RABINDRANATH TAGORE AS A STORYTELLER.*
MB. Sates command of vernacular English has hidden from him the extraordinary difficulty of finding an equivalent in our language for Mr. Tagore's artlessly artful style. In his preface Mr. Sen compares Mr. Tagore's stories to the work in this sort of Guy de Maupassant and Chateaubriand. A nearee approximation in both matter and style might be suggested to the tales of Alphonse Daudet, since Mr. Tagore's delightful galpas are in the difficult genre (difficult above all for the translator) of La Chhre de M. Seguin or Le Petit Dauphin. The quality of- Mr. Sen's English may be easily judged from the briefest sample taken quite at random from any part of his version. For instance, "It is not possible to bear so much of remindings in respect to the petty dole of very coarse indigestible rice twice a day I " This is the exclamation of a prodigal younger brother who lives to repent his petulance in the most tragic fashion. But the practised -reader should be able to make a fresh translation mentally as he reads, and if he can achieve something like, say, the style of -R. L. Stevenson's "Pavilion on the Links," he may understand .why in Bengal Mr. Tagore's fame as a novelist and storyteller falls little short of his popularity as a poet. The effort is worth making, since it may serve to show • Glimpses of Bengal Life, translated from the Bengali of Rabbalranalh Tartr.. By Bajani Baiijan Scn, B.A., B.L. London: Luau and Co. [Se. net.]
that the spread of English in India has not necessarily helped reciprocal understanding.
Mr. Sen's courageous attempt is not wholly unsuccessful. There are even passages where his manner of speech gives an exotic flavour which is pleasant enough to an indulgent reader. But such tales as " Uddhar" and still await a competent translator. As, however, such a translator is far to seek, Mr. Sen's version is worth reading, if it is read with a due sense of the difficulty which he has partly overcome.
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