The contradictions of nationalism: A feminist and postcolonial re-evaluation of Tagore’s the home and the world and four chapters

Abstract

This paper offers a critical postcolonial and feminist reading of Rabindranath Tagore's political novels, The Home and the World (1916) and Four Chapters (1934), to examine his nuanced critique of exclusive Nationalism and his advocacy for an inclusive Universalism. The paper will specifically focus on how the novels expose the detrimental impact of narrow nationalism on issues of gender, race, and religion within the socio-political landscape of colonial India.