had also appeared before 1878. i) Realities of Indian Life —Stories Collected from the Criminal Reports of India by Shoshee Chander Dutt ii) The Times of Yore-Tales from Indian History by Shoshee Chander Dutt iii) Dengaliana - A Dish of Rice Curry and Other Indigestible Ingredients <1898) iv) P. V. Ramaswami 8 Raju's 'The Tales of Sixty Maharajas (London 1896) and Indian Fables (London 1887) v) Khetrapal Chakravarti- Sarala and Hingana - Tales Descriptive of Indian Life (London 1896) vi) B.R. Rajan Aiyar's 'Miscellaneous Stories were some of the we 1 l-^tcjnp).^ col lections before 1898. But all these were published in England. There are some prominent features that characterize the first phase of the short story in India. Firstly, the writers of these stories had compiled 'studies', 'reports,' tales,' 'habits', 'anecdotes' 'recollections' and 'observations' into the collections of short stories. The imaginative touches to the facts, fanciful descriptions of everyday happenings, the craftsmanship are not found in these collections. These compendiums had a well-defined objective. Their audience was restricted to an elite few. Their only task was to cater to the needs of these select groups. The various titles of these collections make it quite^obvious that the writers intended to collect pieces from Indian history and mythology to present them to the Englishmen. Most of these collections were published in England. This compelled Indian writers to abide by the promoters' directives. The attitude of these writers was hostile to the natives. The second phase of the Indo-Anglian short story emerged simultaneously with the Indian struggle for Independence. The writers of this period tried to answer anglomaniac zealots of the first era .The fearlessness that had resulted out of the political agitation* provided the Indian creative artists with an easy access to the printing press in India. As a result of this facility, it was no more necessary to appease their British publishers and white readers. This does not mean that Indian writers leapt out with totally new subjects and radical techniques for their stories. The only noticeable change in their tone and attitude was their attempt to sympathetically comprehend erring Indians. They knew that Indians were abominably backward. Yet these writers did not hurt them seriously. The Indian attitude to women, widows and religion was questioned by these writers without being abusive and destructive. Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao and others had sympathetic attitude to their characters. Instead of making fun of their characters, they laughed with these simpletons. The noticeable contribution here was by the leading novelists. There were some short story writers who devoted themselves exclusively to this form. T. L. Nateson alias Shankar Ram is an early example. His 10 stories in "The Children of Kaveri' (1926) and "Creatures All' (1933) dealt with the rustic life in Tamil Nadu. 'Blood is Thicker than Water' is a sentimental story pre»enT;ing the persecution of a motherless boy by a stepmother. A.S.P. Ayyar's constant themes were social reforms especially the plight of women in the traditional Hindu society. His women characters successfully remarry in the teeth of opposition. His women defy their parents and age-old conventions. S.K. Chettur's writing is based on his visits to Indian villages. Village feuds, murders and local legends are his staple themes. K. S. Venkataramani's heroes are the products of the Gandhian ferment. His Jatadharan gives up his job to become a teacher in a village. In 'Illumination' a briefless lawyer is consoled by his wife who preaches to him the Gita doctrine of working without desiring the fruit of action. Manjeri Isvaran combined facts and fantasy, dreams and reality, anticipation and aspirations in his stories. Mulk Raj Anand is one of the first prolific Indo- Anglian writers. Some of his short story collections are - The Lost Child and Other Stories (1934), The Barber's Trade Union and Other Stories (1949) Between Tears and Laughter (1973). He wrote on a variety of themes. Most 11 of his characters came from the so far ignored strata of the society. He wrote stories on children, workers, servants and simpletons. C.V. Venugopal comments on Anand's preoccupation in the following words :- "A couple of moods, especially that of a sympathy for the underdog, do dominate his stories which neverthless present an amazing variety of the cross sections of Indian life. Anand clothes them in a language at once powerful and poetic and pliable enough to waft to us the welcome as well as the unwelcome breezes of the Indian Q countryside or the Indian city." Brought up in the journalistic tradition R.K.Narayan was ever on the look out for a story in whatever he met. His stories are about common people and the common incidents. Yet they received a warm welcome from the Indian readers. An Astrologer's Day and Other Stories (1947), Lawley Road and Other Stories (1956) A Horse and Two Goats (1970) are some of his well-known collections of short stories. Most of Raja Rao's stories were philosophic in tone, symbolic in nature and enigmatic in matter. The Eastern philosophy and its Advait principles filled his stories. The reverberating symbolism in his stories makes them brief but memorable metaphysical documents in the fictional form. The Cow of the 12 Barricades and other Stories (1947) and The Policeman and the Rose and Other Stories (1978) are the only collections of short stories by Raja Rao. K.S. Abbas was famous as a propagandist. His j association with militant leftist organisations and his long career in a film world intervened his writing. The short stories pertaining to this epoch were invariably reformist in nature. They tried to focus the attention of the educated elite on various social evils prevalent at that time. The stories of this period had a definite form, with the beginning, middle and the end. Interminable length of the stories of the past was replaced by the average length of stories. Each story became a unit carrying one item. The narrative technique of simplicity and clarity was applied. These stories contained an account of the social, political and economic happenings in India. The didactic tone of the previous stories was replaced by the depiction of social and political aspects of an individual.