Kathmandu: Jiyara, a new anthology of stories by Nayan Raj Pandey, is now out in the market.
Jiyara is a collection of 13 stories. The stories are mostly set in the Madhesh, also the setting of Pandey’s two critically-acclaimed novels, Loo, and Ular, an English translation of which is reportedly in the works. In Jiyara, Pandey combines reality and myth to tell his stories which document political corruption, patriarchy and offer a critique of capitalism, according to publisher Ajit Baral.
Pandey is one of the foremost contemporary Nepali authors who writes novels, stories and screenplays, primarily in the social realism genre. But in the new collection, Pandey has veered away from strict realism and into a “new, experimental mode of storytelling”, says a press release released by publisher Fineprint.
“I have tried to create a distinct atmosphere for each of my stories where one can find multiple avatars of the same character, multiple plots in the same story, and multiple settings,” Pandey said. “The readers can expect to find themselves in a carousel following the characters to different dimensions in time and space. The characters aren’t rigid, nor are their arcs.”
The book was previously slated for release in April but was postponed due to the second wave of the pandemic and the lockdown, according to the publisher.
The government has recently decided to allow bookshops to operate till 11 am from June 15.
Pandey said that he is “excited” about the book’s release: “No matter how many books an author writes, he is excited when his new book is published, and so I’m excited.”
“With each new novel, I find my style inevitably changing,” Pandey added. “I have tried to deal with societal injustice in my stories, seeking to portray the birth and evolution of resistance in my characters’ consciousness.”
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