When Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his own English translation of Gitanjali (Song Offerings), he became the first non-European to do so, achieving immediate fame.Translations in other languages of this and other works followed. Reams were written on his writings, and his personality. As aworld citizen, Tagore aimed at bringing the ‘East’ and the ‘West’ together for an inclusive humanism. His was assumed to be the Voice of India—indeed of Asia and the colonised world. The Nobel Prize gave him the authority to speak, and the intellectual elite of many countries listened.
The editors of Rabindranath Tagore: One Hundred Years of Global Reception had asked Tagore experts worldwide to narrate how the Bengali author was received from 1913 until our time. Their thirty-five essays arranged by region or language group inform us about translations, the impact of Tagore’s visits, and his subsequent standing in the world of letters. Tagore’s reception while often enthusiastic was not always adulatory, occasionally undergoing dramatic metamorphoses, and diverse political and social milieus and cultural movements responded to him differently. This nuanced global reception is for the first time dealt with comprehensively and systematically in this volume presented as a work of reference. These essays remind us that Tagore’s works keep being reprinted or retranslated for he continues to be relevant to modern readers.
Martin Kämpchen, a PhD in German Literature from Vienna and Comparative Religions from Visva-Bharati, is an author, biographer, researcher and translator of Tagore.
Imre Bangha a PhD in Hindi from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, is Associate Professor of Hindi, University of Oxford. He works on Old Hindi literature and on the Hungarian reception of Tagore.
The editorial adviser Uma Das Gupta, The contributors are Tagore experts from around the world.
Preface ix Part One: East and South Asia
1. Japan 3 Kyoko Niwa 2. Korea 25 Kim Woo Jo 3. China 38 Tan Chung and Wei Liming 4. Vietnam 57 Do Thu Ha 5. Tibet 69 Françoise Robin 6. Thailand 84 Sawitree Charoenpong 7. Sri Lanka 98 Sandagomi Coperahewa
Part Two: Middle East and Africa 8. Arab Countries 117 Ahmad Rafeeq Awad 9. Egypt 143 Md. Badiur Rahman 10. Turkey 162 Laurent Mignon 11. Jewish Diaspora and the State of Israel 175 Alexander Cherniak and Sergei Serebriany 12. Goa, Angola and Mozambique 192 José Paz Rodriguez
Part Three: Eastern and Central Europe 13. Russia 203 Sergei Serebriany 14. Romania 236 Liviu Bordas 15. Bulgaria 263 Nikolay Nikolaev 16. Yugoslavia and its Successors 275 Ana Jelnikar 17. Latvia 296 Viktors Ivbulis 18. Poland 308 Elzbieta Walter 19. Hungary 320 Imre Bangha 20. Czechoslovakia and its Successors 333 Martin Hríbek Part Four: Northern and Western Europe 21. Finland 359 Hannele Pohjanmies 22. Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden and Norway) 374 Mirja Juntunen 23. Germany, Austria and Switzerland 389 Martin Kämpchen 24. The Netherlands and Belgium 411 Victor A. van Bijlert 25. Italy 422 Mario Prayer 26. France 448 France Bhattacharya 27. Spain and Latin America 476 Shyama Prasad Ganguly 28. Portugal and Galicia 499 José Paz Rodriguez 29. United Kingdom 509 Kalyan Kundu
Part Five: The Americas 30. Argentina 545 Paula Savon and Sonia Berjman 31. Brazil 568 José Paz Rodriguez 32. Costa Rica 577 Sol Argüello Scriba 33. Mexico 587 Xicoténcatl Martínez Ruiz 34. United States of America 593 Anna Feuer 35. Canada 610 Kathleen M. O’Connell and M. A. Serhat Unsal
Select Bibliography 631 List of Contributors and Editors 634 Index 643