^ The post independence period for the production of short stories has been pretty fertile. The novelists have contributed to the rich output of short stories in English and regional languages. Writers like Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan, Manohar Malgonkar, 13 Bhabani Bhattacharya, Anita Desai continued writing short stories with a rejuvinated zeal and wider perspective. New writers like Khushwant Singh, Ga^uri D^shpandSt Shashi Deshpande, Shiv K. Kumar, Keki Daruwalla, Kamala Das welcomed the new vistas opened before them by the independence of the land. The Indian short story writers' obsession with the old themes like sati, child marriage, superstition* could not appeal the changing taste of the moderr readers. They had to be provided with a totally neu perspective. The writers had to perceive reality newly in order to please readers. There are quite a few Indo-Anglian writers who hac their education in England and are in constant touch with the west. Some writers have migrated to America, England and other western countries for ever. This, migration provided them with double benefits. On the one hand they could keep their distance from Indian characters. On the other hand their constant contact with the English language and literature in those countries enriched their understanding of the world literary phenomenon. That is why M.E. Derrett maintains, "Because of their first hand experience of the west, the Indian writers in English have the power to perceive differences; they have experienced the 14 oriental adjustment to a western society and readjustment again to the oriental and from this they have a slightly detached view of their own society - not the detached and slightly repellent view of the deindianized Indian. They must feel a sense of release in expressing their sensations which demand expression. (c) The short story in some Indian regional languages The Hindi short story before Independence had a traditional form. It's characters were mostly the people from high castes and classes.They were narratives of considerable length. Premchand moulded the short story and made it more realistic and suitable to the changing tastes of the time. He wrote abundantly in his own periodical 'Hans'. After Independence,Yashapal Jain brought the Hindi short story to the level of common people. His political theory based on Marxism compelled him to voice the maladies of working community, poverty-stricken youth and neglected sections of the Indian society. Fanishwar Nath Renu was another notable short story writer writing on the regional characters and themes. The periodicals like "Dharmayug', "Hindustan','Sarika', Sarita' have played a significant 15 role in spreading the Hindi short story among the neo- 1 iterates. Jainendra Kumar always emphasized the psychological aspect of characterization. Shangey Raghav, Dharmveer Bharati, Amarkant, Raghuveer Sahay dominated the periodical short story writing after Independence. Kamaleshwar's 'Sarika' published short stories that dealt with the evils of industrialization. The monotonous existence of the human beings of the modern age was highlighted in the stories of Rajendra Yadav, Nirmal Verma, Mohan Rakesh, Bhishma Sahani. The women short story writers like Mannu Bhandari, Dipti Khandelwal, Meharunnisa Parvej wrote against the subordinate and inhuman treatment given to the ladies. Kashinath Sinh, Devesh Thakur, Dudhanath Sinh are some of the well known Hindi short story witers of the age. The fiarathi short story and the Marathi periodicals also have a close affinity. Nearly all leading periodicals have stories as a regular feature. Hari Narayan Apte was the first story writer to club a story and a periodical. His 'Karmanuk' (estd. 1890) published short stories regularly. It opened up the possibility for story writers to publish their writings regularly. The magazines like "Granthprabha', ' Shree Sarswati Mandir', 'Ketaki', 'Prabhumasik', 'haharastra 16 Wangvilas' contained stories of the established writers as well as of the amateurs. The periodicals like Kirloskar', *Stree', "Yashwant', 'Prasad',' Abhiruchi' encouraged women writers and beginners to write. 'Alochana*, 'Maharastra Sahitya Patrika' and 'Samaj Prabodhan Patrika' contained critical articles on the short story as a form of literature. The critical evaluation of stories and story writers brought new writers face to face with the problems involved in the short story writing and also the various demands of the genre. The new critics extended their field of criticism by considering short stories in other languages and other countries. Various competitions organized by different magazines to write short stories increased the number of short story writers all over Maharastra. They also improved the quality of story writing. Writers like Gangadhar Gadgil, Arvind Gokhale, P. B. Bhave set a tone for the Navkatha in Marathi. Many others followed the path shown by these stalwarts. The writers like G.A. Kulkarni, Keshav Meshram, Bhaskar Chandanshive, Bhau Padhey, Madhu liangesh Karnik, P. L. Mayekar, Vijaya Rajadhyaksh, Urmila Sirur constantly experimented with the form and function of the short story in Marathi. As a result the Marathi short story 17 has acquired the same status as the short stories in other major Indian languages have. Besides the short story in Hindi and liarathi I have chosen to say a few words about the short story in Bengali and Punjabi for two different reasons. Rabindranath Tagore's short stories have left indelible impact on Bengali and Indian short story. Punjab was a direct witness to the aftermath of partition of India. The most noticeable feature