A Short Introduction

Hello and thank you for subscribing to Tagore Tales! As promised, I will start sending out the stories from the 9th of May, Tagore’s birth anniversary according to the Bengali calendar. Interestingly, today, the 7th of May is his birthday by the Gregorian Calendar, making it particularly suitable for this introductory email.

The first story I will translate is “The Hungry Stones”, which was completed in the monsoon of 1895, with first English translation being published in Tagore’s lifetime. Dealing with themes of memory, the supernatural, the nature of reality and sexuality, it remains a staple of any Tagore short story collection. It will be sent out in bi-weekly installments throughout the month of May.

Content Warning: This story heavily features concubinage, slavery and insanity.

For a more detailed introduction to slavery and concubinage in the Indian context, you may read up “Slavery and South Asian History” edited by Indrani Chatterjee and Richard M. Eaton and published by Indiana University Press.

To know more about the life of Tagore, I recommend this documentary by Satyajit Ray. It is in English and remains among the best on the subject.