Empire, Nationalism and the Postcolonial World: Rabindranath Tagore's Writings on History, Politics and Society

This book presents a new interpretation of Rabindranath Tagore#xE2;#xAC;"s English language writings and his encounters with Western cultural and intellectual figures. It places the work of India's greatest nobel prize winner and cultural icon in the context of other colonial and postcolonial thinkers and thus bridges the gap between #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;Tagore studies#xE2;#xAC;" and imperial/postcolonial historiography. The first part of the book provides an account of the origins and evolution of Tagore#xE2;#xAC;"s thought. Addressing nationhood and nationalist practice was central to Tagore#xE2;#xAC;"s analysis of the effects of colonialism in India and the appropriate Indian response. For the first time, the writer#xE2;#xAC;#xDC;s debates with Gandhi are used here to demonstrate a new interpretation of Tagore#xE2;#xAC;"s position on the central question of the impact of the British Empire on India and the nationalist response. The second part of the book essentially demonstrates how the man and his ideas were received and interpreted in the colonial metropole. An alternative interpretation based on an intellectual history approach, this book places Tagore#xE2;#xAC;"s sense of agency, his ideas and intentions within a broader historical framework. Offering an exciting critique of postcolonial theory from a historical perspective, this book is a timely contribution in the wake of the 150th anniversary of Tagore's birth in 2011.