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104-524: Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, novelist, short story writer , and critic in the Bengali language . He was one of the foremost poets experimenting with new forms, themes, rhythms, and words in Bengali poetry in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1953, along with Deepak Majumder and Ananda Bagchi, he founded the Bengali poetry magazine, Krittibas . He

208-415: A novel , but typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel or novella/short novel , authors generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques . The short story is sometimes referred to as a genre. Determining what exactly defines a short story remains problematic. A classic definition of a short story is that one should be able to read it in one sitting,

312-417: A plot ". Hugh Walpole had a similar view: "A story should be a story; a record of things happening full of incidents, swift movements, unexpected development, leading through suspense to a climax and a satisfying denouement." This view of the short story as a finished product of art is however opposed by Anton Chekhov , who thought that a story should have neither a beginning nor an end. It should just be

416-429: A "slice of life", presented suggestively. In his stories, Chekhov does not round off the end but leaves it to the readers to draw their own conclusions. Sukumar Azhikode defined a short story as "a brief prose narrative with an intense episodic or anecdotal effect". Flannery O'Connor emphasized the need to consider what is exactly meant by the descriptor short. Short story writers may define their works as part of

520-959: A Festival of Letters and the Samvatsar Annual Lecture. The Sahitya Akademi periodically holds International Seminars, sometimes in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations . The first international seminar was held in 1961, in New Delhi, to mark 100 years since the birth of Rabindranath Tagore . About 25 writers from 16 countries, along with 39 writers from India met over four days to discuss and commemorate Tagore's works. Attendees included Aldous Huxley , Martin Wickremesinghe , Jean Guehenno , Zaki Naguib Mahmoud , Isaiah Berlin , and Louis Untermeyer as well as Amrita Pritam , Ramdhari Sinha Dinkar, Rayaprolu Subba Rao, and Premendra Mitra . In 1991,

624-613: A Finance Committee. The General Council is empowered to elect a president and vice-president, from a panel of three candidates chosen by the executive board. In addition to these, the executive board appoints a secretary, who functions as both the Secretary of the Akademi and as ex-officio secretary of all three governing bodies. The General Council of the Sahitya Akademi operates for a term of five years, following which it

728-477: A cabal of writers and officials. The appointment by a committee composed of Narang, Tiwari and others of the current Secretary K. Sreenivasa Rao, is controversial as Rao's academic credentials for the top job, who had joined the Akademi as a lower division clerk (LDC), are said to be insufficient and extremely dubious. The 171st Parliamentary Standing Committee on the functioning of Sahitya Akademi and three other institutions chaired by Sitaram Yechury and tabled at

832-518: A consciously feminist perspective. James Baldwin 's collection, Going to Meet the Man (1965), told stories of African-American life. Science fiction stories with a special poetic touch was a genre developed with great popular success by Ray Bradbury . Stephen King published many science fiction short stories in men's magazines in the 1960s and after. King's interest is in the supernatural and macabre. Donald Barthelme and John Barth produced works in

936-593: A larger narrative story (a frame story ), although the frame-tale device was not adopted by all writers. At the end of the 16th century, some of the most popular short stories in Europe were the darkly tragic " novella " of Italian author Matteo Bandello , especially in their French translation. The mid 17th century in France saw the development of a refined short novel, the "nouvelle", by such authors as Madame de Lafayette . Traditional fairy tales began to be published in

1040-508: A literary movement, a current literary trend, some original thinking about a great writer or a great classic or a new path in literary criticism or literary creation". The Lectures have been delivered since 1986 by people including the Hindi writer Sachchidananda Vatsyayan (1986), Marathi poet and writer Vinda Karandikar (1991), Assamese novelist Nabakanta Barua (1994), and Malayalam author and director, M T Vasudevan Nair (1999). In 2014,

1144-437: A major literary form remains diminished. In terms of length, word count is typically anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 for short stories; however, some works classified as short stories have up to 15,000 words. Stories of fewer than 1,000 words are sometimes referred to as "short short stories", or " flash fiction ". Short stories have no set length. In terms of word count, there is no official demarcation between an anecdote ,

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1248-536: A niche of its own which have influenced many later writers, not only in Bengal but elsewhere too. Sunil, according to Shankha Ghosh , "used to narrate the story using contemporary language, which often allows readers to find aspects of themselves they may have not seen, perhaps did not want to see. In doing so, Sunil skillfully turned his personal confession into a shared experience for a wide readership." Sitanshu Yashaschandra observed that in his works "the personal

1352-399: A novel, Manto is widely admired for his analyses of violence, bigotry, prejudice, and the relationships between reason and unreason. Combining realism with surrealism and irony, Manto's works, such as the celebrated short story Toba Tek Singh , are aesthetic masterpieces that continue to give profound insight into the nature of human loss, violence, and devastation. Another famous Urdu writer

