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Unconventional relationships a married woman in love with a younger brother-in-law; a love triangle between a man, his wife, and his sister-in-law; an intimate affair between a married man and a distant cousin are the subject of Rabindranath Tagore s three novellas Nashtanir (The Broken Home), Dui Bon (Two Sisters), and Malancha (The Garden and the Gardener).In these three novellas written between 1901 and 1933 Tagore focuses on the subtle nuances of unsanctioned relationships, exploring feelings of loneliness and worthlessness in middle-class housewives in colonial Bengal. They display Tagore s remarkable understanding of a woman s psyche, with all three works underlining the incompatibility between husbands and wives, and how the ensuing void lead to forbidden relationships. In Charulata, Sharmila, and Neeraja the three strong yet vulnerable heroines Tagore presents emerging new women , with thoughts and desires of their own.While Sukhendu Ray s new translations retain the cultural and linguistic ambience of the original, Bharati Ray s Introduction places these works in the social context of early-twentieth-century Bengal.ReadershipThis three-in-one classic collection will prove rewarding for all readers interested in Indian fiction as well as for students and teachers engaged in a serious study of Indian literature in translation, comparative literature, and gender and cultural studies. ... Read more

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A study of the life and work of the 'poet of Bengal."

THIS TITLE IS CITED AND RECOMMENDED BY:Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. ... Read more

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This collection of Tagore's songs in translation, perhaps the largest to appear in a systematic form, aims at a holistic appreciation of this body of Tagore's literary creation. Arranged chronologically, thiscollection pays a lot of attention to the lyric's quality as poetry than to the song's tune or melodic quality. The translations closely follow the original Bengali lyrics in formal structure (line arrangement, rhyming pattern, and exact wording) instead of using free verse, and phonetic transliteration of the original is provided alongside the faithful translation-this enables one to immediately follow the artistry of the structure of expression in form and wording. Where the lyric had been transcreated by the poet himself, that is quoted before giving the translation that follows the original Bengali as closely as possible-something that will be of particular interest to students of translation studies. The fairly comprehensive Introduction and several carefully chosen articles on Tagore's songs would also help the reader to understand the songs as a very special, and rather unique, kind of poetry, quite apart from the general body of Tagore's poems.This edition will appeal to those who know Tagore as also young readers, apart from students and scholars of Indian literature and translation studies. ... Read more

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1914. A Play in One Act. This lyrical drama was written about twenty-five years ago. It is based on the following story from the Mahabharata. In the course of his wanderings, in fulfillment of a vow of penance, Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitrangada, the beautiful daughter of Chitravahana, the king of the country. Smitten with her charms, he asked the king for the hand of his daughter in marriage. Chitravahana asked him who he was, and learning that he was Arjuna the Pandara, told him that Prabhanjana, one of his ancestors in the kingly line of Manipur, had long been childless. In order to obtain an heir, he performed severe penances. Pleased with these austerities, the god Shiva gave him this boon, that he and his successors should each have one child. It so happened that the promised child had invariably been a son. He, Chitravahana, was the first to have only a daughter Chitrangada to perpetuate the race. He had, therefore, always treated her as a son and had made her his heir. Continuing, the king said: The one son that will be born to her must be the perpetuator of my race. That son will be the price that I shall demand for this marriage. You can take her, if you like, on this condition. Arjuna promised and took Chitrangada to wife, and lived in her father's capital for three years. When a son was born to them, he embraced her with affection, and taking leave of her and her father, set out again on his travels. ... Read more

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Tagores English writingsoriginals and translationshave 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 Tagores English writings. Firstly, Tagores 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 othersmainly his admirersmade, 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 Tagores 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 Goghs one original single scratch is more valuable than the best possible copy by some other artist.The value of Tagores 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. ... Read more

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Out of Bengal and the Hindu spiritual tradition comes a Nobelprize-winning mystical poet whose time for broad, popular acceptance hascome. William Butler Yeats fell in love with these poems almost a 100 yearsago, the Nobel Committee honored them with their literature prize in 1913and just recently The Utne Reader cited Tagore as one of today's mostoverlooked spiritual writers.This new editionis important because itslyrical translation has been made from Tagore's original Bengali andbecause it makes theentire collection of 157 Gitanjali, or "songofferings" available to a wider audience for the first time. RabindranathTagore wrote with the insight and emotion that so characterizes KahlilGibran, with the mystical passion that has made Jalaluddin Rumi so popularand with a simplicity and depth that remains fresh and attractive totoday's seekers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Tagore's misuse of the word God and Lord
I read Tagore's translation into English of his Bengali song lyrics back in the 1960s.The way he uses God and Lord in that translation, which I no longer have a copy of, struck me as quite at odds with what he actually meant.He never believed in the Western idea of some objective God controlling the Universe, but only in an experience you either have or have not had, rather what I think Jesus was actually referring to.Having had that experience part-way when I was 11, and Tagore's having had apparently the complete experience when he was 17, his songs seem to me to be his struggle to have the experience again, which it seems he never did.I certainly haven't.This translation gives a somewhat better idea of what Tagore meant.There is a fuller philosophical explanation in the Northrup book "The Meeting of East and West".In my elementary astronomy classes, I usually gave students a choice on the final between a few objective questions or commenting on one or two of Tagore's lyrics as they felt them, which to me is as important as the color-magnitude diagram.

