The Politics and Reception of Rabindranath Tagore's Drama, The Bard on the Stage. Edited

摘要

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is the gurudev (inspired master) of Bengal, his rhythms pulsating inclusively through villages, towns and the urban elites of Kolkata and Dhaka. The culminating figure in its nineteenth-century "Renaissance", one of the founding fathers of modern India, he was lionised internationally as a source of inspiration and radical icon alongside Tolstoy. His original audiences and the English language itself have moved on, leaving his translations looking dated. But Tagore's centrality and vibrancy for Bengalis round the world are unchanged. The 150th anniversary in 2011 has served to underline this and given new impetus to reconnecting wider audiences with his living Bangla tradition.