Tab Article
ratings: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Genre: Short Stories / Bengali Literature / Classics / Indian Literature
Book Review:
Rabindranath Tagore is a titan of world literature—the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize, a poet, novelist, painter, and musician whose work shaped the consciousness of modern India. But for many readers outside Bengal, he remains a distant, almost mythical figure. This magnificent collection of his short stories, translated with love and insight by William Radice, brings Tagore vividly to life. These stories were written in the 1890s, when Tagore was managing his family's estates in the Bengal riverlands, and they are steeped in the landscapes and lives of the people he encountered. They are vivid, lyrical, and deeply humane, capturing the beauty and brutality of village life, the rigidity of caste, the corruption of officials, and the dignity of the poor. But they are also touched by Tagore's romantic vision, his sense of the mystical and the transcendent. The Times praises them for ''conveying great strength and uplifting courage, while containing some of the finest evocations of childhood and natural beauty to be found in 20th century Romantic writing.'' This Penguin edition, with its excellent introduction, notes, and glossary, is the perfect gateway into Tagore's world. Essential reading for anyone who loves great literature.
