Rabindranath Tagore at 150: Reflections on History, Lessons for the Future - Бесплатная аудиокнига

*"As I look around I see the crumbling ruins of a proud civilization strewn like a vast heap of futility. And yet I shall not commit the grievous sin of losing faith in Man. I would rather look forward to the opening of a new chapter in his history after the cataclysm is over and the atmosphere rendered clean with the spirit of service and sacrifice. Perhaps that dawn will come from this horizon, from the East where the sun rises."* *~RabindranathTagore, 1941, from his essay and last public speech "Crisis in Civilisation" * The 150th Birthday of Bengal's Poet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was met with tremendous jubilation last year in parts of South Asia (notably his birthplace of Calcutta) and throughout the world. A prolific poet, playwright, author, painter, and musician,Tagore penned the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh, and both countries claim him as their own. Tagore's depth of work and quixotic ways also gained the attention in the West. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, becoming the world's the first Asian Nobel Laureate. Tagore was also an ardent supporter of educational reform (he founded the novel learning institution at Santiniketan in Bengal), and a vocal advocate for peace during one of the most turbulent periods of modern history, especially between the two world wars in the 20th century. This Wednesday, we will explore this aspect of Tagore's legacy. The aim is to learn more about the artist himself, but perhaps more importantly, his artistic and political engagement with history during the decades leading up to partition of the subcontinent of India. We will view sections of Satyajit Ray's excellent documentary on Tagore to use as a basis for discussion: http://vimeo.com/3838865. Time permitting, we may have a song or two (Rabindrasangeet, naturally), just for good measure. Tanya Palit currently lives and works in Boston at Tufts Medical Center. She has conducted research with Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee in the Sonagachi red light district in Kolkata. She also spent one year as U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Bangladesh studying rural development initiatives and urban women workers' rights.