Bridging East and West

This amazing inter-cultural correspondence (1919–1940) between two cultural icons of the twentieth century—Nobel laureates from the East and the West: the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) and the French novelist, playwright and biographer Romain Rolland (1866–1944)—had remained undiscovered for far too long. Published for the first time in English, these letters and telegrams are among the finest exchanges of thought between the East and the West, and script the intellectual history of that period. It is also the story of a profound friendship, where Tagore and Rolland unlock their hearts to each other. The book also records the differences of opinion and misunderstandings between the two outstanding humanists of contemporary history, who often felt isolated in their own countries, on serious issues like Gandhi and fascism. This majestic and serene correspondence, comprising 46 letters and telegrams, along with three dialogues between the two at various times, as well as letters by Rathindranath Tagore and others, is a journey towards the imaging of a different world which would create the possibility of a new space outside cultural hegemony. Edited and annotated by one of India’s foremost French scholars, it is one of the most important quests for an alternative discourse in the last century.