Godina izdanja: Ostalo
ISBN: Ostalo
Jezik: Engleski
Vrsta: Istorija svetske književnosti
Autor: Strani

U dobrom stanju

Rabindranath through western eyes
Alex Aronson
Publisher ‏ : ‎ R̥ddhi-India; 2nd edition (1978)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Unknown Binding ‏ : ‎ 134 pages

FROM THE PREFACE
New literary criticism, quickened by a social conscience, is turning to the context of daily events for a revaluation of creative work. Art is being tested as an expression of contemporaneous trends; the main emphasis is laid on the economic and political cross-currents which, according to this school, determine the products of a civilisation. Popular responses to an author, as revealed in the press of different Countries, are regarded as serious evidence, rather than changing side-lights, in literary assessment.

This is a modern corrective to the professional criteria which flourished on famous sayings, standardised reactions, and on textual notions of “pure art” that needed little or no contact with time or environment. “Applied values” in criticism—even politically applied values—are a wholesome counter to abstractions; and if some ruthlessness is being shown to the immaculate conception of art, we are at least more vividly aware to-day of literary realities. The still air, one hopes, will remain in criticism, along with an eye for whirling kaleidoscopic facts; artistic truth comprehends both. But the analytical approach has certainly heightened our sense of correlation, and if we cannot admit over-emphasised sociology, modern critics have to be praised for tackling new aspects of the creative process. The function ’of literature, the index of public reactions—not excluding those which are diplomatically contrived—the story of books and men, and the clash of cultures are being studied with richer significance.

Dr. Aronson’s book shows the new trend, though he does not by any means deny the unanalysable and transcending factors of the human mind. Rabindranath Tagore’s genius, and the cultural inheritance which he mingled with western inspiration, are both stressed, especially in the fifth and sixth chapters; the poet’s continental tours provide the background for a fascinating survey. While we are given an intricate pattern of European reactions, mainly from a political angle, the author scrutinises it with trained discernment. His own bias is there, both with regard to authors and to particular countries, but no effort is spared in presenting a documentary view of swift events, an enormous number of news-comments and letters are analysed and assimilated, mass enthusiasm is critically handled when-ever it threatens to overwhelm judgment, and we are provided with an entirely novel perspective as we follow Rabindranath in a panoramic literary tour through Europe. Controversies are inevitably raised; we are too closely identified with the historical forces of this age to arrive at agreement; but the finest justification of this book is that it compels us to face the pressing problems of our civilisation. Some of us will not wholly accept the author’s use of “random samples”—the statistical technique has yet to be adapted to literature; indeed, it assumes the causal links which have got to be established—but the method is exciting. Sudden and unexpected light falls on issues which we might have ignored; a stray letter, or a reported interview’ is brought into relationship with a major incident in the poet’s continental progress, and deep penetration is often achieved . into fundamental problems that were raised by Rabindranath’s changing contact with European audiences….


rabindranat tagore