Short Story: A Vehicle for Reflection of Socio-Economic Concerns of the Nation

Abstract

The history of the short story is as old as human civilization. The parable, fable and folk tale are its different forms and all of them, share their origin and pattern with poetry. After the maturity of the novel as a genuine genre, the descendent craft of the short story writing sprang up from a variety of soil late in the nintenth century, previously, the short story was assigned an inferior statues, mostly recognized as a little piece of literature that an author/writer tossed of between major productions. At present, the prolific writers in this field have considered the modern short story as a complex form, making in depth but lacks in length.With the advent of literary art, the yearning for tales has acquired new dimensions. The range and scope of the stories has become extensive, wide and universal. Now the writer of short stories endeavours to explore various manifestations of life which primarily include inter-personal relationship,man’s association with nature,the learning experiences of life and other social issues. The human relationship continues to be the nucleus of any literary work. In a country like India,anyone, who wishes to be a writer,has to shoulder moral responsibility. The author through his work provides an outlet to his innermost unexpressed feelings and frees his mind from these emotions. Sometimes he brings to the notice of his readers his observations of social and cultural setup,thus performing the role of a social reformer. As a genuine artist the author needs to shoulder the responsibility to interpret life in all its shades and colours for the common man. The prominent Indian practitioner’s off short story as a literary form included K S Venkataramani, K Nagarajan, Raja Rao, Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, Ruskin Bond, R K Narayan, etc.