The Collected Short Stories

Best known for his immensely popular Feluda mysteries and the adventures of Professor Shonku Satyajit Ray was also one of the most skilful short story writers of his generation. Rays short stories often explore the macabre and the supernatural and are marked by the sharp characterization and trademark wit that distinguishes his films. This collection brings together Rays best short storiesincluding such timeless gems as Khagam Indigo Fritz Bhuto The Pterodactyls Egg Big Bill Patol Babu Film Star and The Hungry Septopuswhich readers of all ages will enjoy.A collection of forty-nine short stories. Translated from the Bengali by the author and Gopa Majumdar About the Author Satyajit Ray was born on 2 May 1921 in Calcutta. After graduating from Presidency College Calcutta in 1940 he studied art at Rabindranath Tagore’s university Shantiniketan. By 1943 Ray was back in Calcutta and had joined an advertising firm as a visualizer. He also started designing covers and illustrating books brought out by Signet Press. A deep interest in films led to his establishing the Calcutta Film Society in 1947. During a six-month trip to Europe in 1950 Ray became a member of the London Film Club and managed to see ninety-nine films in only four-and-a-half months.In 1955 after overcoming innumerable difficulties Satyajit Ray completed his first film Pather Panchali with financial assistance from the West Bengal government. The film was an award-winner at the Cannes Film Festival and established Ray as a director of international stature. Together with Aparajito (The Unvanquished 1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu 1959) it forms the Apu trilogy and perhaps constitutes Ray’s finest work. Ray’s other films include Jalsaghar (The Music Room 1958) Charulata (1964) Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest 1970) Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players 1977) Ghare Baire (The Home and the World 1984) Ganashatru (Enemy of the People 1989) Shakha Proshakha (Branches of a Tree 1990) and Agantuk (The Stranger 1991). Ray also made several documentaries including one on Tagore. In 1987 he made the documentary Sukumar Ray to commemorate the birth centenary of his father perhaps Bengal’s most famous writer of nonsense verse and children’s books. Satyajit Ray won numerous awards for his films. Both the BrIt'sh Federation of Film Societies and the Moscow Film Festival Committee named him one of the greatest directors of the second half of the twentieth century. In 1992 he was awarded the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science and in the same year was also honoured with the Bharat Ratna. Apart from being a film-maker Satyajit Ray was a writer of repute. In 1961 he revived the children’s magazine Sandesh which his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray had started and to which his father used to contribute frequently. Satyajit Ray contributed numerous poems stories and essays to Sandesh and also published several books in Bengali most of which became best-sellers. In 1978 Oxford University awarded him its D.Litt degree. Satyajit Ray died in Calcutta in April 1992.