Davidar

The first thing that comes to mind when one leafs through this anthology is the boldness of the enterprise. David Davidar strays away from the stalwarts of Indian fiction to give voice to emerging writers. What it also does is provide an unanticipated breadth to the collection of fiction the reader is about to enjoy. Forty stories united by nothing more than the age of their writers, spanning themes ranging from the political to the personal and the commonplace to the surreal. Mythological retellings, mental health,…

In your introduction, you mention that the sole criterion for including stories was “literary excellence”. What are the key components of literary excellence?At the very minimum, for a story to be included, the writing needed to be excellent; stylistically, all these stories are superb. I was also looking for originality, vivid characterisation, and arresting insights into whatever theme the writer of the story was tackling. Readability was a crucial factor. I personally prefer stories that are political in nature, so…