Godan, a story of stark realism is Premchand's most outstanding work. It is his last completed novel which brings out the realistic interpretation of Indian village society. This is a story of people, hungry and semi starved, yet hopeful and optimistic in the truest spirit of the age it represent.

MUNSHI PREMCHAND is one of the most important writers of the Hindi–Urdu canon. His prolif ic writing contributed largely to shape the genre of the short story as we know it in India. His range and diversity were limitless as he tackled themes of romance and satire, gender politics and social inequality, with unmatched skill and compassion.Premchand wrote widely about life in the city in the India of his time. In fact, his fictional corpus, if read uncritically, would lend itself to an easy binary between country and city life. This collection attempts to break away from this binary to bring to light the nuance in his understanding of city life.

MUNSHI PREMCHAND is one of the most important writers of the Hindi–Urdu canon. His prolif ic writing contributed largely to shape the genre of the short story as we know it in India. His range and diversity were limitless as he tackled themes of romance and satire, gender politics and social inequality, with unmatched skill and compassion.Premchand's writing often ref lected his deep interest in the lives of the Indian peasant and this concern frequently extended to their cattle. He also wrote about the lives of pets with great sympathy. Very few writers have depicted such an intimate bond between animals and human beings. This carefully curated collection brings to readers some of his best stories on animals.

Munshi Premchand, widely lauded as the greatest Hindi fiction writer of the twentieth century, wrote close to 300 short stories over the course of a prolific career spanning three decades. His range and diversity were limitless as he tackled themes of romance and satire, gender politics and social inequality, with unmatched skill and compassion. By turns poignant, acerbic, comical and tragic, many of his stories powerfully invoke the countryside-its pastoral simplicity as well as its harsh realities-while others capture the hopes and anxieties that accompany life in a teeming city where the underdog and the exploiter are caught in an age-old conflict. For the first time ever, Penguin Classics brings together Premchand's entire short-fiction oeuvre for the delight of the English-speaking world. Along with M. Asaduddin's illuminating Introduction, this pathbreaking anthologyfeatures several stories not hitherto available either in Hindi or Urdu. Also included are comprehensive...

MUNSHI PREMCHAND is one of the most important writers of the Hindi–Urdu canon. His prolif ic writing contributed largely to shape the genre of the short story as we know it in India. His range and diversity were limitless as he tackled themes of romance and satire, gender politics and social inequality, with unmatched skill and compassion.Premchand had a deep affinity with the common man. No writer before him in Urdu or Hindi, and possibly other Indian literatures, had depicted the lives of the underdogs, the untouchables and the marginalized with such depth and empathy. His deepest critique was reserved for caste injustice that condemned certain sections of society to live a life of indignity and humiliation. This timely collection brings together some of his most celebrated stories on the theme of caste for the modern reader.

MUNSHI PREMCHAND is one of the most important writers of the Hindi–Urdu canon. His prolif ic writing contributed largely to shape the genre of the short story as we know it in India. His range and diversity were limitless as he tackled themes of romance and satire, gender politics and social inequality, with unmatched skill and compassion.Premchand's love for the countryside is evident in his fictional and non-fictional writings. Nonetheless, he understood that the seeming idyllic village life was ridden with its own issues. This carefully curated collection brings together some of his best short stories on Indian village life, which he used as an opportunity to critique social issues such as moral bankruptcy, caste injustices, money woes, and blind faith.

Ten classic stories from the master of Hindi literature Nearly a century after they were written, Premchand's numerous short stories, novels and plays, written both in Hindi and Urdu, continue to be a mirror to Indian society and its traditions. A Winter's Night and Other Stories brings together, for young readers, some of his most powerful short stories. This is a world inhabited by people like Halku, forced to spend the bitterly cold winter night in the open, without a blanket; Kaki, the old invalid aunt, ill-treated by her own relatives; and Shankar, reduced to being a bonded labour for the sake of a handful of wheat. Premchand describes their plights with unflinching honesty. Yet all is not hopeless in this world. There is also little Hamid, who buys tongs for his old grandmother rather than toys for himself; Ladli, who saves her share of puris for her blind aunt; and Big Brother, trying in vain to remember the strange names of English kings and queens. Greed, dishonesty,...

MUNSHI PREMCHAND is one of the most important writers of the Hindi–Urdu canon. His prolif ic writing contributed largely to shape the genre of the short story as we know it in India. His range and diversity were limitless as he tackled themes of romance and satire, gender politics and social inequality, with unmatched skill and compassion.In a time when women virtually had no agency, Premchand wrote stories that helped shed light on their plight within a patriarchal society. Although his female characters are sometimes considered conservative by modern standards, the fact that he used his works to highlight the difficult place that they occupied in his time is significant in itself. This collection brings together some of his most celebrated stories on the theme of women for the modern reader.