Encounters
When Rabindranath and Borges crossed paths
If we closely observe the citation of Rabindranath in 'La Metafora' and the comment-filled news in the magazine 'Proa', we shall notice that Borges had no fascination for Rabindranath. What is left is the expression of his emotions that sways between hope and despair. And he has expressed his feelings by blending them somewhat with poetical and oblique expressions. Even though Borges has provided an indication of his delight and gripping experience of reading one or two works of Rabindranath, he has given no definite reason for such expressions. It appears that Borges had chained all his superficial expressions to negations, anchored in fathomless depths. The main reason may have been the sharp differences between the artistic nature of Rabindranath and that of Borges. But through these comments Borges did not fully expose the differences between their literary tastes. He did it at a much later stage.
Thirteen years after his meeting with Rabindranath, Borges expressed his views while reviewing Rabindranath's Collected Poems and Plays, published in the 11 June 1937 edition of El Hogar magazine. In that review Borges wrote:
"Thirteen years ago I had a somewhat terrible experience meeting with the revered and sonorous-voiced Rabindranath. We were discussing Baudelaire's poems and someone recited the sonnet titled 'The Death of Lovers' several times. This particular poem was a jumble --- bed, divan, flower, fireplace, tablecloth, mirror and angels. After listening to the poem attentively, Rabindranath commented, "I do not like your poet of furniture". I fully agreed with him. By reading his works in recent times, I am becoming suspicious that Rabindranath was moved more by obscure, invincible love rather than by the terrors of those romantic bric-a-brac.
The lack of precision in Tagore is beyond any correction. There is no lyrical tension in his thousand and one line verses; neither do they have any verbal diminution. In the introduction Rabindranath has commented, 'We should bathe in the oceanic depth of structure'. His metaphors are traditional; in the customary manner they are fluidic and devoid of structure.
After this statement, Borges himself translated the sixty-second poem of Gardener. In this context my own observation is that the finest of English translations of Rabindranath were not available around that time. Whatever translations were at hand, those, in Humayun Kabir's observation, 'did not do any justice to the depth and quality of the originals.' It is true that Rabindranath translated his own poems but those deviated much from the original ones. Why did he not translate one of his most extraordinary poems '1400' fully? On the other hand, he did translate some poems which do not completely represent the poet Rabindranath. The comments Borges made on the traditional translations of the time may contain some grain of truth, but Borges has definitely overlooked the greatness of Rabindranath's total personality and works. In the article 'Infinita Perplejidad', published on 21 September 1932 in the Argentine daily 'Critica', Borges commented that the Nobel Prize had undermined the recognition and honour Rabindranath deserved.
Yet the essayist and thinker Rabindranath is much more significant to Borges than the poet or dramatist Rabindranath. The thoughtful Rabindranath appeared to be more relevant and more of a visionary to Borges. In the May-June 1961 edition of Sur magazine, Borges wrote an essay on Rabindranath's work on nationalism. As an effort at understanding Borges and Rabindranath better, this article holds a significant place.
Borges wrote the article on the occasion of Rabindranath's birth centenary in 1961. This year, in the 150th year of Rabindranath's birth, the points raised by Borges in his article are equally pertinent. Borges, despite their differences in artistic preferences and literary philosophies, made no mistake in identifying this power within Rabindranath.
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