of the Bengali short story is its melodiousness. Most of the Bengali short story writers are poets basically. This has an unavoidable effect on the writing of the short story. Jagadish Gupta presented the psychoanalysis of characters through his stories. Shailajanand Mukhopadhyaya deals with the wretched conditions of the mine workers in Bengal and Bihar. Premed Mitra included imaginative travels into the unexisting land in his short stories. Achintyakumar Sengupta, Budhadeo Basu, Annadashankar Poyi Rajeshkhar Basu, Balaichand Mukhopadyay, Manoj Basu, Sarojkumar Roy Choudhuri, Prabodhkumar Sanyal worte short stories with innovative ideas, fresh style and renewed vigour. The Punjabi short story during the seventies dealt with the various implications of partition. Kartarsing Buggal dealt with the pathetic condition of human beings 18 after the partitiorv. The total loss of human dignity was the basic theme of his stories. KulwantsinQ Virk, Santokhsing alias Dheer, Amarsing, Lolan Bakshi and Devindar wrote abundantly. Prem Gorkhi was the most popular writer in the rural areas of Punjab. Gurbachansing Bhullar and Gurudeosing Rupana also contributed to the short story, (c) The short story abroad The European short story is traced back to the Apocrypha,the non-canonical Hebrew scripture in the second century B.C. It is in the Apocrypha that we find a delightful story of Susannah and the eldersf^^e Old Testament contained stories. 'The Book of Judges'and 'The Book of Joshua'included stories of various kinds and appeal.R.J.Rees notes, "Stories of this kind, though not perhaps written by self conscious literary artists show all the features which one looks for in a good short story of the traditional kind simple but fascinating plot,lively characterization and strict economy of narrativ«. e .,,1 '0 In the medieval ages exempla were used by the preachers to illustrate religious sermons. Chaucer's 'Pardoner's Tale'is a mixture of a sermon followed by an exemplum. It was humorously said that people of those 19 days forgot sermons and remembered exemplum. Other kinds of medieval stories were regarded contes and fabliaux. The growth of reading public and the invention of the printing press in the beginning of the 19th century were responsible for the regular publication of newspapers and magazines. The half-penny papers of the first half of the last century generated interest and awareness in the readers and writers of this form. The neo-1iterates needed cheap entertainment which was provided by the up-coming periodicals through the publication of serialized novels and short stories. By the middle of the 19th century the short story had come to be recognized as a literary unit. The great British writers of the 19th century were linked to various periodicals. Edgar Allan Poe,Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, M.R.James, Rudyard Kipling, D.H.Lawrence regularaly contributed to the magazines. Such association on the one hand enriched magazines and on the other hand provided continuous readership to the writers. Poe turned to journalism. He was able to exploit the extraordinary imaginative and poetic gifts in this profession. He was the editor of'The Southern Literary Messenger''for a short time. His stories were grotesque, 20 fantastic, surrealistic,obsessive and at times horrible. His stories 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue',"The Mystery of Marie Roget'and 'The Gold Bug' reveal his qualities as a great writer of the imaginative fiction. The novelty of approach in setting and characterization in his short stories not only took the old story writing to new heights but also set a trend for the world writers of the short story. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was associated with 'Strand Magazine'. His Sherlock Holmes can be described as the most widely read short stories of the world even today.His detective stories attracted and impressed the readers world over.Stunning nature of his suspense stories has been imitated by the writers of all major languages. Poe and Doyle enriched the craft and demonstrated the new possibilities of using language di fferently. Rudyard Kipling was another story writer of repute during the early 20th century who impressed the reading public of Britain and India. There are two opinions about his greatness as a writer.According to some,he is a prolific writer. Others think his writing as a verbose. Whatever may be the case,he is considered a great manipulator. The variety of subject matter and setting made him readable and respectable in the 21 literary circles of England and India. Rudyard Kipling has a special place in the Anglo-Indian literature as he was born in India and knew a lot of our people and our language. Somerset Maugham was yet another short story writer to attract and impress the readers. He was a queer mixture of tradition and modernity. He was traditional in the sense that he wove stories like the old writers. He was new in the treatment that he gave to his material. He laughed at and with his characters. The great genius D.H.Lawrence was another notable short story writer who not only wrote voluminously but also set a trend for new writers. His creativity and vision brought him a reputation as a different writer. Lawrence was the first prominent writer to demonstrate that the plot was secondary. He freed the short story from the clutches of the traditional narrative techniques. He gave importance to provocative situations, suggestiveness of atmosphere and sensuous evocations of nature. P.G.Modehouse entertained the readers with his ticklish humour and playfulness. His short stories demonstrated the writer's technique to pinch without seriously hurting the people. 