The Greatest Tamil Stories Ever Told showcases some of the best short fiction to emerge out of Tamil Nadu, dating from the last century to the present day. Two of the earliest stories included here are Subramania Bharati’s ‘The Story of a Crow Learning Prosody’, a satirical tale about the exaltation of language, and ‘Kalki’ Krishnamurthy’s ‘The Governor’s Visit’, about how bigwigs in little places pandered to the British rulers during the time of the Raj. While some stories in this volume wrestle with the idea of public justice, as in Father Mark Stephen’s ‘Penance’ and Sa. Kandasamy’s ‘The Slaying of Hiranya’, others, such as Ambai’s ‘Journey 4’, hide secrets that could destroy lives and relationships if they are ever revealed.
Featuring memorable works by, among others, Bama, Perumal Murugan, and Poomani, the thirty stories in this collection, selected and edited by Sujatha Vijayaraghavan and Mini Krishnan, come together to paint a striking picture of the Tamil people.
Sujatha Vijayaraghavan is a writer. As a bilingual writer, musician, and dance scholar, she combines three disciplines: literature, Carnatic music, and Bharatanatyam. Her literary works in Tamil and English include collections of short stories, poems, a travelogue, articles on environmental issues and the arts, and a novel in Tamil. Some of her books have been acquired by the American Library of Congress and she holds master’s degrees in English literature from Delhi and Madras Universities.
Mini Krishnan has edited translations for Macmillan India and Oxford University Press, India. She is currently working with multiple publishers as coordinating editor (translations) for the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Education Services Corporation.
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