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Four Chapters

Four Chapters

Radha Chakravarty
,
Rabindranath Tagore
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Char Adhyay (1934) was Rabindranath Tagore’s last novel, and perhaps the most controversial. Passion and politics intertwine in this narrative, set in the context of nationalist politics in pre-Independent India. Ela, a young working woman, comes under the spell of Indranath, a charismatic political activist who advocates the use of terror for the nationalist cause. She takes a vow never to marry, and to devote her life to the nationalist struggle. But she falls in love with Atindra, a poet and romantic from a decadent aristocratic family. Through their relationship, she becomes aware of the hollowness of Indranath’s politics. Afraid that she might expose them to the police, the political group gives Atin the task of eliminating Ela. In the dramatic final sequence of the novel, Ela offers herself to Atin, with tragic consequences.
This new translation, intended for twenty-first-century readers, will bring Tagore’s text to life in a contemporary idiom, while evoking the flavour of the story’s historical setting.

Imprint: India Penguin Modern Classics

Published: May/2022

ISBN: 9780143452645

Length : 128 Pages

MRP : ₹199.00

Four Chapters

Radha Chakravarty
,
Rabindranath Tagore

Char Adhyay (1934) was Rabindranath Tagore’s last novel, and perhaps the most controversial. Passion and politics intertwine in this narrative, set in the context of nationalist politics in pre-Independent India. Ela, a young working woman, comes under the spell of Indranath, a charismatic political activist who advocates the use of terror for the nationalist cause. She takes a vow never to marry, and to devote her life to the nationalist struggle. But she falls in love with Atindra, a poet and romantic from a decadent aristocratic family. Through their relationship, she becomes aware of the hollowness of Indranath’s politics. Afraid that she might expose them to the police, the political group gives Atin the task of eliminating Ela. In the dramatic final sequence of the novel, Ela offers herself to Atin, with tragic consequences.
This new translation, intended for twenty-first-century readers, will bring Tagore’s text to life in a contemporary idiom, while evoking the flavour of the story’s historical setting.

Select Preferred Format

Radha Chakravarty

Radha Chakravarty is a writer, critic and translator. She is Professor of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies at Ambedkar University, Delhi. She has co-edited The Essential Tagore (Harvard and Visva-Bharati), nominated Book of the Year 2011 by Martha Nussbaum for The New Statesman. She is the author of Feminism and Contemporary Women Writers (2008) and Novelist Tagore (Routledge, 2013). She has also translated several of Tagore's works, including Gora, Boyhood Days, Chokher Bali, Farewell Song: Shesher Kabita and The Land of Cards: Stories, Poems and Plays for Children. Other works in translation include Bankimchandra Chatterjee's Kapalkundala, In the Name of the Mother by Mahasweta Devi, and Crossings: Stories from Bangladesh and India. She has edited Bodymaps: Stories by South Asian Women and co-edited Tagore the Eternal Seeker: Footprints of a World Traveller, Writing Feminism: South Asian Voices and Writing Freedom: South Asian Voices. Shades of Difference: Selected Writings of Rabindranath Tagore is an edited volume forthcoming from the Social Science Press. Her essays and review articles have appeared in books and periodicals worldwide.

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore, Renaissance man, reshaped Bengal's literature and music, and became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. He introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and was a living institution for India, especially for Bengal.

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What to read this Poila Boisakh?

Let’s celebrate Bengali New Year with these new translations from our Bangla list. It’s your chance to read these timeless stories by some of India’s most loved Bengali authors and we assure you that you won’t find anything lost in the translation. So, scroll through these special recommendations and start reading!   Four Chapters Char […]

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