0'. Henry provided a model of genuine technique in 22 which the end of a story relieved the readers with a surprise and unexpected twist.His six hundred odd stories have remained unsurpassed in the history of the world short story. James Stephens, Caradoc Evans, Katherine Mansfield, Frank O'Connor and H.E. Bates wrote abundantly. Their stories were read and imitated by the reading public of the British Raj. The English short story in the 19th and early 20th century had fantastic stories of Poe,detective stories of Doyle,ghost stories of M.R.James and energetic stories of D.H.Lawrence.Due to these writers the short story was established as a form of literature.lt revealed the various possibilities in subject matter, treatment, style, characterization and appeal. The old didactic, historical, anecdotal stories were replaced by more vigorous writings of these stalwarts. The plot of a story was marginalized by the writers of this century. Subtleties of narration,evocation of atmosphere and dramatization of situation shaped the modern short story. " The serious short story of the 20th century might be visualized as occupying a square, the four corners of which are marked by the narrative essay or sketch, the lyric poem, the prose drama and the unit of local social history." 23 The Russian short story has a special place in the history of the world literature in the 20th century.The short story writers faced rigorous confinement at home and simultaneously sneaked their material out of Russia. 'Samizdat' is an abbreviation standing for "Self Publishing". It refers to the private reproduction of short stories by means of simply typing and retyping them for distribution by hand. One of the greatest masters of the world short story , Anton Chekhov is from Russia. He was exemplary in almost all the areas of short story writing. His short stories— 'A Nincompoop','A Work of Art','The Bet', 'The Lament', 'The Death of a Clerk' look fresh even today. Some of the Russian stories are autobiographical and astonishing for their fine degree of intellectual honesty. A notable example is Victor Velsky's. 'My Apologia'. Most writers show a strong social concern. Victor Rostopchin describes the gradual impoverishment and starvation of an upper - class family after the Revolution. Anton Ulyansky deals with the experience of a young man among social parasites. Varlam Shalamov exposes the bureaucracy of prison camps and Alia Ktorova gives a moving account of life amid appalling housing conditions in Moscow after the second world war. 24 The most noticeable feature of the French Literature is that the French writer* never took short story writing irtth deep interest and literary seriousness. As a result none of the French short story writers of the 20th century has attained the quality of Guy de Maupassant. Colette wrote about childhood and the joys of innocence. The reminiscence nature of her stories rendered it a touch of personal accounts rather than literary pieces. Marcel Ayme's stories were filled with biting satire and irony. Albert Vidali conveyed the importance of recklessness and merry-making through his stories. Gilbert Cesbron dealt with the frustration in youth and violent moods of the city dwellers. Michel Tournier and Francoise Sagan have been writing about the meaninglessness of human existence in the modern world. Claire Sainte Soline, Marc Blancpain, Corinna Bille are some of the notable French short story writers of the modern world. (^) The commonwealth short story « — — — Various themes that the commonwealth short story writers deal with can be divided in three broad categories. Firstly, the colonized writers endeavoured to find their own cultural roots and personal identity 25 which were jeopardised at the hands of their shrewd rulers. They found that they were bestowed with a rich cultural heritage of the land and the proud past. Hence, the short story writers chose to write on the mythical figures and historical characters. Kenyan writer Grace Ogot's short stories 'Land without Thunder' and 'The Other Woman'tend to corelate traditional wisdom with modern situations. The Caribbean writer Wilson Maris' 'Kanaima' takes the readers back to the anthropological past, which is glorified by most of the third world writers. Secondly, the commonwealth short story writers who were considerably disturbed by the stark realities of poverty, extinction and apartheid took resort to the errie subjects , ghost stories and fairy tales. A west Indian writer Andrew Salkey in his story ' Anancy' demonstrates the spider's journey to the world of the ghosts and his victory in the wrestling match. The world of make-believe attracts them. Chinua Achebe's 'The Sacrificial Egg' shows the capacity of old superstitions and customs to influence all. Amos Tutuola's 'The Complete Gentleman' has a supernatural structure. Third group of these short stories is characterized by the conflict within the writer and 2(b without the writer. The continuous exploitation of the natives at the hands of their white masters, the imposed enslavement and the inhuman existence thrust upon them appeared in the short fiction of these writers. Poverty, unemployment, starvation, disease, i11 treatment, segregation and discrimination provided the staple food for the short story writers of the third world countries. Punyakante Wijenaike's 'The Third Moman' and 'The Rebel' are firmly rooted in Sri Lanka's divided culture and explore the struggle for authentic individulity in unfavourable circumstances. Trevor James provides a list of themes that appear in the commonwealth short story in the following words. " There are general concerns and themes which are shared between the new literatures and which spring however affected by local conditions from the shared experience. These include exile ; the retrieval of history, whether personal or national ; the quest for identity ; the negative legacy of colonialism - particularly racism ;the encounters between the old and the new ; and more generally, a range of concerns shaped 12 by cultural complexity and political ideology.". Eventhough Australia, New Zealand and Canada formally belong to the comm*>nwealth camp, their status is different from that of the other member nations of 27 the commonwealth. Their white-skin relations with the Britain