Farewell Song (Modern Classics)

Rabindranath Tagore reinvented the Bengali novel with Farewell Song blurring the lines between prose and poetry and creating an effervescent blend of romance and satire. Through Amit and Labanya and a brilliantly etched social milieu the novel addresses contemporary debates about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ writing the nature of love and conjugality and the influence of Western culture on Bengali society. Set against the idyllic backdrop of Shillong and the mannered world of elite Calcutta society this sparkling novel expresses the complex vision and the mastery of style that characterized Tagore’s later works. About the Author Born in 1861 Rabindranath Tagore was a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance. He started writing at an early age and by the turn of the century had become a household name in Bengal as a poet a songwriter a playwright an essayist a short story writer and a novelist. In 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and his verse collection Gitanjali came to be known internationally. At about the same time he founded Visva-Bharati a university located in Santiniketan near Kolkata. Called the 'Great Sentinel' of modern India by Mahatma Gandhi Tagore steered clear of active politics but is famous for returning his knighthood as a gesture of protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. Tagore was a pioneering literary figure renowned for his ceaseless innovations in poetry prose drama music and painting which he took up late in life. His works include novels plays essays on religious social and literary topics some sixty collections of verse over a hundred short stories and more than 2500 songs including the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. Rabindranath Tagore died in 1941. His eminence as India's greatest modern poet remains unchallenged to this day.