Truth Tales: Contemporary Stories by Women Writers of India

The rich popular tradition of India's women writers is finally available in this collection of short stories translated from seven of the country's languages. The writers and their heroines reflect the complex mosaic of Indian life-they are old and young, rural and urban, rich and poor. Here we meet Muniyakka, called "walkie-talkie" because she mutters to herself; Shakun, the dollmaker, an exploited artist who needs to feel that others depend on her; and Jashoda, professional mother to children of the rich, from Mahasveta Devi's acknowledged masterpiece "The Wet Nurse." These stories "are dense with thsoe customs, manners, and objects that usually remain locked within regional languages," wrote Anita Desai in the New York Review ofBooks . Meena Alexander's thoughtful introduction places the stories and the writers in the context of modern India.Kali for Women Staff is the author of 'Truth Tales: Contemporary Stories by Women Writers of India', published 1993 under ISBN 9781558610125 and ISBN 155861012X.