and the inherent affluence provided a different orientation to their short stories. Margaret Laurence ( Canadian, who spent some years in Africa ) deals with the gradually changing patterns of the relationships between the parents and the children in modern Canadian society. B. Wongar's fiction is a journey through Australian tribal landscape. The stories by New Zealand writers like Gordimer and Dorris Lessing deal with the characters in the process of being alienated. Patrick White writes for the exploitation of language rather than the creation of fable. Periodicals have played a crucial role in the spread of short story in the commonwealth countries. Periodicals like 'Drum' and 'Black Orpheus' brought forward the African writers like Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo, John Pepper Clark, Dennis Brutus. Journals such as 'East African Journal' and 'Transition' helped to establish the new literatures in Africa. Kenyan periodicals 'Weekly Review' *Umma' published the writings of Godwin Wachira, John Karoki, Stephen Ngubian. Ugandan Peter Nazareth, Robert Serumaga and Tanzanian Ismael Mbise, Gabriel Ruhumbika also published their short stories in 'Drum', 'Black Orpheus' and 'Umma'. 28 (irf) PERIODICALS AND THE SHORT STORY AmonQ the various literary forms the short story has a close affinity with periodicals.The history of all leading periodicals shows that the short story was an indispensible aspect of their overall appeal and design.The 19th and 20th century periodicals in EuropefAmerica and India published short stories to attract and sustain subscribers. There were two important events in the 19th century which helped the generation of short fiction regularly and abundantly. The first was the installation of printing press and secondly the increase in literacy. Dozens of periodicals published thousands of copies with a sense of commitment.The periodical owners and the editors strove hard to attract the readers with various tricks. One such strategy was to employ the services of literary artists. John Hadfield mentions,"There was a phenomenal growth in the production and circulation of newspapers and magazines. To cater to the requirements of the new and extensive market short stories were a necessary commodi ty." The renowned writers like Coleridge, Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt,G.H.Lewes and John Forster were all journalists in 29 the beginning of their careers.In the second half of the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe,Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Matthew Arnold, Charles Dickens enhanced the quality of magazine writing. G.B.Shaw,Rudyard Kipling and Somerset Maugham contributed regularly to the magazines. That is why George Samson mentions,"The quality of the artists and of the reproduction made 14 these weeklies Victorian institutions." The reputed magazines like 'The Times',"The Morning Post','The Daily Telegraph','The Morning Chronicle','The Academy' ruled the literary minds of the Victorian middle classes. Horror, suspense, crime,hunting filled different periodicals,which endeavoured to cater to the tastes of the cross-section of the British society. Nowadays periodical publications have got primacy over the regular books and anthologies. General joyqc+i^e of the writers today is to express themselves through magazine articles, collect responses of the readers and then proceed accordingly to the next story. Sometimes the articles published in the magazines are reissued in a book form later on. A famous Indo-Anglian novelist, R.K.Narayan came to the writing of novels from the world of journalism. Kirpal Singh accounts for R. K. Narayan's literary weakneses in the following words : "It may 30 well be that his main limitation is finally the 15 limitation of the journalist." Taking into consideration the transitory nature of such writings, writers send their write-ups to the periodicals only to get themselves introduced to the readers and not to 'establish' themselves. That is why we find that the renowned writers like O' Henry, Hark Twain, Somerset Maugham initially wrote for magazines but later gave up contributing their serious writings to such publications. In the nineteen sixties seven short stories by Raja Rao appeared in 'The Weekly'. None of his stories appeared in "The Meekly' during the seventies. The journalistic writing has a disadvantage of speed and abundance. The necessity to publish continuously leaves little time and choice for the editorial preference. P. Lai's observation in this regard is worth consideration. He says, "Fast narratives immediately involve some sacrifice. Charactersketching becomes sketchy, style turns stale, revision replaces vision. The kind of loving care that a seasoned writer can lavish on meditative, philosophic interviewing of tenuous story and psychological insight, the kind of intricate and intense building up of descriptive detail that a writer can do and the kind of sensitive, 31 penetrating, nervous excellence of insight that an accomplished writer can apparently, effortlessly achieve are all foreign to journalistic writing." Gauri Deshpande in her interview mentions that "Many who later became 'known' writers were first published in 'The Weeklyl One example is M. J. Akbar whose first story I published in 'The Weekly'." The literary movements outside and inside the country could not be expected to go unnoticed by the prestigeous journal like 'The Weekly'. Women's assertion for independent place in the society, their aspirations for higher positions, their demands for specific identity found place in this periodical. 'The Weekly' has been able to provide 'literariness' to the vast section of its readers. It introduced to them the new trends in fictional world. 