ABSTRACT
Tagore's last novel Char Adhyay (Four Chapters), which proved to be the most controversial in his lifetime, deals with the relationship between revolutionary violence and love. Through the tragic story of his protagonists Ela and Atin, Tagore charts the impact of engineered political violence on the personal lives of those caught up in the fervour of nationalism. In the process, the text draws fine distinctions between ideology and idealism, and between nationalism and patriotism. Four Chapters aroused a storm of controversy when it was published. It offended a great many nationalists who felt their cause had been misrepresented in a one-sided narrative. Bengali revolutionaries who were confined in prison camps and jails in different parts of the country reacted to the novel with shock and outrage. Four Chapters marks a new phase in Tagore's critique of violence in the name of nationalism.