1456-477: A point most notably made in Edgar Allan Poe 's essay " The Philosophy of Composition " (1846). H. G. Wells described the purpose of the short story as "The jolly art, of making something very bright and moving; it may be horrible or pathetic or funny or profoundly illuminating, having only this essential, that it should take from fifteen to fifty minutes to read aloud." According to William Faulkner ,

1560-530: A regular short story salon, held in London and other major cities. Short story writers who have appeared at the salon to read their work to live audiences include Ben Okri , Lionel Shriver , Elizabeth Day , A.L. Kennedy , William Boyd , Graham Swift , David Nicholls , Will Self , Sebastian Faulks , Julian Barnes , Evie Wylde and Claire Fuller . Canadian short story writers include Alice Munro , Mavis Gallant and Lynn Coady. In 2013, Alice Munro became

1664-420: A short story is character-driven and a writer's job is to "...trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does." Some authors have argued that a short story must have a strict form. Somerset Maugham thought that the short story "must have a definite design, which includes a point of departure, a climax and a point of test; in other words, it must have

1768-426: A short story, and a novel. Rather, the form's parameters are given by the rhetorical and practical context in which a given story is produced and considered so that what constitutes a short story may differ between genres, countries, eras, and commentators. Like the novel, the short story's predominant shape reflects the demands of the available markets for publication, and the evolution of the form seems closely tied to

1872-463: A weekly short story publication for more than half a century. Shirley Jackson 's story, " The Lottery " (1948), elicited the strongest response in the magazine's history to that time. Other frequent contributors during the 1940s included John Steinbeck , Jean Stafford , Eudora Welty , and John Cheever , who is best known for "The Swimmer " (1964), beautifully blending realism and surrealism. Many other American short story writers greatly influenced

1976-498: Is Ismat Chughtai , whose short story, "Lihaaf" (The Quilt), on a lesbian relationship between an upper-class Muslim woman and her maidservant created great controversy following its publication in 1942. Notable examples in the period up to World War II include: Following World War II , the artistic range and numbers of writers of short stories grew significantly. Due in part to frequent contributions from John O'Hara , The New Yorker would come to exercise substantial influence as

2080-524: Is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the major Indian languages recognised by the Akademi. Sahitya Akademi conferres annually the Yuva Puraskar to young writers (under 35 years) of outstanding works in one of the 24 major Indian languages. It was founded in 2011. Other programmes organised by

2184-412: Is a recurrent trope in short stories; whether in their ending, characterisation or length. As with any art form, the exact characteristics of a short story will vary depending on who is its creator. Characteristic of short story authors, according to professor of English, Clare Hanson, is that they are "losers and loners, exiles, women, blacks – writers who for one reason or another have not been part of

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2288-501: Is a rich heritage of ancient folktales as well as a compiled body of short fiction which shaped the sensibility of modern Indian short story. Some of the famous Sanskrit collections of legends, folktales, fairy tales, and fables are Panchatantra , Hitopadesha and Kathasaritsagara . Jataka tales , originally written in Pali , is a compilation of tales concerning the previous births of Lord Gautama Buddha . The Frame story , also known as

2392-529: Is also the winner of the Bankim Puraskar (1982), and the Ananda Puraskar (twice, in 1972 and 1989). Sunil wrote in many other genres including travelogues, children's fiction, short stories, features, and essays. Among his pen-names are: Nil Lohit, Sanatan Pathak, and Nil Upadhyay. Though he wrote all types of children's fiction, one character created by him that stands out above the rest,

2496-547: Is held in February and is the occasion at which the Akademi presents its awards . The festival is accompanied by an exhibition that covers major literary events of the previous year, as well as a 'Writers' Meet' which is a literary seminar spanning three days. The Samvatsar Annual Lecture is organised by the Sahitya Akademi and is delivered during the Akademi's Annual Festival of Letters. The Sahitya Akademi notes that these lectures "should open up new vistas of thinking regarding

2600-636: Is independent from the recognition of languages by the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India . The idea of constituting a National Academy of Letters in India was considered by the colonial British government, and in 1944 a proposal from the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal for the formation of a 'National Cultural Trust' was, in principle, accepted. The original plan conceived of three institutions, or academies, devoted to

2704-514: Is never sacrificed in favor of the 'regional,' nor is 'Bengaliness' ever given up to aspire for any larger status. He is a writer of international stature, simply because he is a writer, such a good writer." He was born in Madaripur in a Bengali Hindu family which is now in Bangladesh . At an early age, he moved to Kolkata from his ancestral town, which became part of East Pakistan after

2808-699: Is one of the best-known writers of short stories in the Spanish language . " The Library of Babel " (1941) and " The Aleph " (1945) handle difficult subjects like infinity . Borges won American fame with " The Garden of Forking Paths ", published in the August 1948 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine . Two of the most representative writers of the Magical realism genre are also widely known Argentine short story writers, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Julio Cortázar . The Nobel laureate author Gabriel García Márquez and