'The Weekly' helped not only the writers of the new literature in India but also played a vital role in shaping the taste of the upcoming readers. Though we find traditional narratives like 'The Future of Babli'(3 January 71)/The Necklace'(19 June 77)^ 'The Marriages are Made in Heaven'<20 June 71) during the seventies, we also have totally new stories on 'sex' 'violence' 'homo-sexuality' "lesbianism' in 'The Weekly'.The taboo topics like 'extra-marital alliance' 32 and 'incest' are also bravely included in * The Weekly' Subhadra Sen Supta's 'The Alien',<13 January 80) Dina Mehta's The New Broom'(7 January 77) and Kartar Singh Duggal's 'One More Dead Body'(31 October 71) are a case in point. Though 'The Meekly' occupied an important place in a bourgeois library, it had something for the neo- literates of the rural India also. Me have some stories that 'entertain' the readers. Some stories represent the working class, peasants and rustics . Some stories advocate the anti-establishment stance. Stories by Abdul Jabbar clamour for the urgent need to uproot the social evils in a structural society. There is only one story in the ten years time which deals with the recommendation of the system of the bonded labour. (M. Malgonkar's 'Bondage'l January 78) The urbanity is obvious in many of these stories. Raj Pandey's 'The Adultress'<27 March 77), Banaphool's 'Ridoo Babu'(13 March 77), Noronha's 'The Baron of Bandra'<7 November 71) are the extinguishing vestiges of the feudal India. The story writers disapprove of these rich parasites. They prophesy the final downfall of these human prodigies. 'The Weekly' had a fairly large group of readers for these stories. This is evident from their written 33 responses to the stories. When a north-east girl was portrayed as a traitor, people from that region reacted strongly against such defamation. Serialization of four novels during this decade does not reflect the preference of the editorial board of the periodical. 'The Weekly' published writings which were translated from all the major Indian languages. This is commendable in a multi-lingual society like ours. The various literary trends, nourished and nurtured in one language could be transplanted into other regions through such translations. The foreign readers of *The Weekly' could understand the various literary movements in the Indian languages. Q>/) THE ETHOS OF TRANSLATION The art of translation has been practised all over the world through several centuries. In the 19th century, translation acquired momentum due to the increase in multilingual literacy,the printing press facility and easy global intercommunication. The translated works could be cheaply published and easily circulated among the reading public allover the world. Great writers of the world, Aristotle, Plato, Socyd-fccs » Kalidas, Marx etc.were first translated into English and 34 later on in various other languages. World famous writings like Arabian Nights, Aesop's Fables, the Ramayana, the Mahabharat, the Shakuntala were also translated into English. In the 20th century translation became almost an established institution. In India, Sahitya Akademi and National Book Trust encouraged Indians to translate a work from Indian regional languages into English.In fact Sahitya Akademi has instituted a special award for such translated works. The culture associated with English language in India is fast disappearing and new cultural dimensions that Indian English has accumulated make it easy for the translators to translate from one of the Indian languages into English. Previously translations were largely meant for foreign readers. Now a days they are meant for the native Indo- Anglian readers as well. In the past, translation was a colonial curiousity. Most of the Indian neo-1iterates of the 19th century thought that Enlish was a treasure house of knowledge, skills and attitudes.Hence Indians made efforts to translate English works into various Indian languages. Today, translation has become a comparative discipline. The continuous interaction between the various scholars of the commonwealth countries have 35 enabled them to create a special register of English, which facilitated the task of translation. The Indian translators have made English a vehicle to interpret Indian literary talent to English speaking countries of the world. English language for Indians is now a world's window on India. Indian conscience for translation is pretty quick. Most of the Indians are bilingual. Bilingualism inherently contains ' translating consciousness '. Due to this, a short story translated from one of the regional languages into English creates no embarrassing problems for Indian readers. The literary behaviour of the Indians is such that it suits translations. B.N. Devi comments, " The extent to which Bilingual literary production has been accepted in India as a normal literary behaviour, and the historical length of the existence of such practice are indicative 18 of Indians' 'translating consciousness'." Stories in The Weekly were translated either by the writer himself or by the expert on the editorial board. I did not find special problems in understading the translated stories. In fact, I could not know it till it was acknowledged in the end of a story. The Meekly stopped mentioning the source language and the translator later on. 36 The translated story becomes tricky only when the piece of writing has unique reference and is filled with punny humour and has dialectal subtleties. P.L. Deshpande's TTUT "?^^ appeared as " Namu- The Dhobi ' (25 May 75) by M. V. Rajadhyaksha in 'The Weekly'. The translation did not impress me as much as the original did. Words like incident in which Namu says afTX~, ^^^TTU^TcTjTZf, This is not the same as 'remove clothes' as translated by the translator. Marathi bilingual writers Jai Nimbkar, Gauri Deshpande, Bal Samant and P.L. Deshpande appeared in 'The Weekly' during the seventies. Jai Nimbkar and Gauri Deshpande wrote in English with much more ease than they did in Marathi. Their stories in 'The Weekly' were originally written in English. Bal Samant's Vanamahotsava at Vadagaon,(23 February 75) though written in English seems a crude translation from Marathi. This means that the work may not have been translated into English. It may have been written in English. Yet the overall impact of such raw English writing is similar to that of translated work. It is partially true of some of the regional writers in India who write in English. 