What attracted me towards Govind’s stories was a strange kind of innocence which is reflected there. The injured in the story – be it a person, a character or his/her feelings – about whom we don’t know much nor the author tells much, just the feeling of being injured... it comes out with such passion that is seldom seen in other story-writers.”
So said Nirmal Verma about Govind Mishra’s short stories. Another prominent short story writer of Hindi Shailesh Matiyani opined – ‘Even though writing on both the worlds – the inner and the outer – Govind Mishra saved himself from the dangers of both realism and romanticism. That way he comes to belong to the tradition  of  not  so  much Jainendra, Ajneya or Nirmal Verma but that of Premchand.’
Having created more than a thousand characters in his fiction, Govind  Mishra’s  portrayal extends from villages, to towns, to cities, to metros and even up to foreign melieu. ‘Few writers have such a big range’ – said Srilal Shukla of Rag Darbari fame.
‘Damn History’ attempts to present in English for the first time, representative stories of the author, selected from more than fifteen collections of his short stories in Hindi, 1965 onwards.

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Contents

Introduction: Between Isolation and Commitment —Pgs. 5

1. Beyond Comprehension —Pgs. 15

2. This Much Light —Pgs. 26

3. Wrong Number —Pgs. 40

4. The Beginning —Pgs. 49

5. Jehad (The Holy War) —Pgs. 55

6. Devaluation —Pgs. 73

7. The Swing —Pgs. 80

8. Antahpur (The Harem) —Pgs. 91

9. A Drop...Complicated —Pgs. 112

10. Friend —Pgs. 123

11. The Evening Beat —Pgs. 129

12. The War —Pgs. 139

13. Pagla Baba (The Madcap Saint) —Pgs. 156

14. Michael Lobo —Pgs. 164

15. Damn History! —Pgs. 175

He renowned Hindi novelist and short story-writer. Acclaimed in the Hindi world both for the quantity and quality of his literary output, he has till this day over fifty books to his credit including eleven novels, more than one hundred fifty short stories, five collections each of travelogues, and literary essays and one collection of poems. Of the numerous awards, he has received over the years, the prominent ones are - Vyas Samman (1998) for the novel, 'Paanch Aanganowala Ghar', Subramanya Bharti Samman (2000), Sahitya Academy Award for the novel 'Kohre Mein Kaid Rang' (2008), Bharat Bharti (2011) and now the most prestigious Saraswati Award (2013) for 'Dhool Paudhon Par'.

The novel 'Paanch Aaganowala Ghar' has been published in English as 'House With Five Courtyards' by Penguin and 'Kohre Mein Kaid Rang' in English by Sahitya Academy. His works have been profusely translated in other Indian languages as well.

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