TAMIL

This anthology gathers twenty-two short stories by some of the strongest contemporary voices in Tamil fiction, all first published within the last thirty years. Perundevi, the editor, has chosen work that reflects where Tamil writing stands today. The stories move between Tamil Nadu and the Tamil diaspora, following people in a society that is meeting the modern world and working out what is deeply and stubbornly human in themselves and in those around them. Many of them look closely at the small complications of ordinary life, tracing changes in circumstance, shifting identities and the inner lives of their characters. The tone shifts from one story to the next. Some are absurd, some painful, some funny and some deeply moving, so the collection offers a varied and lively introduction to Tamil literature for readers coming to it for the first time as well as those who already know it.