The Complete Works of Tagore

Author: Liu Anwu, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-12-01
Features: Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian Nobel laureate in Literature and revered as the "Poet Saint," was a great Indian writer and poet. In his lifetime, he created over 50 poetry collections, more than 30 dramas, 12 novels, over 100 short stories, a vast amount of prose, and numerous works on language, literature, philosophy, politics, history, religion, and chemistry. He also composed nearly 3,000 songs and over 2,000 artworks, whose influence spread across continents and earned universal acclaim in both the East and the West. This collection is currently the largest and most extensive collection of Tagore's works in China, encompassing his poetry, novels, and dramas. For the first time, it introduces his prose, essays, and letters to China, with the majority of the works directly translated from the original Bengali and Indian texts.
Tagore (1861–1941) was a renowned Indian poet, writer, artist, and social activist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Born into a family with a rich philosophical and literary artistic background in Calcutta, he studied in England from 1878 and returned to India in 1880 to dedicate himself to literary activities. From 1884 to 1911, he served as the secretary of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. In the 1920s, he founded Visva-Bharati University. In 1941, he wrote his famous last testament, The Crisis of Civilization, denouncing British colonial rule and expressing his belief in India's eventual liberation.
Tagore was a writer with a profound global influence. He wrote over 50 poetry collections and was hailed as the "Poet Saint." He created more than 30 dramas, 12 novels, over 100 short stories, and numerous essays on literature, philosophy, and politics. He also painted over 1,500 artworks and composed countless songs. His works reflect the Indian people's strong desire to change their fate under imperialist and feudal caste-system oppression, depicting their relentless struggles against injustice. Filled with clear patriotism and democratic spirit, his works are deeply rooted in Indian culture and style, possessing high artistic value and enjoying widespread popularity among the masses.
His major poems include Gitanjali (1910), Ghare Baire (The Home and the World, 1916), Stray Birds (1916), Gitanjali (1916), Crisis of Civilization (1941); his significant novels include Gora (1910), The Home and the World (1916), The Two Sisters (1932); his notable dramas include The Post Office (1912), Sacrifice (1924), The Gardener (1926); and his important essays include The Trade of Death (1881), China in Revolt (1924), Letters from Russia (1931). (Zhou Bei) (Jiang Hong, compiler)