Sunday book pick: ‘Farewell Song’, Rabindranath Tagore’s metafiction novel meant to silent critics

In the Introduction to her translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s iconic novel Farewell Song (Sesher Kobita), Radha Chakravarty gives a detailed account of why Tagore wrote the novel, and why he wove poetry into prose. Written at a time when the Nobel laureate was having second thoughts about his work and readers were beginning to move on, and even criticise him, Farewell Song seems to be a response to a new school of Bengali writers and critics.

Romance and literature

Centring his novel around a young couple, Amit Raye and Labanyalata, Tagore uses a romantic relationship to comment on conjugal love, social expectations and literary criticism. Amit is back from Oxford University, young man, a common specimen during Tagore’s time – wealthy men who did little and spoke too much. Meanwhile, Labanya has grown up in the care of her widowed “korta ma” Yogamaya. She is well-educated, quite refined, and devoted to “Robi Thakur’s” poetry. Through her, Tagore lavishes himself with praise as Labanya tries to convince Amit that the poet is worthy of all the adulation he gets. Amit, who prides himself as a man of the world, is disenchanted by Robi Thakur – in fact, he claims to have never liked him at all. His list of complaints includes Thakur’s poetry being too melodramatic and sentimental for its own good. He is more interested in realist, modern poetry – words that speak to their time – and that’s why, he feels Nibaran Chakrabarti is the true poet of Bengal.

Through Chakrabarti, Amit airs his discontent with Thakur, along with his general views about poetry and poets. But something does not feel right…

Soon it is revealed that Chakrabarti is Amit’s alter-ego, that stands in for the growing anti-Tagore trend in Bengal. Labanya’s efforts in making Amit see the folly of his judgment do not yield success – a clever and convincing way for Tagore to answer criticism against him that was ripe not long after his Nobel win. Labanya’s studious enquiry into Thakur’s work offers an opportunity for the reader to decide if Tagore is indeed relevant – and modern – and if the charges against him arise from envy or a genuine concern for the future of Bengali literature. Tagore’s light touch in dealing with his critics produces many laugh-out-loud moments that also put to rest charges of unnecessary melodrama against him.

As for Labanya and Amit, their opposing views clash too often as neither seems to be able to convince the other to agree with them. At a time when couples were married to each other without prior conversations about likes and dislikes, it is radical of Tagore to let his protagonists enjoy a long courtship where domesticity is not the only thing on their minds. In fact, Amit even suggests going on separate holidays to clear their minds. When Labanya says she’ll do as he says, he gently reprimands her by saying it would not be the same as her “embracing the idea with her whole heart”. These surprisingly modern takes on love separate a relationship between a man and a woman from the socially mandated act of marriage – for Tagore, love is a state where two souls understand and respect each other’s views, even if they are opposing. And love, even though so complete in itself, is not enough to make for a socially acceptable marriage.

Poetry for all

While Amit remains committed to denouncing Thakur’s poetry, he himself borrows from nature as he writes poetry to express his love and loyalty for Labanya. In these compositions, he is not the practical man he claims to be but a blubbering lover who is putting together a world of his own – a world of Banya and Mita (the lovers’s names for each other) – that is untouched by greed and ambitions that is inseparable from his Calcutta social life.

If Labanya remains steadfast in her dedication to Robi Thakur, Amit turns out to be an unknowing admirer who often follows his heart when it parts ways with his mind. He dreams of setting up a home with Labanya but she knows marriage is not the answer to a woman’s life as it has been made out to be – she accepts her solitary, independent life as a more rewarding choice than a marriage with a man who is in love with her. Tagore’s sympathetic view of marriage still holds true as couples, especially women, struggle to find a common middle ground between their intellectual and emotional selves that allows them freedom and choice.

Staying true to Tagore’s vision, translator Radha Chakravarty switches the narrator’s personalities while translating the many different poetic voices in the text. Written by Amit, Labanya, and others, Tagore speaks as much through poetry as he does through prose and dialogues. A perfect novel about the push-and-pull of a fledgling romance, Farewell Song not only silences Tagore’s critics, but also comfortably establishes his literary genius among generations to come.

Farewell Song, Rabindranath Tagore, translated from the Bengali by Radha Chakravarty, Penguin.