# The Essential Tagore > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Essential_Tagore > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Essential_Tagore.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Essential_Tagore > Source revision: 1319953377 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|English-language compilation of Rabindranath Tagore's works}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox book | name = The Essential Tagore | image = The cover image of the Essential Tagore.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = The cover image of ''the Essential Tagore'' (Harvard edition). | title_orig = | translator = | author = [Rabindranath Tagore](/source/Rabindranath_Tagore) | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United States and India | language = English | subject = | genre = | publisher = [Harvard University Press](/source/Harvard_University_Press) | release_date = 2011 | media_type = Print ([Hardcover](/source/Hardcover)) | pages = 819 | isbn = 978-0-674-05790-6 | oclc = 676725370 | congress = }} '''''The Essential Tagore''''' is the largest collection of [Rabindranath Tagore](/source/Rabindranath_Tagore)'s works available in English. It was published by [Harvard University Press](/source/Harvard_University_Press) in the United States and [Visva-Bharati University](/source/Visva-Bharati_University) in India to mark the 150th anniversary of Tagore's birth.{{cite web |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674417045 |title=The Essential Tagore - Rabindranath Tagore, Fakrul Alam, Radha Chakravarty |website=Harvard University Press |access-date=2011-12-14}} [Fakrul Alam](/source/Fakrul_Alam) and Radha Chakrabarthy edited the anthology. Among the notable contributors who translated Tagore's works for this anthology are [Amitav Ghosh](/source/Amitav_Ghosh), [Amit Chaudhuri](/source/Amit_Chaudhuri), [Sunetra Gupta](/source/Sunetra_Gupta), [Syed Manzoorul Islam](/source/Syed_Manzoorul_Islam), and [Kaiser Haq](/source/Kaiser_Haq).{{cite web|url=http://english.irib.ir/subcontinent/culture/art-a-architecture/item/78501-tagore-instilled-bengali-nationalism |title='Tagore instilled Bengali nationalism' |publisher=English.irib.ir |date=2011-05-15 |access-date=2012-03-29}} [Martha Nussbaum](/source/Martha_Nussbaum), a philosopher, writer and critic proposed the book as the 'Book of the Year' in the ''[New Statesman](/source/New_Statesman)'' published on 21 November 2011.{{cite magazine|author=Martha Nussbaum |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/2011/11/fakrul-alam-tagore-chakravarty |title=Books of the year 2011: Martha Nussbaum |magazine=New Statesman |access-date=2012-03-29}} The anthology is around eight hundred pages long, divided into ten sections, each devoted to a different facet of Tagore's achievement.{{cite magazine|last=Kirsch |first=Adam |url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2011/05/30/110530crbo_books_kirsch |title=Rabindranath Tagore and the West |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=2012-03-29}} In this anthology, the editors endeavored to represent his extraordinary achievements in ten genres: poetry, songs, autobiographical works, letters, travel writings, prose, novels, short stories, humorous pieces, and plays. Most of the translations were done in modern contemporary English. Besides the new translations, it includes a sampling of works originally composed in English, Tagore's translations of his own works. ==Critical reception== {|class="tancolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:18em; max-width:20%" cellspacing="5" |align="left"|"A hundred years from now
Who could you be
Reading my poems curiously
A hundred years from now!
How can I transit to you who are so far away
A bit of joy I feel this day
At this new spring dawn." |- |style="text-align:right;white-space:nowrap;"| — A Hundred Years from Now, ''The Essential Tagore'' P. 243 |} Initial reviews for ''the Essential Tagore'' were almost all positive. Immediately after the publication, it received positive reviews worldwide. [Barry Hill](/source/Barry_Hill_(Australian_writer)) in ''[the Australian](/source/the_Australian)'' welcomed the publication as "a wonderful job" and "almost all gold".{{cite news|author=Barry Hill |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/blithe-spirit-of-indian-poet-tagore-lost-to-the-west/story-e6frg8nf-1226222077488 |title= Blithe spirit of Indian poet Tagore lost to the west |newspaper=The Australian |access-date=2012-03-30}} Praising the editors and translators, [Amartya Sen](/source/Amartya_Sen) exclaimed that though the excellence of Tagore's work is difficult to preserve in translation, they did a splendid job of producing a beautiful volume of selections from Tagore's vast body of writings.