37 (y) THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TRADITIONAL INDO-ANGLIAN SHORT STORY AND THE MODERN INDO-ANGLIAN SHORT STORY The short story is the oldest form of literature in any language of the world. Consequently, innumerable changes have occured in this form over the years. The modern short story is deep, complex and compact as against the old short story which was a simple and straightforward narrative filled with actions and words. Plot : The most significant change in the short story writing over the years is the displacement of plot. The old stories possessed a well knit structure with the beginning, middle and the end. Such stories could be summarised step-wise. Tfie linear movement of the plot made it eftsy for the readers and listeners to grasp the essence of story within no time.For example,'The Mother' by Jai Nimbkar, 'Barbers' Trade Union' by Anand and 'Engine Trouble' by R.K.Narayan. Today a short story has almost become plotless and rimless. The various techniques and linguistic devices employed by the writers render them the air of complexity, ambiguity and at times eternal enigma. For example, 'Remember the Queen' (10 January 71) by Gauri Deshpande and "The Jungle'(11 July 71) by Manoj Das. The modern writers refuse to comment on their own stories in detail because they believe that the meaning of the 38 story resides in the story itself. The modern sory is ; it does not mean. Characterization: The modern short story writers are well equipped with the various findings in psychology, anthropology and physiology. Due to the acquisition of new knowledge, modern short story writers are in a position to picturize the inside of a human being. Human aspirations, ambitions, complexes, ambiguities, emotional upheavals, turbulances, disturbances and attitudes find representation in the modern short story. For example, 'The Green Bardener' (30 May 71) by Jayanta Mahapatra and 'Floatsam'(21 March 71) by Salome Parikh.The old short stories were filled with the physical details of the characters and their environment. Thus the old short stories were 'Physical', modern short stories are 'Psychological'. Characterization in modern short stories has become deeper and concentrated. The lengthy descriptions of the attire, appearance and surroundings of the characters in the old stories have been replaced by suggestive and symbolic phrases. Generally, a story in the past covered the meaningful and major incidents of its protagonist's life. Marriage, love affair, child birth, death of a sensitive figure in the family, financial matter and business concerns were used as a 39 oi'ty^ spring board of the action of the old short story. For instance, 'The Homecoming' by R. Tagore and 'The Refugee' by K. A. Abbas. The modern short story has done away with all these actions. Just a glimpse, a moment, a flickering thought, a mood are enough to generate a story. This has made the characterization in the modern short story deeper and complex. Scope : The old short stories generally ended with a concluding statement. The author's intention was clearly presented throughout the story . The author continuously reflected through the words that he wrote. In this sense, the old short stories were 'Personal'. "The Lost Child' by Anand and 'The God's Laughed' by Konica Sircar can be quoted in this respect. Modern short stories are 'Impersonal' in the sense that these stories do not reflect the writer's point of view. Readers can not know the writer from his writing. The creator's voice is almost absent in the modern short story. For example, Tiger Skin'(14 March 71) by Balwant Gargi and 'The Red Truck'(9 July 72) by Deepak. The ancient short stories covered wider scope. The writers thought about the broad issues.'The Drought' by S. C. Chattergy and 'The God Lives in the Ranch' by Premchand. Modern short stories are ego-centric. They do not portray a group or the whole of a person. 40 ^'Z'^ They paint just a minute or an incident in a person's life. For txample, 'Reunion'(18 July 71) by Gauri Dcshpande and 'When Generals Gather' (17 Sepptember 72) by Aarti Seoraj. Language: The language used by the modern short story writers is suggestive rather than descriptive. The various images that the writer employs to delineate the psychological picture of the characters, the queer combination of words and phrases in the description of atmosphere and deconstructed discourse items are the linguistic features of the new short stories. For example, 'End of a Song' (30 March 75) by Vijay N. Shankar and 'And Under the Pines'(3 0ctober71) by Jayanta Mahapatra. Many short story writers of today make use of two languages.Sometimes a Marathi short story writer makes use of English and Hindi words in his stories. Many Indo-Anglian short stories make free use of the words and phrases that are typically Indian. For example, 'The Red Bindi'(27 January 80) by R. Singh and 'Yoga and the Bus'(3 December 78) by Ajit Mishra. The same is true about English, French and American short stories. The languages and the literatures of the past have been identified according to the old parametres. Henceforth no literature in the world will be a product of one 41 language and one region. It will be, whether consciously or unconsciouly an amalgamation of various languages and literatures. (vi) THE EVALUATION OF THE INDO-ANGLIAN SHORT STORY The Indo-Anglian short story writers have a fairly long indigenous tradition in short story writing at the background. They also have an easy access to the English short story as well as the world short story in English and English translation. The presence and the availability of these two trends are advantageous as well as disadvantageous to them. The Indo-Anglian short story writers can learn various techniques from both the