2912-428: Is reconstituted. It meets once a year and performs several important functions, including appointing the Akademi's president and vice-president, electing members of the executive board, framing rules and procedures for the Akademi, and electing fellows on the recommendation of the board. The General Council consists of the following members: The executive board of the Sahitya Akademi exercises executive authority and

3016-497: Is regarded as one of the most prolific and popular writers in Bengali since Rabindranath Tagore . He is best known for his novels Atmaprakash (1964), Aranyer Din Ratri , Sei Somoy , Pratham Alo (1996), and Purba Paschim ; travelogues Payer Tolay Sorshe (Vol. 1 and 2) ; the poetry collections Eka ebong Koekjon (1958), Ami Ki Rokom Vabe Beche Achi (1966), and Hathat Nirar Janya . Sunil Gangopadhyay introduced

3120-627: Is responsible for supervising and controlling the Akademi's work. It prepares the Akademi's annual budget, appoints the secretary, and prepares panels of nominees for the General Council to consider and select fellows. It consists of the president, the vice-president, the financial advisor, two of the Government of India's nominees in the General Council (one of whom must represent the Ministry of Culture) and one person to represent each of

3224-548: Is the purpose of this Akademi to recognise men of achievement in letters, to encourage men of promise in letters, to educate public taste and to improve standards of literature and literary criticism." A key concern in the early days of the Sahitya Akademi was the establishment of its autonomy from the Central Government. This concern was echoed by the Prime Minister, who noted that, "...it is an honour to be

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3328-732: The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature ; and presents the annual Sahitya Akademi Award of INR. 100,000 in each of the 24 languages it supports, as well as the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement. The Sahitya Akademi Library is one of the largest multi-lingual libraries in India, with a rich collection of books on literature and allied subjects. It publishes two bimonthly literary journals: Indian Literature in English and Samkaleen Bharatiya Sahitya in Hindi. The Sahitya Akademi supports work in

3432-743: The Makers of Indian Literature , which consist of biographical monographs on Indian writers, and Histories of Indian Literature , 18 of which have been published thus far. It publish two journal: Indian Literature (started in 1957) in English, and Samakaleen Bharatiya Sahitya (started in 1980) in Hindi. In 1987, it published a book ( Bulhe Shah: Volume 141 ) on the life of Bulleh Shah (authored by Surindar Singh Kohli). The Sahitya Akademi holds over 100 programmes related to Indian literature every year across India. It holds frequent seminars on Indian literature, as well as translation workshops. In addition, it holds several regular and annual events, including

3536-598: The 1947 Partition of India . He studied at the Surendranath College , Dum Dum Motijheel College , City College, Kolkata – all affiliated with the University of Calcutta . Thereafter, he obtained his master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta in 1954. He married Swati Banerjee on 26 February 1967. Their only son, Souvik, who stays in Boston, was born on 20 November 1967. Gangopadhyay

3640-540: The Lok Sabha in August 2011 states, "It was felt that most of these institutions were not able to live up to the original mandates set out by their founding fathers. Controversies of different kind involving these institutions that keep cropping up from time to time, had caught this Committee’s attention. Questions were also raised about the indifference and helplessness shown by the Ministry of Culture to do anything in

3744-614: The Ramayana , the Mahabharata , and Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey . Oral narratives were often told in the form of rhyming or rhythmic verse , often including recurring sections or, in the case of Homer, Homeric epithets . Such stylistic devices often acted as mnemonics for easier recall, rendition, and adaptation of the story. While the overall arc of the tale was told over the course of several performances, short sections of verse could focus on individual narratives that were

3848-462: The 18th century with the publication of the fictional anecdotal letters of Sir Roger de Coverley . In Europe, the oral story-telling tradition began to develop into written form in the early 14th century, most notably with Giovanni Boccaccio 's Decameron and Geoffrey Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales . Both of these books are composed of individual short stories, which range from farce or humorous anecdotes to well-crafted literary fiction, set within

3952-484: The 1970s that demonstrate the rise of the postmodern short story. While traditionalism maintained a significant influence on the form of the short story, minimalism gained widespread influence in the 1980s, most notably in the work of Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie . Carver helped usher in an "extreme minimalist aesthetic" and expand the scope of the short story, as did Lydia Davis , through her idiosyncratic and laconic style. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges

4056-624: The 24 languages that it supports. Amongst other things, it publishes the National Bibliography of Indian Literature (NBIL), an ongoing selective index of publications in 24 languages. The first series of the NBIL consisted of four volumes, spanning literature published between 1901 and 1953. The Sahitya Akademi has stated that the second series will cover literature published between 1954 and 2000. The second series will consist of 16 volumes, of which seven have been published. In addition,