{{cite magazine|author=Amartya Sen |url=http://www.tnr.com/article/books/magazine/89649/rabindranath-tagore |title=Poetry and Reason |magazine=The New Republic |access-date=2012-04-01}} He also praised Amit Chaudhuri for his enjoyable and remarkably far-reaching foreword. In ''[Times Literary Supplement](/source/Times_Literary_Supplement)'' Seamus Perry wrote that the anthology testifies to Tagore's capability in many diverse modes, and quite distinct aspects of his genius.{{cite web|author=Seamus Perry |url=http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article776938.ece |title=Rabindranath Tagore revived |publisher=TLS |date=2011-09-16 |access-date=2012-03-29}} In the magazine ''[Bookforum](/source/Bookforum)'', [Aravind Adiga](/source/Aravind_Adiga) opined that the anthology reintroduced a great writer to the world.{{cite web|author=Aravind Adiga |url=http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/018_03/8279 |title=out of india - bookforum.com |publisher=Bookforum.com |date= |access-date=2012-03-29}} Amardeep Singh of ''[Open Letters Monthly](/source/Open_Letters_Monthly)'' thought that ''the Essential Tagore'' "dwarfes(ed) all previous efforts" that were made to translate Tagore's work into English.{{cite web|author=Amardeep Singh |url=http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/the-desire-for-motion-tagores-three-voices/ |title=On Rabindranath Tagore |publisher=Open Letters Monthly |date=2012-01-02 |accessdate=2012-03-29}} ==Contents of the book== * List of Illustrations * Foreword: Poetry as Polemic by Amit Chaudhuri * Introduction 1. Autobiography *Autobiographical *From Reminiscences *From Boyhood Days *My School 2. Letters *From Torn Leaves *From Letter-Fragments *To Mrinalini Devi *To [Jagadish Chandra Bose](/source/Jagadish_Chandra_Bose) *To [Myron H. Phelps](/source/Myron_H._Phelps) *To [William Rothenstein](/source/William_Rothenstein) *To [Robert Bridges](/source/Robert_Bridges) *To James Drummonds Anderson *To Lord Chelmsford *To [Charles Freer Andrews](/source/Charles_Freer_Andrews) *To Kanti Chandra Ghosh *To Edward John Thompson *To [Kazi Nazrul Islam](/source/Kazi_Nazrul_Islam) *To [Romain Rolland](/source/Romain_Rolland) *To Sir [William Rothenstein](/source/William_Rothenstein) *To [Mahatma Gandhi](/source/Mahatma_Gandhi) *To [Mahadev Desai](/source/Mahadev_Desai) *To [Sufia Kamal](/source/Sufia_Kamal) *To Pulinbehari Sen *To [Victoria Ocampo](/source/Victoria_Ocampo) *To Revd. Foss Westcott 3. Prose *From Self-Reliance and Other Essays *Statecraft and Ethics *The Components of Literature *The Significance of Literature *The Problem of Self *Nationalism in the West *The Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech *From Thoughts from Rabindranath Tagore *My Pictures * Hindus and Muslims *The Tenant Farmer * Crisis in Civilization 4. Poems *The Fountain's Awakening *Enough, Enough! *Life *Undressed *Breasts *Kissing *The Golden Boat *The Two Birds *I Won't Let You Go *Unfathomable *Voyage without End *To Civilization *My Little Plot of Land *A Hundred Years from Now *The Lord of Life *Love Queries *Krishnakali *The Poet *The Hero *Big and Small *Astronomy *On the Day Thou Breakst Through This My Name *More Life, My Lord *Thy Rod of Justice *The Day I Depart *It Hasn't Rained in My Heart *When Life Dries Up *If the Day Ends *This Stormy Night *A Flight of Geese *The Restless One *Dawn and Dusk *Free! *Sunday *Hymn to the Tree *Woman Empowered *Wind Instrument *Letter Writing *An Ordinary Woman *Camellia *The Twenty-Fifth of Baisakh *I *Africa *I Saw in the Twilight *Romantic *The Night Train *Waking Up in the Morning I See *They Work * On the Banks of Roop-Naran *The Sun of the First Day *Dark Nights of Sorrow *On the Way to Creation 5. Songs *Devotional Songs *Patriotic Songs *Love Songs *Songs of Nature *Miscellaneous Songs 6. Plays *Roktokorobi *The Kingdom of Cards 7. Stories *The Return of Khoka Babu *The Legacy *Shubha *Mahamaya *The In-Between Woman *Hungry Stone *[A Broken Nest](/source/Nastanirh) *The Wife's Letter *The Final Word *The Tale of a Muslim Woman 8. Novels *From Gora *From Connections *From Farewell Song *From Four Chapters 9. Humor *Denge the Black Ant's Observations *Aryans and Non-Aryans *The Funeral *Ordeal *Testing the Student *The Invention of Shoes *From Out of Sync 10. Travel Writing *The City of Bombay *Crossing the Ocean *Travel *Stopford Brooke *The English Village and the Clergy *From Journey to Japan *Letter to Pratima Devi *From Letters from Russia *From In Persia * Chronology * Notes * Glossary * Further Reading * Acknowledgments * Contributors ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Rabindranath Tagore}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Essential Tagore}} Category:Works by Rabindranath Tagore Category:2011 anthologies Category:Translations into English --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Essential Tagore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Essential_Tagore) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Essential_Tagore?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.