3 Review(s)

About the Book: The present collection, consisting of 28 short stories, published originally in various popular magazines and literary journals, portrays a wide world of the East and the West. It has the exotic yet romantic world of the U.S.A. with amorous adventures, whimsical choices and matrimonial manipulations as also the enigmatic and often suffocating arranged marriages in India. It depicts too the world of women—submissive and suppressed, but also courageous and vindictive ones capable of turning the world upside down. The genuine and fake saints are bracketed with gullible and superstitious devotees. If shrewd politicians exploit the simple masses, good Samaritans and earthy goddesses show the right path. By using subtle irony, sharp wit, exaggerated accounts, startling puns, comic similes and odd metaphors, interesting dialogues and repartees, funny characterization and caricature, rollicking humour and stinging satire, Srivastava provides memorable pictures of ugly realities behind captivating façade, unmasking the devils who lurk behind angelic faces. The stories grip the reader with spell-binding narrative and ever-present suspense which irresistibly move the reader to go on till their startling conclusions. About the Author: Dr. Ramesh K. Srivastava, who got his Ph.D. degree from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (U.S.A.) in 1972, is well known for his creative and critical writings in English. He was awarded a prestigious Fulbright (U.S. Govt.) Fellowship in 1969, the University of Utah Graduate Research Fellowships in 1970-72, and subsequently Senior Fulbright (U.S. Govt.) Fellowship in 1984-85 to work on Henry David Thoreau at Boston (U.S.A.). He was also awarded the University Grants Commission Emeritus Fellowship in 2003-05 to work on Indian Writers in English at Bundelkhand University, Jhansi (U.P.). Some of his publications are: Hemingway and his For Whom the Bell Tolls; Perspectives on Bhabani Bhattacharya; Perspectives on Anita Desai; Love and Animality: Stories; Cooperative Colony: Stories; Masks and Men: Stories; Neema (A novel); Six Indian Novelists in English; Games They Play and Other Stories; Colonial Consciousness in Black American, African and Indian Fiction in English; Critical Studies in English and American Literature; Under the Lamp: Stories; The Novels of Kamala Markandaya: A Critical Study; Symbolism in Indian Fiction in English; Wit and Humour in Indian English Literature; Coils of the Serpent (A Novel) and Read, Write and Teach: Essays on Learning to Live Together. He also edited Thoreau’s Walden for Oxford University Press.Formerly Professor and Head, Department of English and Dean, Faculty of Languages at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (Punjab), Dr Srivastava also remained the Director, Institute of Languages, and U.G.C. Emeritus Professor at Bundelkhand University, Jhansi. He is currently Professor of English at College of Science and Engineering, Ambabai, JHANSI (U.P.).