4160-493: The Akademi in a commemorative volume. A second International seminar on the same theme was held in New Delhi in 1981. International Seminars have since been held to mark the birth centenary of Hindi-language writer Premchand , in 1981; to mark the birth centenary of Tamil-language poet Subramania Bharti in 1983; on the Mahabharata , in 1987; and on 'the Narrative' in 1990. The Sahitya Akademi's Annual Festival of Letters

4264-818: The Akademi organised a second International Seminar on Tagore in collaboration with the Sangeet Natak Akademi , the Lalit Kala Akademi and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations . The Akademi's second International Seminar in 1975 was also held in New Delhi and focused on the Ramayana tradition in Asia. Participants, including U Thein Han, Soewito Santoso, Harry M. Buck, C.E. Godakumbra, Kapila Vatsyayan, Camille Bulke and Umashankar Joshi, presented 44 papers on Ramayana traditions, which were published by

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4368-430: The Akademi's supported languages, as nominated by the General Council. The finance committee's role is to prescribe the limit for total expenditure by the Sahitya Akademi in a financial year, and consider and recommend budget estimates to the executive board. The finance committee consists of a financial advisor, a nominee from the Government of India, a representative each from the General Council and Executive Board, and

4472-497: The Government. Some of these suggestions were incorporated, and the Akademi was constituted as a society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 , as it had not originally been incorporated by an Act of Parliament, but by an executive order. The council was reconstituted and elected Prime Minister Nehru as its president, and he continued in that capacity until his death in 1964. Subsequent presidents of

4576-591: The Indian Sahitya Akademi award in 1985. Sei Somoy continues to be a best seller more than two decades after its first publication. The same is true for Prothom Alo (also translated recently by Aruna Chakravorty as First Light ), another best selling historical fiction and Poorba-Pashchim , a raw depiction of the partition and its aftermath seen through the eyes of three generations of Bengalis in West Bengal, Bangladesh and elsewhere. He

4680-463: The President of an organisation which includes it in its fold the eminent writers of India in various languages. As President of that Akademi I may tell you quite frankly, I would not like the Prime Minister to interfere in my work." The first Council made recommendations to amend the Akademi's governing constitution, including proposals to have the chairman elected by the council and not appointed by

4784-718: The Royal Society of Literature's V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize, The London Magazine Short Story Prize, the Pin Drop Studio Short Story Award and many others attract hundreds of entries each year. Published and non-published writers take part, sending in their stories from around the world. In 2013, Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature —her citation read "master of the contemporary short story." She said she hopes

4888-674: The Sahitya Akademi has published the Collected Works of Maulana Azad in Urdu and Telugu, and critical editions of books by Kalidasa , Bankimchandra Chatterjee , and Rabindranath Tagore . The Sahitya Akademi maintains reference materials for Indian literature, including the National Register of Translators, the Who's Who of Indian Writers, and the Who's Who of Sanskrit literature. Two ongoing series of reference material are

4992-462: The Sahitya Akademi have included S. Radhakrishnan (1958) who succeeded Jawaharlal Nehru after serving as the vice-president along with him; Zakir Hussain (1963); Suniti Kumar Chatterjee (1967); K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar (1969, and re-elected in 1973); Umashankar Joshi (1978); Vinayaka Krishna Gokak (1983); Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya (1988); U. R. Ananthamurthy (1993); Ramakanta Rath (1998); and Gopi Chand Narang (2003). Sunil Gangopadhyay

5096-687: The Sahitya Akademi include the Mulakat lectures, a special platform for lesser-known authors; the Through My Window lectures, in which one author speaks on the works of another Indian author; and the Loka programmes on Indian folklore and the Kavisandhi poetry readings. There have been widespread allegations of corruption and controversial appointments under the presidency of Gopi Chand Narang who headed Sahitya Akademi from 2003 to 2007 and

5200-420: The Sahitya Akademi without availing a single day's leave, are fake and fraudulent. Appeals by the writers community to the Ministry of Culture to launch an inquiry have not yielded any result. It has been alleged time and again that the procedure of nomination of litterateurs for the coveted Sahitya Akademi Awards is not transparent. The ground-list of books (from which the jury members make two short-lists and

5304-515: The Sahitya Akademi, done during Gopi Chand Narang 's time, continue unchallenged to this day. Khurshid Alam and Mrignayani Gupta, both dismissed in 2004 for presenting counterfeit degree certificates, have made a backdoor entry and have been subsequently promoted to higher positions. There have been widespread allegations in the Hindi press that the certificates of the current secretary, K. Sreenivasa Rao, who completed his M.Phil. and PhD degrees while being employed as deputy secretary (administration) at

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5408-478: The Short-Story . During that same year, Matthews was the first one to name the emerging genre "short story". Another theorist of narrative fiction was Henry James , who produced some of the most influential short narratives of the time. The spread of the short story movement continued into South America, specifically Brazil. The novelist Machado de Assis was an important short story writer from Brazil at

