On the Shelf

Born in Banaras in the late nineteenth century, Dhanpat Rai took to fiction while still in his teens. He later adopted the pen-name Premchand and embarked upon a life 8212; a life cruelly cut short at 56 8212; of using the short story and fiction forms to 8220;mirror the truths of life8221; and to develop a 8220;new sense of beauty8221;. Critics have often cast his brand of social realism as idealistic realism. But through his immediately popular writings, Premchand explored the circumstances of patriarchy, feudal distractions, oppression of peasants and colonial burdens. In the fiction in these pages, a group of able translators manage to retain the essence of his messages as well the beauty he so relentlessly sought to capture.