ABSTRACT

This book is a fresh examination of Rabindranath Tagore’s ideas on nationalism and his rhetoric of cosmopolitanism. It critically analyses the poetics and the politics of his works and specifically responds to Tagore’s three lectures on nationalism delivered during the early years of the twentieth century and later compiled in his book Nationalism (1917).

This volume:

  • Discusses Tagore’s perception of nationalism – the many-sidedness of his engagement with nationalism, the root causes of his anathema against the ideology, ambiguities and limitations associated with his perception and his alternative vision of cosmopolitanism or global unity;
  • Cross-examines an alternative view of cosmopolitanism based on Tagore’s inclusivist ideology to “seek my compatriots all over the world”;
  • Explores how his ideas on nationalism and cosmopolitanism found myriad expressions across his works – in prose, fiction, poetry, travelogue, songs – as well as in the legacy of cinematic adaptations of his writings;
  • Investigates the relevance of Tagore’s thoughts on nationalism and cosmopolitanism in relation to the contemporary rise of religious, nationalist and sectarian violence in the twenty-first century.

A key study on the relevance of Tagore’s political philosophy in the contemporary world with contributions from eminent Tagore scholars in South Asia as well as the West, this book will be of great interest to readers and researchers in the fields of literature, political science, cultural studies, philosophy and Asian studies.

chapter |29 pages

Introduction

part I|143 pages

Tagore, nationalism and cosmopolitanism

chapter 3|21 pages

Imagining “One World”

Rabindranath Tagore’s critique of nationalism 1

chapter 4|15 pages

Visva-Bharati

Tagore’s response to aggressive nationalism?

chapter 5|25 pages

Nationalism then and now

An exploration of Tagore’s relevance today

chapter 6|19 pages

Pilgrim man

Rabindranath Tagore’s cosmopolitanism and cosmic consciousness

chapter 8|17 pages

For love of country

Debating Martha Nussbaum on cosmopolitanism in Tagore

part II|102 pages

Nationalism and cosmopolitanism

chapter 9|20 pages

Rabindranath Tagore

Nationalism and poetry – message of universal humanism

chapter 10|15 pages

“Hungry Stone”

Colonial uncanny and the return of the repressed

chapter 11|24 pages

Narrating nation, society, cosmopolitanism and culture

A study of three stories by Rabindranath Tagore

chapter 12|16 pages

Finding one’s home abroad

Tagore’s thinking on nation in the travelogues to Japan and Persia

chapter 13|14 pages

On music and memory

Rabindranath Tagore’s songs of nature in the age of nationalism

chapter 14|11 pages

Cinematic representations of Rabindranath Tagore’s views of nationalism

The figure of the “Patriot” in Ghare Baire and Elar Char Adhyay