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KOLKATA, INDIA, August 1, 2001: Two American editors of an anthology of writings by some Nobel laureates are in the eye of a storm for churning out wrong facts on modern India’s best known litterateur, Rabindranath Tagore. Leo Hamalian and Edmond L. Volpe, editors of the anthology Great Stories By Nobel Prize Winners, have irked lovers of Indian literature by not only providing wrong facts in the book’s introduction to Tagore, but also by their selection of his work. Scholars and fans wonder why the book’s editors had not even cared to check the accuracy of these details, including important dates, circumstances and geographical references of Tagore’s life. His fans are outraged that a story like “Saved” which is not generally considered representative of Tagore, had been chosen for the anthology. Two explanations for inclusion: “The size of the story, only two printed pages, and the fact that it is one of the (few) translated versions available. Obviously, the editors didn’t look beyond the published material (in English) on him,” said Tapasi Dutta, an ardent Tagore reader.

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