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Primary sourceBook1917

Nationalism

Rabindranath Tagore · 1917

A 1917 published collection of Tagore's lectures from Japan and the United States, criticizing the aggressive modern nation-state.

These lectures, written and delivered by Tagore, set out his internationalist critique of aggressive nationalism.

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Cover of a grey cloth-bound book with a white UC-NRLF library barcode label at top, handwritten call numbers 'JC 311 T3 1917a Case B' on the left, and faded marks along the spine and lower right corner.
Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism, 1917. Macmillan and Co.

About this source

What it is

A book collecting lectures delivered by Rabindranath Tagore in 1916–17 in Japan and the United States, published in 1917 under the title Nationalism. It includes sections on nationalism in the West, Japan and India.

Why it matters

In these lectures, Tagore criticized the modern nation-state as a machine that could crush individual humanity and cultural diversity, setting out instead his vision of internationalism. The book shows Tagore not just as a poet but as a public intellectual engaging directly with global politics during the First World War era.

Look closer

  • Why might Tagore have chosen to deliver these ideas as lectures in Japan and America rather than only writing them in Bengali?
  • What arguments might Tagore have made against aggressive nationalism?
  • How might audiences in different countries have reacted differently to his message?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Rabindranath Tagore on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of the book Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats, published by Macmillan and Co., London, 1913.Book

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Bertil Waldén · May 1921

Title page of Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats. Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1913.Book

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Rabindranath Tagore · 1910

Black and white photograph of Rabindranath Tagore standing with K.B. Westman and M. Björkqvist, Sigtuna, May 1921.Photograph

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Bertil Waldén · May 1921

Piano sheet music score titled 'Jana Gana Mana' by Rabindranath Tagore, in D minor/F major key with 4/4 time, tempo 96, two staves (treble clef) with dynamics like f, p, ff and a fermata at the end.Document

Primary source

Jana Gana Mana

Rabindranath Tagore · 11 December 1911

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