Celebrating Tagore A Collection Of Essays

Papers presented at a summer seminar on Tagore, held at Kolkata in 2000 and a conference on Celebrating Tagore, held at Fayetteville State University, North Carolina in 2004.

Papers presented at a summer seminar on Tagore, held at Kolkata in 2000 and a conference on Celebrating Tagore, held at Fayetteville State University, North Carolina in 2004.

This book looks at Rabindranath Tagore’s creative art, social commitment, literary and artistic representation and his unique legacy in the cultural history of modern India – as a blend of the quintessentially Indian and the liberal universalist. Tagore’s genius, which he expressed through his poetry, songs, paintings, drama and philosophy, is celebrated across the globe. In 1913, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his volume of poetry, Gitanjali (Song Offerings), making him the first Nobel laureate from Asia. This volume of essays celebrates his intellectual engagements and his incredible legacy by discussing the diverse ways in which his works have been reinterpreted, adapted and translated over the years. It analyses his perspectives on modernity, nationalism, liberation, education, post-colonialism and translatability and their relevance today. The leitmotif is a Tagore who, while imaginable as made possible only within the Indian tradition, eludes attempts aimed at identification with a national culture and remains a "cosmopolitan" in the best sense of the term. This volume will be of interest to readers and researchers in the fields of literature, philosophy, political science, cultural studies, Asian studies, South Asian studies and Tagore studies. Fans of Tagore will also find this an interesting read as it presents many little knows aspects of the poet’s work.

Tagore S English Writings Originals And Translations Have Not Received The Attention That They Deserve. The Purpose Of This Edition Is To Make The English Writings Of Tagore Available To The Widest Possible Range Of Readers Interested In The Writings Of Tagore All Over The World, With Just The Bare, Minimum Information Necessary For Appreciating The Writings, And Leave The Critical Assessment To The Readers Themselves.There May Be Two Possible Reasons For The Neglect Of Tagore S English Writings. Firstly, Tagore S Prolific Output, Shakespearean Felicity And Protean Plasticity As A Bengali Poet, Who, Though Well-Versed In English, Chose To Write In The Medium Of His Mother Tongue For Nearly The First Fifty Years Of His Life, And There Is Hardly Any Literary Form That He Did Not Touch Upon And Turn Into Gold. His Creative Genius Found Expression In Poems, Plays, Novels, Essays, Short Stories, Satirical Pieces, Textbooks For Children, And Songs Of All Kinds. The Only Literary Form That He Did Not Try Is Epic. But In His Long, Eventful And Creative Eighty Years Of Life He Virtually Lived An Epic. It Is Largely Due To His Mighty Stature As A Bengali Poet That Nobody Really Bothered About His English Writings And His Own Translations Of His Own Writings.Secondly, It Is Owing To The Supposedly Poor Quality Of His Translations Subsequent To The Translation Of Gitanjali. It Was Only After Tagore Received The Nobel Prize For Literature In 1913 That There Was A Growing Demand For His Writings In The West, And As Tagore Was Not Apparently Satisfied By The Translations That Others Mainly His Admirers Made, He Began To Translate His Writings Himself. But The Tremendous Haste With Which He Had To Translate, Possibly Affected The Quality Of Translations. Come What May, The Point Is Whether Tagore S English Translations Are Good Or Bad, Whether The Translation Furthered His Reputation Or Damaged It, Is Immaterial. The Fact Of The Matter Is That They Are His, And His Own Translation Of Whatever Quality It May Be Is More Valuable To A Tagore Lover Than The Best Translation Made By Somebody Else, As Van Gogh S One Original Single Scratch Is More Valuable Than The Best Possible Copy By Some Other Artist.The Value Of Tagore S English Writings Lies Here : They Constitute An Important Part Of His Total Oeuvre, Add A New Magnificent Dimension To It And Offer Us A Glimpse Into The Mystique Of The Creative Anxiety That Could Have Haunted Even The Greatest Writer Of The Twentieth Century, About His Possible Reception In An Alien Culture.

Rabindranath Tagore:Selected Essays is a collection of the author's most acclaimed essays. The Poet's Religion and The Creative Ideal reveal someof his fundamental tenets of art and aesthetics, of life and religion, and 'the religion of the poet'.The essays in Sadhana (1913) tell us of the ancient spirit of India, as revealed in our sacred texts and manifested in the life of today. Crisis in Civilisation (Sabhyatar Samkat) was the last public address delivered by Tagore on April 14,1941.The essays incorporatedfrom The Religion of Man (1941) are an extensive and commandingexposition of Tagore's understanding of the meaning and significance of religion in the cultural history of man. Greater India (1921) deals with the Swadeshi Movement in Bengal,one of the most turbulent periods in Indian history.One of India's most cherished renaissance figures, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) put India on the literary map of the world when his Gitanjali was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Myriadminded,he was a poet, short story writer, novelist, dramatist, essayist, painter and composer of songs.

This book provides a critical introduction and translation of fifty Śāntiniketan (Abode of Peace) essays written by Rabindranath Tagore between 1908 and 1914. It provides key insights into Tagore’s fundamental meditations on life, nature, religion, philosophy and the world at large. As the first of its kind, this volume is a definitive collection of Tagore’s Śāntiniketan essays translated into English which contains a substantial amount of scholarly material on them. The essays look at Tagore’s ideas of universality, his socio-cultural location along with the development of his thought, his reflections on Buddhism, Vaiṣṇavism, Bāul philosophy, the Bhagavadgītā and to a great extent the Upanishads and their contemporary relevance. It also connects Sri Ramakrishna’s concepts of vijnāna and bhāvamukha with Tagore’s thought, an original contribution, through the study of these essays. A nuanced exploration into translation theory and praxis, it fills a lacuna in Tagore Studies by bringing to the fore profound religious, spiritual and philosophical knowledge in Tagore’s own voice. This volume will be useful for scholars and researchers of Translation Studies, Tagore Studies, Language and Literature, Cultural Studies and readers interested in Tagore’s philosophical ideas.