Selections from Galpaguchchha Vol 3: Streer Patra and Other Stories

This three-volume English translation by Ratan Kumar Chattopadhyay called Selections from Galpaguchchha is a collection of sixty-one of Tagore s short stories broadly grouped under the themes of parting of ways, the relationship between men and women, and the power within the woman, respectively. Volume 3, the last in this series, is studded with gems such as Hungry Stones , The Wife s Letter , The Story of a Muslim Woman , Hidden Treasure and At Dead of Night . The theme of Hungry Stones is a tale hovering between dream and reality involving palace intrigue and unrequited love, and in The Wife s Letter , Mrinal breaks free from the stifling marital ties of fifteen years in what is an indictment of existing gender relations. A traditional Hindu girl out of gratitude for her elderly Muslim protector embraces his religion and falls in love with his son in The Story of a Muslim Woman .