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Indian English short fiction, which has a history of more than a hundred years, like
short fiction in the Bhasha literatures of India, traces its genesis back to ancient
Indian classics such as Panchtantra, the fables of Brihatkatha, Kathasaritsagar and Yoga-Vashistha (Venugopal, 1976; Dwivedi, 1991; Sisir, 1991; Charu, 2003;
Mishra, 2004; and Bijoy, 2006). Sisir (1991) in his book A History of Indian Literature mentions three stages in the development of Indian short story. He says, "The first stage is that
of anecdotes, second stage belongs to tales and fables and the third stage may be
referred to short fiction". According to him, these are autonomous forms and the modern
Indian short story has only achieved its form after passing through these stages. Short story
as a form has also been considered `a byproduct of novel
workshop.' However, apart from these obvious Indian influences, one can also trace the
western influence on Indian short stories written in English. The short stories of Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov,
Nikloi Gogol, Anatol France and many others have substantially influenced the sensibilities
of short story writers in India. It can be pointed out here that in spite of being influenced
by the western writers in structure and substance, the form of short story took its
own course in line with the social changes that were taking place in India. Shiv K
Kumar writes:
[T]he early short story, whether written in English or any Indian language,
grew under Western tutelage. The only difference was that while the writer in
Indian language breathed in the Western influence as a part of the zeitgeist, the writer in English was ostensibly conscious of his indebtedness to the Western
masters.
Though short story emerged as a significant form of literature during the
pre-Independence period, it emerged as a dominant mode of writing only after the
1950s. One of the major reasons behind this sudden spurt and interest in the form was
the promotion and support it received from major publishing houses. Many noted
Indian publishers such as Writers Workshop, Penguin, Macmillan India, Oxford University
Press, Rupa and Kali for Women provided ample opportunities for Indian authors to get
their writings published. Short story was a preferred form for readers, writers and
publishers. Readers demanded short stories instead of novels getting serialized in journals
and periodicals. Even editors of reputed journals, therefore, encouraged the popular
novelists of that time to contribute short stories. Even writers, many times, preferred short
stories to novel because it helped them in consolidating their ideas and present them in a
compact form. The short story is short yet intense, deep as well as complex. In that sense, it is
an author's perfect offering to the reader and a significant contribution to literature as
well. Commenting on the merits of the form, Mary Rohrberger states: |
