New Publications in Bengal Studies
Tagore: East & West Cultural Unity
Why was Tagore popular in Europe and especially in Latvia? This simple question hides the complex puzzle of the relationship between an Indian writer and European literature, and the dynamics of mutual understanding. Professor Ivbulis, the most well-known Tagore scholar in Latvia, does not shy away from answering such questions. In the present book, we have his thoughts on these matters gleaned from decades of study. Ivbulis' extensive reading of European romanticism, symbolism, and modernism, as well as his deep acquaintance with Tagore's Bengali works enable him to highlight similarities between the two. An important point Ivbulis is trying to make is that of the deeper unity between Tagore and his European contemporaries. This does not mean that Tagore derived his literary voice entirely from Europe, but that both Tagore and European writers drew from the same source, namely a common humanity and a similar experience of beauty. For a short period in the early twentieth century, Europe's influence on Tagore was matched by the latter's reverse influence on Europe, even though through imperfect English renderings. The subtlety of Ivbulis' exposition and his great literary sensitivity make this book a pleasure to read. One only wishes that it had been published by a company with a better (international!) distribution system. For even in Kolkata / Calcutta bookshops this book is hard to find. - (VvB)
- Ivbulis, Victors, Tagore: East and West Cultural Unity, Calcutta: Rabindra Bharati University (1999), 217 pp, ISBN 81-86438-17-3
Essays on Middle Bengali Literature
In general, studies on Bengali literature are characterized by two things: they deal with Tagore in one way or another and they bear proof of the stepmotherly treatment of Bengali in Western universities. The present book does neither. There is no mention of Tagore. Meanwhile, it proves that somehow Bengali philology, in the best sense of the word, does survive outside South Asia. The meticulous and erudite editor Prof. R.P. Das, who teaches in Halle, Germany, edited this collection of six papers (including his own) by well-established international scholars on Bengali language and culture. The papers had been presented at different conferences. What these six edited papers share is their analysis of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Bengali mythological texts and their cultural contexts. The most striking fact is that some of these texts - utilizing Hindu mythology - were written by Muslims with the intention of mediating between popular and mystical forms of Islam, and a Bengali-speaking population. From the contributions in this book, we get an interesting picture of social and religious life in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Bengal and the way Islam was transmitted and popularized. One point of criticism may be that, although the authors are excellent specialists in the field of philology, their analysis of such a vast theme as the dynamics of cultural transmission in sixteenth-century Bengal requires a more solid grounding in history and sociology. - (VvB) *
- Das, Rahul Peter ed. Essays on Middle Bengali Literature Calcutta: Firma KLM (1999), pp. IV+228, ISBN 81-7102-085-2