The novel explores the man behind the legend.Tagore: A Novel is a fictionalized retelling of Rabindranath Tagore's life and times.Sahitya Akademi awardee K.C. Ajayakumar unravels the mind of an incomparable visionary andgenius in this book by exploring how the sensory impressions from Tagore's early days shapedhis creative ideation; how his boyhood experiences and beliefs reflected in his writings; how hiscomplete and unapologetic immersion in everyday life played out against his lifelong obsessionwith death; and how his unbelievably multifaceted sensibility came alive through his literature,music, theatre and painting.This book not only examines the virtuosity of Tagore through his highly acclaimed works but alsocharts his rise to international fame and his friendship with William Rothenstein and William ButlerYeats. It presents an intimate account of his contentious relationships with Swami Vivekananda,Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sri Aurobindo, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, among others.Tagore's ever-debated, ambivalent and enigmatic engagement with Mahatma Gandhi is also capturedbrilliantly in the book. His love for Shelaidaha, Patisar, Jorasanko Thakurbadi, Shantiniketan andthe river Padma is portrayed beautifully.This is the story of a man like no other
About the Author
K.C. Ajayakumar (b.1964), recipient of Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize (2015) and VishwaHindi Samman (2018), has authored four novels in Malayalam. Widely known as a consummatetranslator from Hindi into Malayalam, his primer on Malayalam grammar won the Governmentof India Award (2000–01) for non-Hindi writers. His doctoral thesis on Indian nationalist novelsin Hindi is a pioneering effort.Geetha Nair, the translator of this novel, has been teaching English, editing several books andtranslating from Malayalam into English for over three decades.
Loading...
