REVIEW ON FAREWELL SONG 

Original Work: -   Shesher Kabita

                                                                 -by Rabindranath Tagore

English Translation: -   Farewell Song

                                                                - by Radha Chakravarty

Review: - by Abbugari Sandeep Kumar

Every author/poet wants to write something that is a complete representation of his personality, his style and his sensibilities. A creation that is the ultimate in terms of language, expression and style. This novel is that kind of creation by Rabindranath Tagore.

I wasn’t born during 1930s, but the novelist made me feel as if I had been there when Tagore had become a figure of controversy. Tagore’s history tells us that by the late 1920s, more than a decade after his Nobel Prize, Tagore had become a very famous in Bengal, and was facing criticism. This novel was Tagore’s attempt to negotiate the contradictions against him. It is also a defence of his literary practice as well as a demonstration of his own ideas of ‘modernity’ in literature.

The novel describes love story of Amit Ray, a barrister educated at Oxford romancing his lady love Labanya in the picturesque Shillong. Amit Ray is a high society gent from Calcutta who has a way with words. He is very distinct. Amit compares fashion to a mask, style to beauty of countenance. Style is his passion. He is not one of a crowd but one who stands out among many. He is an ideal person. He says, ”We must destroy the magic of the Taj Mahal precisely in order to restore the Taj Mahal’s attraction.” Labanya Dutt comes from an ordinary background and is highly educated. She is a strong-willed lady.

In those times younger group of writers were trying to escape from the influence of Rabindranath, often by tilting at him and his work. In 1928, Tagore organised a debate between his literary supporters and opponents in two sittings that took place at Bichitra Bhavan, Jorasanko. Amit Roy in this novel represents those young writers.  Amit Roy remarks: "Poets must live for at most five years. ... Our severest complaint against Rabi Thakur is that like Wordsworth, he is illicitly staying alive."

The narrative is the reason I loved this book. This novel follows third person narration. The narrator’s voice is mocking, ironic, satirical but also capable of lyrical tenderness. The novel breaches the line between prose and poetry. It is neither fiction nor verse but an impossible mixture of both. This novel written by Tagore during the last fifteen years of his life proves that Tagore is like wine. As wine’s taste improves with age so did Tagore’s literary intellect.

In this translation, Farewell Song, the poems lost their fragrance and they didn’t reveal the depth of original Bengali poems. Some people accuse Tagore of misusing his own poetic genius, for this novel has many poems. But I think Tagore created an entirely new genre through a mixture of prose and verse.

This novel was written in 1928.  Though the novel is primarily set in Shillong, it was written when Rabindranath was in Bangalore. In this novel the action of the narrative is contemporaneous with the time of the novel’s composition. The passages of literary arguments in the novel reveal Tagore’s own capacity for intense self-study, as he responded to the criticisms levelled against him.

In this novel Tagore makes himself an object of mockery for the hero of his book. The shocking part is the argument against Tagore is almost convincing. Amit does not feel guilt while criticising many well-known writers. He goes to the length of creating a poet who is a virtual being of his imagination and throws him against Rabindranath Tagore.

The characters in the novel seem to contradict each other. On one side are Katy Mitter, Sissy, Lissy and their friends, members of the sophisticated, artificial social world of Calcutta, who are involved in the blind pursuit of ‘fashion’. At the opposite end are Yogamaya and Labanya, ideally natural environs of Shillong, who follow their ‘style’. They are simple, yet dignified. Sharing both sides but not quite belonging to either, Amit alternates between his fascination for Katy Mitter and his deep attraction for the dignity of Labanya. Shobanlal is another important figure in this novel.

One more interesting thing is the stereotyping of women like Katy Mitter, Sissy, and Lissy does not hold true for pre-independence elite society of Calcutta. They belong to a later generation of women. Also the description of Labanya is incompatible with women in the Indian society during late 1920s, for she is an avid reader of English poetry, and defies the social expectations by resisting marriage and leaving her parental home to become a governess. In this novel women are given freedom unlike the then existing system.

I think Amit and Labanya’s arguments about poetry have less to do with their own developing romance. Instead they deal with Tagore’s status in the literary world during 1920s. I criticise Tagore for doing so. Also the external plot and action were neglected and emphasis is given to the tender inner feelings of the protagonist, Amit. This novel has no antagonist unlike many Indian romantic novels.

This classic novel deals with two forms of love. One between Amit and Labanya which is spiritual in nature and the other between Amit and Katy Mitter which is rooted in the society. The novel explores the realities of love as romance and marriage as a meeting of two mature minds. It questions the importance of marriage as the ultimate consequence of a love affair. Love it claims happens for the sake of love and not to settle as matrimony. Love is a beautiful thing that is a gift that can enrich our life for whatever its worth.

I also feel this novel gives more intellectual information than I can see. If you want to know what happens to Amit, Labanya, Katy Mitter and Shobanlal and also about the special significance of the title of the novel you’ll have to read the book.