Khuswant Singh’s Black Jasmine and other Stories: Strains of Modernity

Abstract

Art is an expression of spontaneity and short story as a genre is a perfect example of it, although lyric poetry arrived on the scene of literature earlier. Although there is no exact date but it is certain that stories of some sort were told from the time man began to articulate. The short story is one of the most spontaneous and one of the most entertaining of literary forms that has developed considerably during the recent years. For ages in each and every country of the world, stories have been in existence in one or the other form, e.g. anecdotes, jokes and brief narratives. If we look into the history of any literature in the world, we find stories indifferent forms. For example, fables, parables, allegories, ballads as well as the folk tales that dealt with legendary heroes or with magic and enchantment. We find, in India, stories of the Panchatantra and the Hitopadesh and in the West Aesop’s fables as well as the tales of the Old Testament and Apocrypha. Stories in the Arabian Nights and Boccaccio’sDecameron are some other examples of this art.