A Path and Many Shadows & Twelve Stories
Rajelakshmy, translated from the original Malayalam by R. K. Jayasree
Price
980
ISBN
9788125063513
Language
English
Pages
320
Format
Paperback
Dimensions
140 x 216 mm
Year of Publishing
2016
Territorial Rights
World
Imprint
Orient BlackSwan

The anguish of yesterdays, the emptiness of today and the futility of tomorrows – did she glimpse them all, in that moment? A Path and Many Shadows is a Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award winning novel by Rajelakshmy. It is the story of a girl growing up in southern India in the 1950s and how she blossoms as an individual. We are shown the formative years of Mani, who encounters a society that is deeply patriarchal. We read about her choices and mistakes, her desires and failings, and the ultimate realisation that liberation lies in pursuing what one’s heart desires, come what may.

Rajelakshmy, one of Kerala’s prominent writers, committed suicide in 1965. And now, fifty years later, R. K. Jayasree resurrects her fictional world in the English language. The themes dealt with here – questioning faith, battling oppression, facing desire, choosing death – continue to speak to the world today.

This book, which includes twelve short stories, contains a critical introduction that shows how Rajelakshmy’s fiction lays bare the working of the writer’s mind. It will interest students of literature, gender studies and translation, and the general reader interested in fiction.

Rajelakshmy was an eminent novelist, short story writer and poet and the first woman novelist to win the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.

R. K. Jayasree retired as associate professor of English literature, Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam.
Publisher’s Acknowledgement

‘Rajelakshmy, my Cheriamma’ by Bharathy Mohanram

‘Introduction: Rajelakshmy, the Tale and the Teller’ by P. P. Raveendran

SHORT STORIES

  1. Suicide

  2. The Apology

  3. The Defeated One

  4. A Teacher is Born

  5. Daughter

  6. A Pretty Girl and Her Pals

  7. The Curse

  8. Winding Sheet

  9. In the Abode of God

  10. History Did Not Repeat Itself

  11. Mistakes

  12. Handkerchief

NOVEL
A Path and Many Shadows
On Translating Rajelakshmy
Glossary
1. Why everyone should read more of Malayalam writer Rajelakshmy’s groundbreaking fiction | Scroll.in, July 2017
2. Looking for a worldwide impact | December 2017
3. A Path and Many Shadows & Twelve Stories, Frontline (Fortnightly),Chennai, Apr1318
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