The God of his life
I can't read Bengali so I have no way of knowing how faithful Br. James Talarovic was to Rabindranath Tagore's GITANJALI.I have read other translations, even Tagore's own, and at the very least I can say that Talarovic's ring true; that is to say they put words to the dark nights and twilit days of my spirit.Whether this is because Talarovic is a poet in his own right, or because he gave himself to the Bengali language (see his Bengali for Foreigners: Basic Grammar, Basic Vocabulary With Sentences, Secondary Vocabulary, English-Bengali-Transliteration), Br. James was truly in love with Tagore's soul so much that he translated his GITIMALYA and GITALI as well (although at present only the GITANJALI is in print).

I can't recommend Br. James Talarovic's translation of the GITANJALI enough.Besides the quality of the poetry we are indebted to Talarovic for doing what even Rabindranath Tagore didn't do, which was to translate the entire GITANJALI rather than parts of it.SHOW YOURSELF TO MY SOUL is, for me, as edifying as any translation of Rumi, and -- I would venture to say -- equally as profound.

fabulous poems and translation
Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore is a series of poems exposing Tagore'ssearch for union with the divine.Tagore, a Bengali Hindu, writes with great beauty, emotion and simplicity.Reading the poems in order (there are 157 poems, each about a page or less long) shows the waxing and waning cycles of Tagore's spiritual life.Sometimes God is present to Tagore, only to leave later.A Christian spiritual seeker myself, I could easily relate to the pendulum swing that Tagore writes about: the joys, frustrations and patience.Tagore himself made an English translation of these poems for which he won the Nobel prize for literature in the early 20th century (the first non-European to win the literature prize).Here the translation is by a Catholic monk who spent most of his adult life in Bengal, and many scholars think his translation is better than Tagore's, due to his absolute fluency in both languages.I have read beautiful poems by many spiritual writers, and I found Tagore's Gitanjali the most approachable and meaningful.Highest recommendation. ... Read more

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Originally published in 1915.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration. Ornaments would mar our union; they would come between thee and me; their jingling would drown thy whispers.My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight. O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.The child who is decked with prince's robes and who has jewelled chains round his neck loses all pleasure in his play; his dress hampers him at every step.In fear that it may be frayed, orstained with dust he keeps himself from the world, and is afraid even to move.Mother, it is no gain, thy bondage of finery, if it keep one shut off from the healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great fair of common human life.O Fool, to try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders! 0 beggar, to come to beg at thy own door!Leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all, and never look behind in regret.Thy desire at once puts out the light from the lamp it touches with its breath. It is unholy—take not thy gifts through its unclean hands. Accept only what is offered by sacred love.Hebe is thy footstool and there rest thy feet where live the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.When I try to bow to thee, my obeisance cannot reach down to the depth where thy feet rest among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.Pride can never approach to where thou walkest in the clothes of the humble among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.My heart can never find its way to where thou keepest company with the companionless among the poorest, the lowliest, and the lost.Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark c... ... Read more

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CONTENTSPrefaceThe Unknown PoetBoy and ManSome Indian Poets"The Gardener"Rabindranath Tagore's Short StoriesThe Babe's ParadiseThe Playwright"Gitanjali" and Chaitanya DevaA Spiritual CommonwealthA Book of MeditationsShanti NiketanConclusion ... Read more

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This selection of about 350 letters spanning Tagore's entire life show his interests and ideas as far as possible, and will be a valuable source of information for the understanding of Tagore's personality. ... Read more

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This collection of essays records a common reader's changing perceptions to the literary achievement of Rabindranath Tagore. It addresses certain central concerns of the writer's work and underlines aspects that have not, so far, received sufficient attention. It does not offer definitive explanations, but aims instead to confront the issues his work raises and study them from different points of view. ... Read more

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Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore's most beautiful poetry, translated into English is almost as beautiful as in its native Bengali. Fifty selected poems from Tagore, as well as three original poems, Tagore Biography.Descriptions, languages, maps of India, Kolkota, Bangladesh. 26 photos, illustrations, maps, charts - India, Bangladesh.Chart - 23 most used languages of India. How to read Bengali. 500 word Bengali language essentials. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more