sources. Simultaneously, there is a temptation of becoming unconscious imitators, obvious manipulators and occasionally debased followers of the masters in the art. This is what has exactly happened with respect to some Indo-Anglian short story writers. The Indo-Anglian short story does not stand favourable in comparison with the European, American,New Zealand, Russian and French short story. The world short story has achieved landmarks in the art of characterization, technique and stylistic variations. The Indo-Anglian short story writer is no where near Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Anton Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant, 42 Maxim Gorky, P.G. Ulodehouse, It appears that the Indo-Anglian short story is largely imitative in techniques and language. Many Indo-Anlian short story writers have tried to imitate 0. Henry's technique of giving a twist in the tail of a story. Chandrakant Bakshi in his The Escape'(21 August 77) and B.C Dutt in his 'My Uncle's Mistress' (9 April 72) have attempted to give us the unexpected shock in the end. But they failed to convince the readers. Because O. Henry used to provide sufficient hints throughout the story to make the unexpected end acceptable and anticipatory. The unconvincing surprise in the end of the stories made ii-le^se short stories unartistic. The mysterious atmosphere that Maxim Gorky and Arthur Conan Doyle were capable of creating in their short stories impressed the Indo-Anglian short story writers. They tried to emulate these masters but could not achieve the desirable success. The Indo-Anglian writers could not provide adequate errie atmosphere to their suspense stories. As a result, Jamila Vergheses 'Tiger at the Elbow' (1 July 73), Perin Bharucha's 'The Deepfreeze'(31 March 74) and R.K. Laxman's ' Woman at the Window (28 March 76) fail to haunt readers. None of the Indo-Anglian short story writers could 43 attain the height of Anton Chekhov's art of characterization. Descriptive and suggestive details of the physical and psychological aspects of the characters that Chekhov so effectively employed in his stories are not available to us in the Indo-Anglian short story. The harmless humour of P.G. Wodehouse has not been equalled by the Indo-Anglian short story writers. Modehouse in The Prize Poem' gives masterly touches of humour to all the incidents in the story. R. Shankar in 'Itchy-Bitchy'(19 March 72) tries to bring in ticklish humour without much success. The story ends in hurting some characters and providing sickening humour to its readers. There are reasons for the shortcomings in the Indo-Anglian short story. Firstly, the Indian English has not spread to all the sections of the Indian populace. Secondly, the English that the Indians use is highly bookish and at times obsolete^, The millions of villagers whose language could provide stylistic variations to the Indo-Anglian short story have been written off simply because register akin to their language is not available to the Indo-Anglian short story writers. Indian English is one dialect as against the British or American English which is a confluence of 44 dialectal and idiolectal differences. Apart from a few phonological variations, Indian English does not have a remarkable variety. As a result of its inadequate creolization, resulting out of interaction with Indian languages the Indo - Anglian literature fails to provide a verbal kaleidoscope to its readers. Another hurdle that has handicapped the Indo- Anglian short story writer is perhaps the Tmtk of continuous support from the-publishing houses. Mulk Raj Anand's eight short story collections have been published by seven different publishing companies from 1934 to 1977. This does not mean that the Indo-Anglian short story has no literary merit at all. Kabir Bedi's 'Ramblings on a Beach'(2 February 75), Kamala Das 'A Home Near the Sea'(10 August 75), Vernon Thomas' ' Sirl at the Wedding'(26 June 77), Gauri Deshpande's 'Remember th* Queen'(10 January 71) and Keki N Daruwalla's ' The Tree'(l June 75) are quite perceptive and promising short stories in the Indo-Anglian literature. 45 NOTES Bates,H. E., The Modern Short Story - A Critical Survey, Boston. The Writers Inc. , 1941. P. 15-16. Shipley, Joseph T. (ed.), Dictionary of World Literature , Totowa . Littlefield Admons and Co., 1966 . P. 373. Hanson, Clare (ed.>. Re-reading the Short Story , New York . St. Martin's Press, 1989 . P. 2. , Peden, William (ed.), Short Fiction - Shape and Substance , Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1971.P. 6. 5 Joshi, Mahadev Shastri (ed.),Bhartiya Sanskriti Kosh Vol.2, Pune. Bhartiya Sanskriti Mandal, 1964. P. 41. 6 Ramanujan, A. K. ( ed.) , Folk Tales from India, New York . Viking, 1993 . P. VI. 7 lyenger, K. R. S., Indian Writing in English , New Delhi . Contemporary Indian Literature, 1968 . P. 367. a Venugopal,C.V., The Indian Short Story in English , Bareilly . Prakash Book Depot, 1976 . P. 45. 9 Naik,M.K., The History of Indian English Literature, New Delhi. Sahitya Akademi, 1989 . P. 288-289. 10 Rees,R.J.,An Introduction to English Literature, London. Macmillan, 1968. P. 266. 46 11 Encyclopaedia Britanica, Vol.20, Chicago,London. William Benton Publisher, 1969. P. 448. 12 James, Trevor, English Literature from the Third World, Harlow. Longman York Press, 1986. P. 11- 13 Hadfield, John (ed.), Modern Short Stories, London. Everyman's Library, 1970, P. vi. 14 Samson,George, The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, New Delhi. Vikas Students' Edition, 1979. P.693. ^13 Singh, Kirpal, Tne Ordinary and Average as Satiric Traps-The/Case of R.K.Narayanl Dhawan,R.K.(ed.), Explorations in Modern Indo- English Fiction, New Delhi.Bahari Publications Pvt.Ltd., 1982. P.140. 16 Lai,P., Shadows from Ladakh, Dhawan ,R.K . (ed . ) ,E; English Fiction, New Delhi. Bahari Publications Pvt. Ltd., 1982. P.169. 17 Deshpande, Sauri, Appendix No.1 of this Thesis. P. 302-303. 18 Devi, S.N., In Another Tongue, Madras. Macmillan, 1995. P.136.