Tagore-At Home in the World

Book excerpt: This volume of 22 essays spans a wide trajectory, foregrounding the texts of Tagore and Tagore as text. The Tagorean spirit that makes the bard so relevant in the 21st century forms the basis of this compilation. Tagore's travels to various parts of the world, his reception and response to diverse cultures, his scepticism about the rigid parameters of nationalism all establish the perception that Tagore was remarkably at home in the world. Tagore's concern was with life, play and contingency-with the momentary as well as the eternal. It is this strain of unacknowledged modernism and life-affirming vision that make his work powerful. A believer in freedom of the individual, creative freedom and freedom of all, his words are as pertinent in today's context as they were in his time. This volume analyses how the constrictions of the specificities of place, location and geographies have always been interrogated by Tagore for whom space was a defining trope. With contributions from some leading Tagore experts both from India and abroad, this volume enables us to re-read Tagore as a messenger of world harmony and peace.