Glimpses of Bengal

by Rabindranath Tagore, Andrew Robinson (Introduction)

The letters translated in this book span the most productive period of my literary life, when, owing to great good fortune, I was young and less known. Youth being exuberant and leisure ample, I felt the writing of letters other than business ones to be a delightful necessity. This is a form of literary extravagance only possible when a surplus of thought and emotion accumulates. Other forms of literature remain the author's and are made public for his good; letters that have been given to private individuals once for all, are therefore characterised by the more generous abandonment. It so happened that selected extracts from a large number of such letters found their way back to me years after they had been written. It had been rightly conjectured that they would delight me by bringing to mind the memory of days when, under the shelter of obscurity, I enjoyed the greatest freedom my life has ever known.

Genres: India, Nonfiction, Literature, Classics

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

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

[Vikas Singh · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of letters that Tagore wrote to his niece while moving around in his boat. It is strange to note that not even once his wife or children find mention in any of the letters. The letters are a sharp contrast to the luxury and comfort enjoyed by the landowners including Tagore and the degraded hand to mouth existence of the landless!

[Bill on GR Sabbatical · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting selection of excerpts from letters the Bengali poet and future Nobel laureate wrote in the decade from 1885 to 1895. They range from lyrical descriptions of life on and along the rivers, to his reading and writing, to philosophical and political speculations.

Why is there always this deep shade of melancholy over the fields arid river banks, the sky and the sunshine of our country? And I came to the conclusion that it is because with us Nature is obviously the more important thing. The sky is free, the fields limitless; and the sun merges them into one blazing whole. In the midst of this, man seems so trivial. He comes and goes, like the ferry-boat, from this shore to the other; the babbling hum of his talk, the fitful echo of his song, is heard; the slight movement of his pursuit of his own petty desires is seen in the world's market-places: but how feeble, how temporary, how tragically meaningless it all seems amidst the immense aloofness of the Universe!

There are some occasional recording and production issues with the free Librivox audiobook, but the text can easily be checked at Project Gutenberg, if desired.

[Pratishtha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad to have found this second-hand book under some old pile of books in a bookstore. I read him first in Stray Birds and I instantly connected.
I believe many of us witness the world like he had, but none of us can describe it like he did.
He talks of the most impossible things in the greatest possible manner.
There is something in each letter that makes you look outside your window and think if you are going too fast and missing everything you really need to see!
Out of all of them, there is one letter which I really loved.
A part of it goes like this :
" .... Not a very lofty ideal, is it? To benefit the world would have been much higher, bo doubt; but being on the whole what I am, that ambition does not even occur to me. I cannot make up my mind to sacrifice this precious gift of life in a self-wrought famine and disappoint the world and the hearts of men by fasts and meditations and constant argument ... "

[Lilisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing selection of letters written by Rabindranath Tagore during 1885 to 1895 to individuals when he was “under the shelter of obscurity.” The version I read was about 200 pages. Some of the letters made their way back to Tagore and are translated by him. Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 -- the first non-European to do so. This collection of beautifully written letters showcases the lyrical and poetic rhythm of Tagore ‘s writing as he traverses Bengal and waxes eloquently on nature, life and living. The imagery is fantastic, his way with words strikes a chord and the simplest occurrence is elevated with words that are almost musical. A wonderful reading experience that leaves a lasting impression.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glimpses is about all I got. Since the tour guide was kind of boring when he wasn't be obnoxious, I only paid fleeting attention, most of which was centred on not puking over the elderly couple in front of me after eating dodgy street food outside Kolkata.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a collection of correspondence excerpts that could not have been more aptly named, this was my introduction to the sublime writing of Rabindranath Tagore. (Special mention to the acknowledged but un-named translator [was it Tagore himself?]who has clearly done a magnificent job.) These vignettes of life in present-day Bangladesh, written well over 100 years ago, were timeless, often funny, moody, moving and just quite magical.

The flow of village life is not too rapid, neither is it stagnant. Work and rest go together, hand in hand. The ferry crosses to and fro, the passers-by with umbrellas up wend their way along the tow-path, women are washing rice on the split-bamboo trays which they dip in the water, the ryots are coming to the market with bundles of jute on their heads. Two men are chopping away at a log of wood with regular, ringing blows. The village carpenter is repairing an upturned dinghy under a big aswatha tree. A mongrel dog is prowling aimlessly along the canal bank. Some cows are lying there chewing the cud, after a huge meal off the luxuriant grass, lazily moving their ears backwards and forwards, flicking off flies with their tails, and occasionally giving an impatient toss of their heads when the crows perched on their backs take too much of a liberty.

[Abhijeet Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through these letters written over a decade, an eloquent Tagore observes nature with its minute details making him ponder over deeper meanings of life and universe. Reflections on random thoughts and incidents shed light on the philosophical side of the bard, then an aimless wanderer in his late twenties, as he captures the little joys of village life and life itself cruising through the undivided Bengal countryside in the family barge. What may come across as mundane to most of us moved him deeply. Written at a time when he was more of a reluctant zamindar and an obscure man of letters, he touches upon his inner contradictions of a rootless existence as against being rooted to a place.

One thing stood out for me in these letters. His patriotic zeal and the desire to see his countrymen free from the colonial yoke which he poignantly summarises with the example of an earthen pot as against a metal one.

It is a memoir of sorts.

[سارة · Rating 5 out of 5]

جميل جميل جميل، أشبع جوعي للشعر!

[Riya Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet, simple musings about life and nature that touches your heart and makes you feel connected to Bengal and Rabindranath Tagore.

[Ashwani Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Privileged Zamindar floats around Bengal by private boat, presumably collecting rent and taxes up and down the Padma, seeing his country with foreign eyes, all the while dreaming of making his mark on the literary world. He did eventually make his mark, but at this stage when he is still in his early thirties, it is difficult to glimpse much talent in his writing or derive any deep insight into Bengal. Mostly solipsistic and platitudinous, the work of a sophomoric mind trying prematurely to present itself as wise and creative.

[Arpita Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I usually pace the roof-terrace, alone, of an evening. Yesterday afternoon I felt it my duty to show my visitors the beauties of the local scenery, so I strolled out with them, taking Aghore as a guide.
On the verge of the horizon, where the distant fringe of trees was blue, a thin line of dark blue cloud had risen over them and was looking particularly beautiful. I tried to be poetical and said it was like blue collyrium on the fringe of lashes enhancing a beautiful blue eye. Of my companions one did not hear the remark, another did not understand, while the third dismissed it with the reply, ‘Yes, very pretty.’ I did not feel encouraged to attempt a second poetical flight."

[Janice Raquela · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely read

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully crafted observations of eternal truths and insight through observing the rhythms of life in 19th century rural Bengal.

[Prasanta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok