Bitter Gourd & Other Stories

by Talat Abbasi

Presented to: Sir Qabil Khan Presented by: Safeena Qayyum

ID:100884023

Overview Introduction Publications and Accolades Bitter Gourd & Other Stories A contemporary Classic Style of Writing Art of Story telling Art of Characterization Thematic Issues Personal Views about her Writings Criticism

Talat Abbasi A short story writer, she was born in

Lucknow, and grew up in Karachi. Talat Abbasi was educated in

Karachi, Lahore and the London School of Economics. Since 1978 she has lived in New York, where she works in an international organization and has specialized in gender and population.

She started writing seriously when she moved to the US in 1978. She has two children and a fulltime career (unconnected with her writing), and wishes there were more than 24 hours in a day.

She says: ‘I have always been interested in writing and

perhaps I am impelled to write because I can't paint, draw, sing, dance, embroider! And yet, after one has lived each day fully what remains but to paint, draw, sing, dance, or write about it’!

Abbasi has published a collection of her short stories, Bitter Gourd and Other Stories (Oxford University Press, 2001).Her short fiction is set mostly in Pakistan and revolves around class and gender; it has been published often in U.S. college texts.

Publications and Accolades Famous all the over

world as ‘Short Stories writer’.

The trans-cultural appeal of Abbasi's stories is attested to by their publication in numerous magazines, mostly in the United States but also in France and India and in college text-books in the U.S.

Her stories have been broadcast on the BBC World Service Short Story Programme, including a prize-winning story in their 2000 competition.

Bitter Gourd & Other Stories

‘Bitter Gourd’ title of the collection of short stories is just like actual vegetable it’s subtle, rich and pungent in flavor. Similarly, Abbasi's writes short poignant essays and character sketches to the point where readers enjoy reading and re-reading them.

Bitter Gourd is a collection of seventeen stories which explore the worlds of Pakistanis in Karachi and its environs and of Pakistani immigrants in New York.

Covering each strata of society: privileged upper classes, poor relations, servants and also children of all classes who have internalized the values and anxieties of the adult world.

A contemporary Classic This collection of short stories by Talat Abbasi is a

contemporary classic. Set in Pakistan and New York, the stories deal with the lives of ordinary people - rich and poor, master and servant, husband and wife, parents and children.

But there is nothing mundane about these stories. In the hands of a master story teller, the ordinary turns into the extraordinary to surprise the reader at every step and reveal the psychological and sociological complexities of people's lives.

This collection is a first rate addition to the world-class literature emanating from South Asian writers.

Names of some of the stories in “Bitter Gourd”1. Bitter gourd2. The bear and its trainer3. A piece of cake4. In going to Balistan5. The mango season6. Facing the light7. Simple questions etc…..

Style of Writing The style of her writing is “old school” in certain

sense. There is no attempt to be witty with word play.

Her style is refreshing, simple, direct with minimum words to convey her meaning. She deals with everyday matters but she delineates a reality so sharp that it leaves the reader impaled.

This book is more a collection of parables told by great-aunts and grandmothers as they sit sewing around a quilt, and less the magnum opus literature of contemporary South Asian diaspora. And yet within the repetitive resonance of these stories lies the knowledge that the fault-line between the cultures of Pakistan and India, heightened by political tensions, melts under the mundane, everyday similarities of people's lives.

Art of Story telling Instead of just following a main stream plot, with

its defined structural form, she paints in great detail. Infect she freezes her camera on moments in lives of ordinary people and plumbs the heart of its meaning. she registers her sympathy by bringing out the interior voices of her characters.

Her shift between first and third person narration and her alternative perspectives allows the reader to sympathize with the characters.

Art of Characterization Abbasi, because of her detachment, is able to talk

on the view points of all sorts of characters.

She never stereotypes men and women, rich or poor----each character has his or her individuality.

Her canvas is not very huge, so the result is often a surprise as in these stories.

Thematic Issues Displacement, poverty, education, women… these

are the major themes which she unconsciously chooses but focuses on them at individual level.

She explores the uneasy relationships between oppressors and oppressed.

Theme of Poverty This is the most important theme discussed by

Talat abbasi in short stories. The writer attracts the attention of the reader by

making him realize about the worries of low income class on petty issues and things. It is not easy for them to arrange even for bread and butter far come the luxuries of taking care of their health and getting their children educated.

They are backward not because they don’t know but because they can’t afford.

Personal Views about her Writings “I like the character in Bitter Gourd. A survivor,

she contrives to get the better of the system by exploiting her own dependence, her relegation. But there is something special in each one of the stories for me. In "Granny's portion" it's the unexpected way children internalize adult conflict. Male displacement in "A bear and its trainer"." The Birdman" was broadcast on the BBC world service short story programme in 1993. In "Facing the light" a woman focuses on reality in her own self. I expose what I think is a rather typical kind of falsity in "Going to Baltistan".

Criticism They are mostly running transcripts of the thoughts

of various characters. But the characters cannot seem to think straight. Often I could not discern where their erratic thoughts were going, or just what they were going on about.

It became tiring to have to constantly decipher the 'stream of consciousness.' To complicate matters, Abbasi does not differentiate between the constant flow of inner monologue and dialogue between characters.

Sometimes this leads to an intense and rewarding interplay of inner and outer worlds. On occasion, unfortunately, it leads to indigestible text that sits awkwardly on my tongue.

Fundamentalists on both sides have tried to heighten the differences, but the simple truth of the matter is that Pakistan and India are shaped by similar social and cultural milieu, with the same material conditions, and the same obsessions. They share a long history, and more importantly, the same humor - and even the craving for the same fruits and vegetables.