Himalayan voices : an introduction to modern Nepali literature / translated and edited by Michael James Hutt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hutt, Michael (Michael J.), Author.

Contributor:

Hutt, Michael (Michael J.)

Series:

Voices from Asia ; volume 2.

Voices from Asia ; 2

Language:

English

Nepali

Subjects (All):

Authors, Nepali--20th century--Biography.

Authors, Nepali.

Short stories, Nepali--Translations into English.

Short stories, Nepali.

Nepali poetry--20th century--Translations into English.

Nepali poetry.

Nepal--Literary collections.

Nepal.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (352 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, [1991]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

While the natural splendor of Nepal has been celebrated in many books, very little of the substantial body of Nepali literature has appeared in English translation. Himalayan Voices provides admirers of Nepal and lovers of literature with their first glimpse of the vibrant literary scene in Nepal today. An introduction to the two most developed genres of modern Nepali literature-poetry and the short story-this work profiles eleven of Nepal's most distinguished poets and offers translations of more than eighty poems written from 1916 to 1986. Twenty of the most interesting and best-known examples of the Nepali short story are translated into English for the first time by Michael Hutt. All provide vivid descriptions of life in twentieth-century Nepal. Although the days when Nepali poets were regularly jailed for their writings have passed, until 1990 the strictures of various laws governing public security and partisan political activity still required writers and publishers to exercise a certain caution. In spite of these conditions, poetry in Nepal remained the most vital and innovative genre, in which sentiments and opinions on contemporary social and political issues were frequently expressed. While the Nepali short story adapted its present form only during the early 1930's, it has rapidly developed a surprisingly high degree of sophistication. These stories offer insights into the workings of Nepali society: into caste, agrarian relations, social change, the status of women, and so on. Such insights are more immediate than those offered by scholarly works and are conveyed by implication and assumption rather than analysis and exposition. This book should appeal not only to admirers of Nepal, but to all readers with an interest in non-Western literatures. Himalayan Voices establishes for the first time the existence of a sophisticated literary tradition in Nepal and the eastern Himalaya.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE. THE POETS OF NEPAL

PART TWO. SELECTED SHORT STORIES

GLOSSARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

pt. 1. Poets of Nepal: [Selected poetry of] Lekhnāth Paudyāl. Bālkrishna Sama. Lakshmīprasād Devkotā. Siddhicharaṇ Shreshṭha. Kedār Mān "Vyathit". Gopālprasād Rimāl. Mohan Koirālā. Bairāgī Kāinlā. Pārijāt. Bhūpi Sherchan. Bānīrā Giri. Bhairava Aryāl. Haribhakta Kaṭuvāl. Ìshwar Ballabh. Hem Hamāl. Krishnabhūshan Bal. Bimal Nibhā. Ashesh Malla. Mīnbahādur Bishṭa. Avināsh Shreshṭha. pt. 2. Selected short stories: Blaze in the straw / Guruprasād Mainālī

Soldier ; To the lowlands / Bishweshwar Prasād Koirālā

Will he ever return? ; Māujang Bābusāheb's coat / Bhavānī Bhikshu

Murderer / Shivkumār Rāī

Āndhī Kholā / Daulat Bikram Bishṭha

Sunglasses ; Prisoner and the dove / Bijay Malla

Splendid buffalo / Ramesh Bikal.

Half-closed eyes of the Buddha and the slowly setting sun / Shankar Lāmichhāné

Mainā's mother is just like us / Indra Bahādur Rāī

Sweater for brother-in-law / Poshaṇ Pāndé

It depends upon your point of view / Tāriṇī Prasād Koirālā

Husband / Premā Shāh

Telegram on the table ; Relationship / Parashu Pradhān

Fire / Dhruba Chandra Gautam

Small fish squats by the Dhobī Kholā / Manu Brājākī

Living death / Kishor Pahāḍī.

Notes:

Translated from Nepali.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-323) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9786612355721

9780520910263

0520910265

9781282355729

1282355724

9780585130811

0585130817

OCLC:

43476642