The delightful story by Ammani Ammal featured in our collection as the very first story was written in 1913.
But the short story, as we understand today, made its appearance in the early decades of the twentieth century. It is generally agreed that the tradition of fiction began in the 1850s. What was the earliest known instance of a short story being written in Tamil? We are sure that the galaxy of writers featured in this book has amply justified the need for such a book. Besides, we thought it would also reflect and document the pulse beat of Tamil Nadu, both social and cultural. Given such a rich legacy, we realised that there was a need and scope for a comprehensive anthology which would not only record the evolution of the Tamil short story but also showcase the wide range of expressions and possibilities of the genre. Tamil has a rich tradition of short fiction, which can be traced to early twentieth century and the steady stream flowed on through the decades without any let-up. Why did this question - the origins of the short story in Tamil literature - interest you? In an email interview with Firstpost, Dilip and Subashree told us about their experiences working on The Tamil Story. These stories are not just literary gems in themselves - they also document the societal landscapes prevalent when they were written and straddle a range of social concerns relevant to those times. Eighty-eight short stories spanning nine decades (1913-2000) were finally selected for inclusion in their book.
Sub-titled “Through the times, through the tides”, The Tamil Story was painstakingly put together by Dilip and Subashree, after combing through all the available sources where short stories were published: libraries and private collections, literary journals, popular magazines, anthologies of old literary magazines, short story collections of individual authors and collected anthologies of various writers. How did the short story in Tamil literature evolve? This was the question editor Dilip Kumar (who had previously edited Contemporary Tamil Short Fiction) and translator Subashree Krishnaswamy wanted to examine when they set out to compile their new book, The Tamil Story.
0 kommentar(er)
