Rabindranath Tagore in the 21st Century


Book Description

This critical volume addresses the question of Rabindranath Tagore's relevance for postmodern and postcolonial discourse in the twenty-first century. The volume includes contributions by leading contemporary scholars on Tagore and analyses Tagore's literature, music, theatre, aesthetics, politics and art against contemporary theoretical developments in postcolonial literature and social theory. The authors take up themes as varied as the implications of Tagore’s educational vision for contemporary India; new theoretical interpretations of gender, queer elements, feminism and subalternism in Tagore's literary and social expressions; his language use as a vehicle for a dialogue between positivism, Orientalism and other constructs in the ongoing process of globalization; the nature of the influence of Tagore's music and literature on national and cultural identity formation, particularly in Bengal and Bangladesh; and intersubjectivity and critical modernity in Tagore’s art. This volume opens up a space for Tagore’s critique and his creative innovations in present theoretical engagements.




Rabindranath Tagore for the 21st Century Reader


Book Description

Rabindranath Tagore is the second most popular literature laureate of all time (after John Steinbeck) according to the official website of the Nobel Prize. Writers ranked below him on the popularity chart include Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda and Ernest Hemingway. Tagore won the prize in 1913, but a hundred years later readers continue to flock to his work because it possesses all the qualities essential to keep it fresh and relevant despite the passage of time-big ideas, complex themes, stylistic brilliance, a deep engagement with nature, beauty, family, love, and passion, and above all, a profound timelessness. Keeping the 21st century reader firmly in mind, this volume brings together some of Tagore's most celebrated works. In The Home and the World, perhaps his most popular novel, intricate issues of devotion-to the motherland and to the family-are explored through a story of two friends and a woman coming into her own. The Monk-King, with its devious priest and marauding armies, is also about the power of sacrifice and loyalty. In 'The Laboratory', Tagore's last short story, he creates a world that is materialistic and amoral with a light yet ruthless touch. In poems like 'Camilla' and 'An Ordinary Girl' he describes the sadness of unrequited love. His drama, Chandalika, is about the angst and helplessness of being in love with an unattainable ideal. Brilliantly translated by Arunava Sinha, this selection of Rabindranath Tagore's fiction, poetry, lyrics and drama is evidence of his position as one of the world's greatest writers and reinforces the enduring nature of his words, emotions and beliefs.




The 21st Century


Book Description

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- CONTENTS -- Message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Prologue -- 1 Building peace: the Bahudha approach -- 2 Interplay of ideas: the Indian story -- 3 Ecological issues in the Himalayan region -- 4 Science, spirituality and ways of living: a plea for integrated education -- 5 Democracy and its consequences -- 6 Good governance: a narrative from democratic India -- 7 The emerging world: challenges and possibilities -- Epilogue -- Select bibliography -- Index.




Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, and the British Raj


Book Description

Rabindranath Tagore is the most famous composer of Bengali lyrics and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913. This book includes the full text of his prize-winning book, Gitanjali (Song Offerings), in its English version along with an introduction by W.B. Yeats that was published in London in 1912. Up until Gitanjali, Tagore was not popular in Bengaland his name was not even mentioned in The History of Bengali Language and Literature by Dinesh Chandra Sen, which was Published by the University of Calcutta in 1912. The author examines how the Hindu mystic poet was influenced by the great fictional epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and other ancient Hindu religious books, especially Upanishads. He also explores how Christian and Islamic literature and culture influenced the poets writings. Discover the untold story of how Tagores connections with influential Jews of England, other European countries, and the United States may have contributed to him winning the prize that led to his fame.




Rabindranath Tagore’s Journey as an Educator


Book Description

This book looks at Rabindranath Tagore’s, experiments and journey as an educator and the influence of humanistic worldviews, nationalism and cosmopolitanism in his philosophy of education. It juxtaposes the educational systems and institutions set up by the British colonial administration with Tagore’s pedagogical vision and schools in Santiniketan, West Bengal—Brahmacharya Asram (1901), Visva-Bharati University (1921) and Sriniketan Institute of Village Reconstruction (1922). An educational pioneer and a poet-teacher, Tagore combined nature and culture, tradition and modernity, East and West, in formulating his educational methodology. The essays in this volume analyse the relevance of his theories and practice in encouraging greater cultural exchange and the dissolution of the walls between classrooms and communities. This book will be useful for scholars and researchers of education, Tagore studies, literature, cultural studies, sociology of education, South Asian studies and colonial and postcolonial studies.




Tagore and Yeats


Book Description

This is a comparative exploration of two iconic Nobel Prize winning writers, W.B. Yeats and Rabindranath Tagore, focusing on the theme of postcolonial translation, politics of friendship, decolonializing art and Irish-Indian nationalism through poetry and literature.




A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century


Book Description

Provides a comprehensive survey of the key events and personalities of this period.




Religion 21st Century


Book Description




21st Century Perspectives on Indian Writing in English


Book Description

The essays gathered here alternately adjust the focal length of the critical lens brought to bear upon texts and contexts in the area of Indian writing in English. They bring into view both intense engagements with major voices in this literary scene and the wider socio-historical perspectives in which they have thrived. Three clearly defined sections on the genres of poetry, prose, and drama are augmented by three incisive interviews with the diasporic Indian English poet Bashabi Fraser, the renowned Indian English fiction writer Kunal Basu, and the premier Indian English playwright Mahesh Dattani. The volume will appeal to students and teachers of postcolonial and comparative literatures. It raises crucial and timely questions about the state of culture in India and the world, the crisis of intolerance, and the loss of memory and diversity. It hones a post-millennial perspective on literature written in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.




Rabindranath Tagore


Book Description