Paternalism and Nationalism in Tagore’s Writings

Abstract

This chapter shines light on the complex interweaving of paternalism and nationalism in two of Tagore’s political novels: Gora and The Home and the World. It is cognizant that Tagore speaks to key moments of India’s colonial history which include the First War of Independence in 1857, the 1859 Indigo Revolt, the swadeshi movement, and the 1905 partition of Bengal. Gora takes us to the colonial periphery and allows Tagore a mediation on the caste and class-based paternalism often underlying nationalist and reform movements and the complex positioning of Irish soldiers in India in ways pertinent to the discussions of race in contemporary postcolonial criticism. Meanwhile, The Home and the World enables a narrative discourse on nationalist symbolism and the different formulations of nationalism itself. This chapter examines such issues within the framework of international interlocutors like Sister Nivedita and W. E. B. Du Bois, generic innovations, translation, and the proliferation of texts through periodicals.