5512-542: The Uruguayan writer Juan Carlos Onetti are further significant magical realist short story writers from the Hispanic world. In Brazil, João Antonio made a name for himself by writing about poverty and the favelas . Detective literature there was led by Rubem Fonseca . João Guimarães Rosa wrote short stories in the book Sagarana, using a complex, experimental language based on tales of oral tradition. The role of

5616-463: The artistic and personal expression of the form. They may also attempt to resist categorization by genre and fixed formation. William Boyd , a British author and short story writer, has said: [a short story] seem[s] to answer something very deep in our nature as if, for the duration of its telling, something special has been created, some essence of our experience extrapolated, some temporary sense has been made of our common, turbulent journey towards

5720-456: The award will bring readership for the short story, as well as recognising the short story for its own merit, rather than "something that people do before they write their first novel." Short stories were cited in the choice of other laureates as well: Paul Heyse in 1910 and Gabriel García Márquez in 1982. Short stories are sometimes adapted for radio, TV or film: As a concentrated, concise form of narrative and descriptive prose fiction,

5824-586: The beat poet Allen Ginsberg while he was travelling in India. Ginsberg mentioned Gangopadhyay most notedly in his poem " September on Jessore Road ." Gangopadhyay in return mentioned Ginsberg in some of his prose work. After serving five years as the Vice President, he was elected the President of the Sahitya Akademi on 20 February 2008. Sunil, along with Tarun Sanyal, Jyotirmoy Datta and Satrajit Dutta had volunteered to be defence witnesses in

5928-410: The bi-monthly magazine Desh (first published in 1933) was key in development of the Bengali short story. Two of the most popular detective story writers of Bengali literature are Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (the creator of Byomkesh Bakshi ) and Satyajit Ray (the creator of Feluda ). Notable examples in the post-World War II period include: The numbers of 21st-century short story writers run into

6032-467: The day of Mahalaya . Although he was a communist and an atheist. Controversially, Gangopadhyay's body was cremated following Hindu custom on 25 October at Keoratola crematorium with several dignitaries and numerous fans paying their last tributes. Ganguly was not a Hindu or Muslim but a committed atheist. Indian President Pranab Mukherjee condoled the death of Gangopadhyay saying: Gangopadhyay had enriched Bengali literature through his unique style. He

6136-523: The duration of a single telling. It may be helpful to classify such sections as oral short stories. Another ancient form of short story popular during the Roman Empire was the anecdote , a brief realistic narrative that embodies a point. Many surviving Roman anecdotes were collected in the 13th or 14th century as the Gesta Romanorum . Anecdotes remained popular throughout Europe well into

6240-502: The early to mid 1900s in England were detective stories and thrillers. Many of these detective stories were written by authors such as G.K. Chesterton , Agatha Christie , and Dorothy L. Sayers . Graham Greene wrote his collection of short stories, Twenty-One Stories , between 1929 and 1954. Many of these short stories are classified in the genres of thriller, suspense, or even horror. The European short story movement during this time

6344-551: The evolution of the publishing industry and the submission guidelines of its constituent houses. As a point of reference for the genre writer, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America define short story length in the Nebula Awards for science fiction submission guidelines as having fewer than 7,500 words. Short stories date back to oral storytelling traditions which originally produced epics such as

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6448-562: The evolving form of the short story. For example, J. D. Salinger 's Nine Stories (1953) experimented with point of view and voice, while Flannery O'Connor's well-known story, " A Good Man is Hard to Find " (1955), reinvigorated the Southern Gothic style. Cultural and social identity played a considerable role in much of the short fiction of the 1960s. Philip Roth and Grace Paley cultivated distinctive Jewish-American voices. Tillie Olsen 's " I Stand Here Ironing " (1961) adopted

6552-503: The face of autonomy enjoyed by these institutions." The committee also urged Sahitya Akademi to adopt the recommendation of the Haksar Committee (1988) of having its head appointed by the president of India, a practice followed by Sangeet Natak and Lalit Kala Akademies, to avoid "the inevitable complications of the existing system of elections." Many controversial appointments of unqualified candidates to key positions at

6656-505: The famous trial of Hungry generation movement poet Malay Roy Choudhury . Author of well over 200 books, Sunil was a prolific writer who has excelled in different genres but declares poetry to be his "first love". His Nikhilesh and Neera series of poems (some of which have been translated as For You, Neera and Murmur in the Woods ) have been extremely popular. As in poetry, Sunil was known for his unique style in prose. His first novel

6760-402: The fictional character Kakababu , writing 36 novels in the series that became influential in Bengali children's literature . In 1985, he received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award for his historical fiction Those Days ( Sei Somoy ). His prose style, conversational and colloquial, simple and lucid yet deeply penetrating with often a thin layer of dry humor , has by now created

6864-484: The final selection for the award) is supposed to be made by the General Council. But the books are provided to this council by the bureaucrats and employees of the Akademi who are allegedly unqualified to make any kind of literary selection. Though the award regulations makes the recommendations of the Language Advisory Board mandatory, the recommendations of the board are often dismissed and ignored by

6968-480: The first collection of short stories was by Heinrich von Kleist in 1810 and 1811. In the United States, Washington Irving was responsible for creating some of the first short stories of American origin, " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " and " Rip Van Winkle ". Edgar Allan Poe became another early American short story writer. His concise technique, deemed the "single effect", has had tremendous influence on

7072-511: The first true collections of short stories appeared between 1810 and 1830 in several countries. The first short stories in the United Kingdom were gothic tales like Richard Cumberland 's "remarkable narrative", "The Poisoner of Montremos" (1791). Novelists such as Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens also wrote influential short stories during this time. Germany soon followed the United Kingdom's example by producing short stories;

7176-558: The first writer of nothing but short stories to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature . Her award-winning short story collections include Dance of the Happy Shades , Lives of Girls and Women , Who Do You Think You Are? , The Progress of Love , The Love of a Good Woman and Runaway . Prominent short story awards such as The Sunday Times Short Story Award , the BBC National Short Story Award ,

7280-455: The following 24 languages, 22 of which are included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India , alongside English and Rajasthani : Assamese , Bengali , Bodo , Dogri , English , Gujarati , Hindi , Kannada , Kashmiri , Konkani , Maithili , Malayalam , Manipuri , Marathi , Nepali , Odia , Punjabi , Rajasthani , Sanskrit , Santhali , Sindhi , Tamil , Telugu , Urdu . The recognition of languages by Sahitya Akademi

7384-424: The formation of the modern short story. Examples include: In the latter half of the 19th century, the growth of print magazines and journals created a strong demand for short fiction of between 3,000 and 15,000 words. In 1890s Britain, literary periodicals such as The Yellow Book , Black & White , and The Strand Magazine popularized the short story. Britain was not alone in the endeavor to strengthen

7488-727: The frame narrative or story within a story , is a narrative technique that probably originated in ancient Indian works such as Panchatantra . The evolution of printing technologies and periodical editions were among the factors contributing to the increasing importance of short story publications. Pioneering the rules of the genre in the Western canon were, among others, Rudyard Kipling (United Kingdom), Anton Chekhov (Russia), Guy de Maupassant (France), Rabindranath Tagore (India and Bangladesh), Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera (Mexico) and Rubén Darío (Nicaragua). Early examples of short stories were published separately between 1790 and 1810, but

7592-447: The grave and oblivion. In the 1880s, the term "short story" acquired its modern meaning – having initially referred to children's tales. During the early to mid-20th century, the short story underwent expansive experimentation which further hindered attempts to comprehensively provide a definition. Longer stories that cannot be called novels are sometimes considered " novellas " or novelettes and, like short stories, may be collected into

7696-459: The history of the short story". The creation and study of the short story as a medium began to emerge as an academic discipline due to Blanche Colton Williams ' "groundbreaking work on structure and analysis of the short story" and her publication of A Handbook on Short Story Writing (1917), described as "the first practical aid to growing young writers that was put on the market in this country."     In Uruguay , Horacio Quiroga became one of

7800-606: The invited author followed by an open session of questions and discussions. 'Meet the Author' programmes have been conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru. Over 180 authors have participated to date. To complement this, the Sahitya Akademi has held a parallel lecture series titled 'Men in Books' in which the Akademi invites persons distinguished for interdisciplinary studies to speak about literature. Notable speakers in

7904-542: The late 17th century; one of the most famous collections was by Charles Perrault . The appearance of Antoine Galland 's first modern translation of the 1001 Arabian Nights , a storehouse of Middle Eastern folk and fairy tales, is the Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights ) (from 1704; another translation appeared in 1710–12). His translation would have an enormous influence on the 18th-century European short stories of Voltaire , Diderot and others. In India, there

8008-478: The lecture was delivered by Girish Karnad , a Kannada playwright and author. The most recent lecture was delivered by Chandrashekhar Shankar Dharmadhikari , an author, lawyer, and former judge in the Bombay High Court on 17 February 2016. The Sahitya Akademi organises regular public interactions with published Indian authors. These sessions, titled 'Meet the Author' consist of a 40-minute lecture by

8112-519: The lives of common people, especially the oppressed classes. The prolific Indian author of short stories Munshi Premchand , pioneered the genre in the Hindustani language , writing over 200 short stories and many novels in a style characterized by realism and an unsentimental and authentic introspection into the complexities of Indian society. In 1884, Brander Matthews , the first American professor of dramatic literature, published The Philosophy of

