SELECTED SHORT STORIES
Description
Written while Tagore was managing his family's estates in the river-lands of Bengal in the 1890s, the thirty stories in this volume represent a wonderfully fruitful period in the life of this great writer. Here he reflects on the cruel realities he saw around him, from child-marriage and the caste system to corrupt officialdom and dehumanizing poverty, portrayed through vividly realized and often humorous char-acters. The stories also abound in exquisite descriptions of rural Bengali ways of life and landscapes - the rivers, skies, fields and changing seasons conveying Tagore's profound sense of harmony with the universe even as he depicts the complexities of a society in transition. William Radice's translations are accompanied by an introduction discussing the central themes of Tagore's stories. This edition also includes letters, bibliographical notes, a glossary, a map, Tagore's family tree, and a new chronology and further reading. 'Lyrical... intensely vivid... conveys a great strength and uplifting courage' THE TIMES