Rabindranath Tagore
The Myriad-minded Man
Published on 30. November 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
512 pages
978-1-84511-804-4 (ISBN)
Description
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) - poet, philosopher, painter, novelist, playwright, composer, traveler, political commentator and Asia's first Nobel Laureate - was one of his era's cultural icons: the 'Great Sentinel', said Gandhi. His works reshaped Bengali literature, music and thought and had a profound and lasting impact on the West. He was feted by some of the most prominent and influential artists, writers and political leaders and equally adored by ordinary men and women across the world. Proclaimed as the greatest poet India has ever produced, Tagore left an astonishing legacy undimmed nearly 70 years after his death.But he was also an enigmatic, complex and contradictory figure, torn between India's spiritual values and the spirit of the West. In this definitive biography, Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson explore the man behind the myth, presenting the power of his person, the power of his name and the power of his work, revealing Tagore's personality in all its myriad-mindedness. The result is an enlightening and exquisitely rendered portrayal-not of the legend but, to quote Tagore, of 'the figure that once moved.'
Reviews / Votes
'One has waited a very long time for a biography of Tagore that did justice to a far more complex and curious mind and life than simply respectful and circumspect accounts allowed. Here it is: thorough, fair, balanced, intelligent, and addressing every aspect of a truly astonishing artist, his life and times.' - Anita Desai; 'The entire book was a revelation to me - it brings out very clearly that Tagore was intellectually more perceptive than Gandhi.' - Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Nobel Laureate; 'A fascinating book about a fascinating man, a work that addresses the profound conflict between eastern spirituality and western rationality.' - Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Laureate; 'An excellent book - as an elegantly argued and subtly shaded portrait it will be difficult to supersede.' - Frank McLynn, Literary Review; 'Enjoyable, astute and highly readable.' - Amit Chaudhuri, Spectator; 'This seems to exemplify a sort of biography little dared anymore; an enquiry into the spirit and mind of a man whom the authors trust and admire and do not presume to overinterpret.' - Candia McWilliam, Independent on Sunday; 'Excellent - admirably straightforward, readable, lively, informative.' - J.D.F. Jones, Financial Times; 'Judicious, sympathetic and exceedingly well documented.' - P.N. Furbank, The Times; 'It has been a pleasure to read a well-written, well-researched and well-documented biography.' - Kathleen Raine, The Tablet; 'A painstaking, informative, well-written biography.' - Nicholas Mosley, Daily Telegraph; 'Dutta and Robinson's lively narrative steers clear of facile categories...so revealing the subtle nuances of East and West in the poet's sensibility.' - Maria Couto, Guardian; 'An ambitious and altogether brilliant biography - exceptionally fair-minded.' - Sunday (Calcutta); 'Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson have established themselves as the pre-eminent Tagore scholars.' - K. Natwar Singh, Asian Age; 'a superb biography' - The New YorkerMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
6x8pp b/w plates, frontispiece
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84511-804-4 (9781845118044)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson have published extensively on Rabindranath Tagore, including Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore: An Anthology and a translation of Tagore's play The Post Office. Krishna Dutta is an author and translator specialising in the cultural history of Bengal. Her book, Calcutta: A Cultural and Literary History, was published to critical acclaim and she is currently writing about the history of the first book of Indian cookery to be published in Britain. Andrew Robinson is the author of more than fifteen books, including The Art of Rabindranath Tagore and two books published by I.B. Tauris: Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye and Satyajit Ray: A Vision of Cinema (with Nemai Ghosh). He has written three other biographies, of Albert Einstein, Michael Ventris and Thomas Young. Formerly literary editor of The Times Higher Education Supplement, he is now a visiting fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge and a fulltime writer.