Vignettes Short Stories from Kashmir

A Brief Description of the Book: The book entitled as “Vignettes: Short Stories from Kashmir” contains nineteen short stories translated into English. It starts with an introduction to this genre and highlights the factors which led to the emergence, consolidation and popularity of this genre in Kashmir. The book contains short stories of eminent Kashmiri writers like Akhtar Mohiddin, Amin Kamil, Bansi Nirdosh, Hari Krishan Koul, Hriday Koul Bharti, Sofi Ghulam Muhammad, Rattan Lal Shant, Gulshan Majid and Bashir Akhtar. The stories translated in this book deal with different subjects ranging from the domestic squabbles, the loss of the loved ones, the fear and preoccupation with death to the trauma due to the loss of innocence and values and above all the theme of tragedy caused by hamartia in one’s character. The collection also contains stories which deal with the themes like unemployment, theft, ego, fortune, vanity, existentialism and the commonplaceness and ordinariness of life. Although all these stories are set in Kashmir yet the concerns they have are of universal interest.