Miscellaneous writingsTagore 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. |
Contents
Preface xi | 971 |
MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS | 978 |
A Open Letters Speeches Tributes etc | 989 |
The Problem of India | 991 |
Spiritual Civilization | 996 |
National Language of India | 998 |
The Object and Subject of a Story | 1000 |
Hindu Intercaste Marriage | 1006 |
The Womens International League | 1081 |
Takagaki | 1083 |
India and Britain | 1084 |
On Proselytism | 1085 |
Sarnath | 1086 |
Imprisonment of Gandhi | 1087 |
Appeal to America | 1088 |
Welcome Address to Professor Davoud | 1089 |
Vernaculars for the M A Degree | 1007 |
This Youth which Lies Hidden in My Heart | 1009 |
On Some Educational Questions | 1011 |
Poets Contribution to Your Noble Work | 1018 |
When Badges of Honour Make Our Shame Glaring | 1019 |
A Great Crime in the Name of Law | 1020 |
On British Mentality in Relation to India | 1025 |
The Efficacy of Ahimsa | 1027 |
Message to the Young | 1028 |
Introducing Elmherst | 1031 |
Farewell to Dr M Winternitz | 1034 |
To My Ceylon Audience | 1035 |
Letter to Lord Lytton | 1043 |
Birth Control Movement | 1044 |
Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das | 1045 |
Romain Rolland | 1046 |
Farewell Address to Carlo Formichi | 1047 |
Philosophy of Fascism | 1050 |
Fascism Denounced | 1057 |
Protest Against the Policy of Repression | 1060 |
Tagores Response | 1061 |
Freedom | 1064 |
Mother India | 1067 |
Colour Prejudice | 1069 |
To the World League for Peace | 1070 |
East is East | 1072 |
Protest Against the Arrest of Mahatma Gandhi | 1073 |
An Appeal to Idealism | 1074 |
Race and Colour Prejudice | 1076 |
Faith in British Justice | 1077 |
Message to the Quaker Society of Friends | 1079 |
I am Proud of My People | 1080 |
On the Centenary of Wilberforce | 1090 |
Deshapriya J M Sengupta | 1091 |
Homage to Islam | 1092 |
Protest Against the Nazis | 1094 |
My Ideals with regard to the Sreebhavana | 1095 |
To Madan Mohan Malviya | 1098 |
Farewell to Abdul Ghafar Khan | 1099 |
My Young Friends | 1100 |
A Letter to an English Friend | 1101 |
Ishopanishat | 1103 |
Tagores Appeal | 1104 |
To Indian National Congress | 1106 |
Message to World Peace Congress | 1107 |
New Education Fellowship | 1108 |
The English in India | 1112 |
Spanish Civil War | 1115 |
Appeal to the United Party of Sind | 1116 |
On India | 1117 |
Appeal for Andaman Prisoners | 1118 |
In Response to Rasbehari Boses Appeal | 1121 |
Vande Mataram | 1122 |
Appeal to Journalists | 1123 |
Jagadish Chandra Bose | 1124 |
The British Constitution in India | 1129 |
Thirty Songs from the Punjab and Kashmir | 1165 |
The Web of Indian Life | 1172 |
The Robbery of the Soil | 1178 |
Zoroastrian Hymns | 1187 |
The Case for India | 1194 |
Rebel India | 1200 |
1301 | |
Common terms and phrases
accept allowed appeal Asia asked beautiful become believe bring British cause character China civilization claim comes communication complete create culture East English Europe European evil existence expression fact faith feel force foreign freedom give given Government hands heart hope human idea ideal India individual interest Italy Japan keep kind language letter light literature living material means meeting merely mind moral movement nature never offer once opinion organized originally peace perfect personality physical poet political possible present problem prove published question race realize reason regard religion remain representatives responsibility Review sense social society soul spirit suffering sure sympathy Tagore things thought true truth understanding universal village Visva-Bharati voice West Western whole writings young