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Web-only Exclusives November 30, 2000 From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead Bad news for the Philippines - and some others From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights? |
Books
Bengal's Renaissance Man
A new biography of Asia's first Nobel laureate
By Vernon RamHE SEEMED TO COME from nowhere, this towering figure with the flowing beard, commanding presence and massive intellect. In 1913 there was no lack of worthy candidates for the Nobel Prize for Literature. English novelist Thomas Hardy was a favorite. Tolstoy, Ibsen, Zola, Shaw, all passed over in previous years, were due for recognition. Instead, the Nobel committee chose to honor India's Rabindranath Tagore, making him Asia's first Nobel laureate.
Tagore had just published his Gitanjali (Song Offering), which, translated into English, had taken the European intelligentsia by storm. Soon he was cavorting with the likes of Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and George Bernard Shaw. In 1915 he was made Sir Rabindranath, an honor that he publicly disavowed four years later to protest the massacre of unarmed Indians by British-commanded troops at the Jallianwalla Bagh at Amritsar.
The sheer volume of Tagore's output over the years is staggering. His poetry, drama, novels, operas, short stories, essays and diaries fill 28 volumes. A similar number of slimmer volumes of letters is still being edited. Additionally, this renaissance man was a famous composer (he wrote both India's and Bangladesh's national anthems) and a painter. His approximately 2,500 songs are published separately; his paintings and drawings number more than 2,000.
A surprisingly large portion of his literary output is still read, performed and studied in Bengali, although this means that appreciation of his work outside of India and Bangladesh is circumscribed. Indeed, in India itself, most of the interest is centered on his poetry. He translated about half of his works into English himself with an elegance and eloquence that equaled the best of England's poets. Even so, some of the original lyricism is lost in translation. His music retains its enduring appeal.
But Tagore did not live in an ivory-tower by any means. The scion of a wealthy family he plowed his inheritance and prize money into worthy projects. The institutions he founded, such as the Rabindra Bharati University in Calcutta, the Santi Niketan Institute and the Visva Bharati school (where ex-premier Indira Gandhi once studied), help carry forward his vision of pan-Asian peace, racial equality and religious harmony.
The many different aspects of this remarkable artist are ably portrayed in a new account of his life, Rabindranath Tagore (St. Martins Press, New York, 493 pages, $35) by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson. It is a meticulously researched and readable account of the poet's life enlivened with anecdotes and quotations from the many hundreds of people who crossed his path. It seems destined to become the definitive Tagore biography in English.
Tagore rejected exteme forms of Indian nationalism and sectarianism, which may be why he is not revered quite as much as other South Asian heroes. Even Bengalis, who would later elevate him to Olympian heights, found cause to complain that he was not active enough in the move to stop the partition of Bengal in the early 1900s. One can only imagine what Tagore would think about the rise of Indian cummunalism today.
BOOKS IN BRIEF
DIVERSE LIVES: Contemporary Stories from Indonesia
Edited by Jeanatte Kinguard. The Indonesian literary scene is certainly lively, if this anthology of short pieces from magazines such as Kompas and Tempo is any guide. The stories revolve around conflict between traditional values and modern life. In "The Special Gift" by Jujur Prananto, a former freedom fighter, now elderly and forgotten, labors to provide a wedding gift of traditional food to the son of a colleague. The couple promptly throw it out: they want cars and money. In Ray Rizal's "The General," villagers become obsessed with the lottery, and with a half-mad beggar who can predict winning numbers. Like many other stories in Diverse Lives, it ends in confusion.Oxford University Press, Box 2748Y, Melbourne, Vic. 3001, Australia. 123 pages. A$19.95 (paperback)
QUEEN OF THE ELEPHANTS
By Mark Shand. The British journalist had ridden elephants before, but they were tame compared to the ones he encounters on this trip across northeast India. The mahout who acts as guide and teacher is unique in her trade for being both female and young (although the daughter of a famous elephant handler). The author's mount, Kanchen, is usually more in control of the situation than Shand, who sometimes appears adrift in India's chaotic culture. This book is mostly for fun, but there is a serious undertone. The Indian elephant is, like its African cousin, under severe environmental pressures though without the same level of alarm.Vintage, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Rd., London, SW1V 2SA U.K. 193 pages. £6.99 (paperback)
WONDERBOY
By Stephen Cummings. The author is known in Australia mainly as a song writer. This is his first foray into fiction. Charles lives in suburban Melbourne, then goes with his young son to Vietnam. They tour the country in a Citroen, accompanied by the ghost of Charles's long-dead mother-in-law. She provides commentary and occasional advice to steer Charles through the turbulent waters of fatherhood. Unfortunately, the odd tangents and unnecessary characters tend to distract from the central narrative.Minerva, 22 Salmon St., Port Melbourne, Vic. 3207, Australia 299 pages. A$14.95 (paperback)
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