8216-439: The more marketable form of "collections", of stories previously unpublished or published, but elsewhere. Sometimes, authors who do not have the time or money to write a novella or novel decide to write short stories instead, working out a deal with a popular website or magazine to publish them for profit. Around the world, the modern short story is comparable to lyrics , dramas, novels and essays – although examination of it as

8320-590: The most influential short story writers in the Spanish language. With a clear influence from Edgar Allan Poe , he had a great skill in using the supernatural and the bizarre to show the struggle of man and animal to survive. He also excelled in portraying mental illness and hallucinatory states. In India, Saadat Hasan Manto , the master of the short story in the Urdu language, is revered for his exceptional depth, irony, and sardonic humor. The author of some 250 short stories, radio plays, essays, reminiscences, and

8424-506: The novel 'Atmaprakash' was shocked and thought that Sunil Gangopadhyay was not a good match for his sister. Satyajit Ray thought to make a film on it but it wasn't possible for reasons. The central character of Atmaprakash is a young man of core-calcutta'- Sunil, who leads a bohemian life-style. The novel had inspiration from " On the road " by Jack Kerouac , the beat generation writer. His historical fiction Sei Somoy (translated into English by Aruna Chakravorty as Those Days ) received

8528-500: The past have included film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan , journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, lawyer Laxmi Mall Singhvi , and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee . The Kavi Anuvadak programmes, started in 2001, consist of a live performance of poetry in the original language and in translation. Nine Kavi Anuvadaks have been held to date, featuring, amongst others, K. Satchidanandan , Manglesh Dabral , and Ayyappa Paniker . Sahitya Akademi Award ( Devnagari : साहित्य अकादमी पुरस्कार)

8632-512: The point with the most action) and resolution (the point when the conflict is resolved). Because of their length, short stories may or may not often follow this pattern. For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition, more typically beginning in the middle of the action ( in medias res ). As with longer stories, plots of short stories also have a climax, crisis or turning point. In general, short stories feature endings which might be either conclusive or open-ended. Ambiguity

8736-425: The popularity of the short story. Several authors during this time wrote short stories centered on the devices of satire and humor. One such author, Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916), also known by his pen name of Saki , wrote satirical short stories about Edwardian England. P.G. Wodehouse published his first collection of comical stories about the valet, Jeeves , in 1917. Other common genres of short stories during

8840-472: The president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari. Agrahara Krishnamurthy, appointed as the Secretary of Sahitya Akademi by Narang, had undergone a CBI probe in a paper purchase scam at the time of his appointment, and was censured and forced to retire after being accused of financial irregularities in 2012. Agrahara Krishnamurthy who has been granted relief by the High Court has alleged a conspiracy against him by

8944-429: The purpose of the Sahitya Akademi in his speech, noting that, "The phrase, Sahitya Akademi, combines two words. 'Sahitya' is Sanskrit, and 'Academy' is Greek. This name suggests our universal outlook and aspiration. Sahitya is a literary composition; Academy is an assembly of men who are interested in the subject. So Sahitya Akademi will be an assembly of all those who are interested in creative and critical literature. It

9048-560: The revival of short story salons such as those held by the short fiction company Pin Drop Studio. More than 690,000 short stories and anthologies were sold in the UK in 2017, generating £5.88 million, the genre's highest sales since 2010. Throughout the 2010s, there was frequent speculation about a potential "renaissance"; Sam Baker called it a "perfect literary form for the 21st century". In 2012, Pin Drop Studio launched what became

9152-789: The ruling "narrative" or epistemological/experiential framework of their society." Still often cited Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi , India 's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India . Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government . Its office is located in Rabindra Bhavan near Mandi House in Delhi . The Sahitya Akademi organises national and regional workshops and seminars; provides research and travel grants to authors; publishes books and journals, including

9256-410: The short story has been theorised about through the traditional elements of dramatic structure : exposition (the introduction of setting, situation, and main characters), complication (the event that introduces the conflict), rising action , crisis (the decisive moment for the protagonist and his commitment to a course of action), climax (the point of highest interest in terms of the conflict and

9360-428: The short story movement. French author Guy de Maupassant composed the short stories " Boule de Suif " ("Ball of Fat", 1880) and " L'Inutile Beauté " ("The Useless Beauty", 1890), which are important examples of French realism . Russian author Anton Chekhov was also influential in the movement. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in India, many writers created short stories centered on daily life and

9464-409: The social scene of the different socioeconomic groups. Rabindranath Tagore published more than 150 short stories on the lives of the poor and oppressed such as peasants, women, and villagers under colonial misrule and exploitation. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay , Tagore's contemporary, was another pioneer in Bengali short stories. Chattopadhyay's stories focused on the social scenario of rural Bengal and

9568-494: The thousands. Female short story writers have gained increased critical attention, with British authors, in particular, exploring modern feminist politics in their writings. Sales of short-story fiction are strong. In the UK, sales jumped 45% in 2017, driven by collections from international names such as Alice Munro, a high number of new writers to the genre, including famous names like actor Tom Hanks (plus those who publish their work using readily accessible, digital tools), and

