Himalayan Voices: An Introduction to Modern Nepali LiteratureUniversity of California Press, 1991 M07 29 - 280 pages While the natural splendor of Nepal has been celebrated in many books, very little of the substantial body of Nepali literature has appeared in English translation. Himalayan Voices provides admirers of Nepal and lovers of literature with their first glimpse of the vibrant literary scene in Nepal today. An introduction to the two most developed genres of modern Nepali literature—poetry and the short story—this work profiles eleven of Nepal's most distinguished poets and offers translations of more than eighty poems written from 1916 to 1986. Twenty of the most interesting and best-known examples of the Nepali short story are translated into English for the first time by Michael Hutt. All provide vivid descriptions of life in twentieth-century Nepal. Although the days when Nepali poets were regularly jailed for their writings have passed, until 1990 the strictures of various laws governing public security and partisan political activity still required writers and publishers to exercise a certain caution. In spite of these conditions, poetry in Nepal remained the most vital and innovative genre, in which sentiments and opinions on contemporary social and political issues were frequently expressed. While the Nepali short story adapted its present form only during the early 1930s, it has rapidly developed a surprisingly high degree of sophistication. These stories offer insights into the workings of Nepali society: into caste, agrarian relations, social change, the status of women, and so on. Such insights are more immediate than those offered by scholarly works and are conveyed by implication and assumption rather than analysis and exposition. This book should appeal not only to admirers of Nepal, but to all readers with an interest in non-Western literatures. Himalayan Voices establishes for the first time the existence of a sophisticated literary tradition in Nepal and the eastern Himalaya. |
Contents
13 | |
22 | |
26 | |
Himalaya | 28 |
Remembering Saraswati | 29 |
An Ode to Death | 30 |
Bālkrishna Sama 19031981 | 31 |
Man Is God Himself | 34 |
A Blind Man on a Revolving Chair | 125 |
This Is a Land of Uproar and Rumor | 127 |
New Year | 128 |
A Poem | 129 |
Your Greeting | 130 |
Cold Ashtray | 131 |
Bānīrā Giri b 1946 | 132 |
Time You Are Always the Winner | 133 |
I Hate | 35 |
from Sight of the Incarnation | 36 |
Lakshmlprasād Devkotā 19091959 | 40 |
Sleeping Porter | 44 |
from Munā and Madan | 45 |
Prayer on a Clear Morning in the Month of Māgh | 51 |
Mad | 53 |
Like Nothing into Nothing | 56 |
Siddhicharan Shreshtha b 1912 | 57 |
A Suffering World | 59 |
No Smoke From the Chimneys | 61 |
Father Has Not Come Home | 62 |
My Son | 63 |
To the Poet Devkotā | 64 |
Kedār Mān Vyathit b 1914 | 66 |
Fragment from the Year 09 | 68 |
Ants | 69 |
The Storm | 70 |
The End | 71 |
Gopālprasād Rimāl 19181973 | 73 |
Consolation | 76 |
A Mothers Pain | 78 |
A Change | 79 |
Who Are You? | 80 |
To | 81 |
Mohan Koiralā b 1926 | 82 |
Remembering as I Go | 86 |
An Introduction to the Land | 87 |
I Love Your Daughter | 89 |
The Martyrs | 90 |
A Flower Amid the Mountain Rocks | 93 |
The Snow Peaks BloodREd | 96 |
Its A Mineral The Mind | 97 |
You Who Remember | 98 |
Bairāgī Kāinlā b 1939 | 99 |
The Corpse of a Dream | 102 |
A Drunk Mans Speech to the Street After Midnight | 103 |
People Shopping at a Weekly Market | 106 |
Pārijāt b 1937 | 111 |
Sweep Away | 113 |
To Gopālprasād Rimāls To | 114 |
A Sick Lovers Letter to Her Soldier | 115 |
In the Arms of Death | 116 |
Bhūpi Sherchan 19361989 | 119 |
Always Always in My Dreams | 122 |
Midday and the Cold Sleep | 123 |
I Think MY Countrys History Is a Lie | 124 |
I Am a Torn Poster | 135 |
Kathmandu | 137 |
Woman | 139 |
New Trends in Nepali Poetry | 141 |
Bhairava Aryal 19361976 | 143 |
Haribhakta Katuvāl 19351980 | 144 |
This Life What Life Is This? | 145 |
The Shadows of Superflous Songs | 146 |
Where Is the Voice? | 147 |
Hem Hamal B 1941 | 148 |
Village and Town | 149 |
Krishnabhushan Bal B 1947 | 150 |
Historical Matters | 151 |
Bimal Nibhā B 1952 | 152 |
Ashksh Malla B 1954 | 153 |
None Returned from the Capital | 154 |
Mīnbahādur Bishta B 1954 | 155 |
Thus a Nation Pretends to Live | 157 |
A Spell | 158 |
Bishwabimohan Shreshtha B 1956 | 159 |
II | 171 |
The Short Story in Nepali | 173 |
Guruprasād Mainālī 19001971 | 189 |
Bishweshwar Prasād Koirālā 19151982 | 197 |
To the Lowlands | 201 |
Bhavānī Bhikshu 19141981 | 206 |
Will He Ever Return? | 207 |
Māujang Bābusāhebs Coat | 214 |
Shivkumār Rāī b 1916 | 224 |
Daulat Bikram Bishtha b 1926 | 231 |
Bijay Malla b 1925 | 236 |
The Prisoner and the Dove | 240 |
Ramesh Bikal b 1932 | 244 |
Shankar Lāmichhāné 19281975 | 253 |
Indra Bahādur Rāī b 1928 | 260 |
Poshan Pāndé b 1932 | 266 |
Tārinī Prasād Koirālā 19221974 | 271 |
Premā Shāh | 278 |
Parashu Pradhān b 1943 | 284 |
Dhruba Chandra Gautam b 1944 | 290 |
Manu Brājākī b 1942 | 298 |
Kishor Pahādī b 1956 | 304 |
GLOSSARY | 311 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 317 |
325 | |
Other editions - View all
Himalayan Voices: An Introduction to Modern Nepali Literature Michael James Hutt Limited preview - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
Adhunik Āmā asked Bābusāheb Bajyai became began Bhairava Bhikshu boss Brāhmaṇ Buddha buffalo Chāmé coat Darjeeling dark Dasain death Devayānī Devkoṭā dream dwāré eyes face father feel felt fire flowers Gangā Gaunthali girl goddess Goré hands heart hills Himalaya Hindi Hindu husband India Ìshwar Kāinlā Kathā Kathmandu Valley Kavitā Kholā khukuri Koirālā language laughed Lekhnath literary live looked Lord Lukhuré Madan Mahābhārata Malla mandu Mohan Koirālā morning mother Munā Nepali language Nepali literature Nepali poetry Nepali writers Newār night Nirmalā Officer Bhālu once Pārijāt poems poet political Prasad professor published Rām Rāmāyaṇa Rāņā Rimāl river Royal Nepal Academy Sājhā Sājhā Kavitā Sānī Sanskrit SELECTED SHORT STORIES Shāradā Sherchan Shiva Shreshtha Sītā sleep smile songs stared street tears tell things thought translated tree Ujīrmān Urmilā verse village voice Vyathit walked watch wife woman young