He: Shey

by Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore wrote Shey to satisfy his nine year old granddaughter's demands for stories. Even as Tagore began to create his fantasy, he planned a story that had no end, and to keep the tales spinning he employed the help of 'Shey', a "man constituted entirely of words" and rather talented at concocting tall tales. So we enter the world of Shey's extraordinary adventures, encountering a bizarre cast of characters, grotesque creatures and caricatures of contemporary figures and events as well as mythological heroes and deities - all brought to life through a sparkling play of words and illustrations in Tagore's unique style.

Genres: Fiction, Indian Literature, Literary Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla.

The complete works of Rabindranath Tagore (রবীন্দ্র রচনাবলী) in the original Bengali are now available at these third-party websites:
http://www.tagoreweb.in/
http://www.rabindra-rachanabali.nltr....

Reviews

[Harun Ahmed]

ঠিক এই ধরনের লেখার জন্যই বলা হয় যে, রবীন্দ্রনাথ প্রকৃতপক্ষে শিশুদের জন্য লিখতে পারতেন না। পুরো বই-ই আজগুবি ঘটনা ও রটনায় পরিপূর্ণ অথচ শেষটা কি সাংঘাতিক হৃদয় বিদারক!

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

You were there, so was Sukumar. Darkness fell, the lamps on the streets were lit, and I sat there making up stories of the Age of Truth for you.’
‘Making up stories! That means you were turning it into the Age of Falsehood!’
‘Don’t call them false. A ray of light that has crossed the limits of violet can’t be seen; but you can’t say it doesn’t exist— it’s just as much light. It’s in that ultraviolet glow of history that man has created his Age of Truth. I wouldn’t call it prehistoric— rather, it is ultra-historic.’

[Syd Wachs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love nonsense stories, but the ones he told as Pupu-Didi got older lost me. I prefer the ones from when she was little!

[Sadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

No head, no "tale". Yet such fun to read🤌🏻

[Charanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such nonsense, I love!
Tagore's Shey is not about transporting the reader to a wonderland extraordinaire but about a rapturous journey into the human spirit.

[Hollis Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange but very enjoyable to read.

[Jesan · Rating 1 out of 5]

ফ্যান্টাসি লেখার চেষ্টা ছিল।দুঃখিত কিছু বুঝে পাইনি