9672-548: The time, under the influences of Xavier de Maistre , Laurence Sterne , Guy de Maupassant , among others. At the end of the 19th century, the writer João do Rio became popular by short stories about the bohemianism . Lima Barreto wrote about the former slaves and nationalism in Brazil, with his most recognized work being Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma . Examples include: In the United Kingdom, periodicals like The Strand Magazine and Story-Teller contributed to

9776-639: The vice-president of the Akademi. The accounts of the Sahitya Akademi are audited by the Auditor General of India. The Sahitya Akademi publishes several regular publications, in addition to its bi-monthly literary journals, Indian Literature and Samkaleen Bhartiya Sahitya . It undertakes bibliographic surveys, conducts translation workshops, seminars, and an annual festival of letters. The Sahitya Akademi publishes bibliographies, compilations, and critical editions in addition to publishing individual works and anthologies of literature and translation in

9880-503: The visual arts, performing arts, and letters. The independent Government of India carried out this proposal, constituting a National Academy of Letters, called the 'Sahitya Akademi' by a government resolution on 15 December 1952. The first General Council of the Akademi included members such as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan , Abul Kalam Azad , C. Rajagopalachari , K. M. Panikkar , K.M. Munshi , Zakir Husain , Umashankar Joshi , Mahadevi Varma , D. V. Gundappa , Ramdhari Singh Dinkar , and

9984-481: Was "Atmaprakash" and it was also the first writing from a newcomer in literature published in the prestigious magazine – Desh (1965). It was critically acclaimed but some controversy arose for its aggressive and 'obscene' style. Sunil said that he was afraid of this novel and went away from Calcutta for a few days.. In an interview session with acclaimed film director Rituparno Ghosh, Sunil Gangopadhyay said that before his marriage, his brother in law after reading

10088-523: Was Kakababu , the crippled adventurist, accompanied by his young adult nephew Santu, and his friend Jojo. Since 1974, Sunil Gangopadhyay wrote over 35 novels of this popular series, most of which appeared in Anandamela magazine. Sunil Gangopadhyay died at 2:05 am on 23 October 2012 at his South Kolkata residence, following a heart attack. He was suffering from prostate cancer for some time and went to Mumbai for treatment. He returned to Kolkata on

10192-503: Was constituted by the Government of India by a resolution passed on 15 December 1952. It was formally inaugurated on 12 March 1954. It initially functioned under executive order, but was subsequently registered as a society under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860. The constitution of the Sahitya Akademi provides that it shall be run by three authorities — a General Council, an Executive Board, and

10296-450: Was elected president in 2008, and held office until his death in 2012. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari served as president from 2013 to 2018. The Akademi has never elected a female president although, Mahasweta Devi in 2003 and Pratibha Ray in 2018 unsuccessfully contested against Gopi Chand Narang and Chandrashekar Kambara respectively for the position. The logo of Sahitya Akademi was designed by Satyajit Ray . The Sahitya Akademi

10400-575: Was not unique to England. In Ireland, James Joyce published his short story collection Dubliners in 1914. These stories, written in a more accessible style than his later novels, are based on careful observation of the inhabitants of his birth city. In the first half of the 20th century, a number of high-profile American magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly , Harper's Magazine , The New Yorker , Scribner's , The Saturday Evening Post , Esquire , and The Bookman published short stories in each issue. The demand for quality short stories

10504-453: Was one of the best intellectuals among his contemporaries. The vacuum created by his death cannot be filled. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee , the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, who was closely associated with the writer since 1964, said that Bengali literature would remain indebted to him. Short story writer The short story is a crafted form in its own right. Short stories make use of plot, resonance and other dynamic components as in

10608-603: Was presided over by the then-Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru . The Government of India clarified that the choice of Prime Minister Nehru as the first chairperson was "not because he is Prime Minister, but because he has carved out for himself a distinctive place as a writer and author." The Sahitya Akademi was formally inaugurated on 12 March 1954 in New Delhi. A ceremony was held in the Indian Parliament 's Central Hall, with speeches by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan . Radhakrishnan elaborated on

10712-410: Was so great and the money paid so well that F. Scott Fitzgerald repeatedly turned to short-story writing to pay his numerous debts. His first collection, Flappers and Philosophers , appeared in book form in 1920. Ernest Hemingway's concise writing style was perfectly suited for shorter fiction. Influenced by the short stories of Stephen Crane and Jack London , Hemingway's work "marks a new phase in

10816-518: Was the founder editor of Krittibas , a seminal poetry magazine started publishing from 1953, that became a platform for a new generation of poets experimenting with many new forms in poetic themes, rhythms, and words. Later, he started writing for various publications of the Ananda Bazar group , a major publishing house in Kolkata and has been continuing it for many years. He became a friend of

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