International literature integration from R. Tagore’s perspective and creations

Abstract

This study evaluates R. Tagore’s perspectives and experiences regarding literary integration, aiming to draw lessons and offer recommendations for Vietnamese writers’ international integration. Data are based on Tagore’s essays on culture and literature, his speeches on East-West integration, and several representative works across genres such as poetry, short stories, novels, and plays. The findings highlight key aspects of Tagore’s thought: literary integration broadens and deepens a nation’s literary identity and enables writers to discover a more authentic and expansive sense of self. Tagore’s creative principles emphasize approaching modernity through tradition, reaching humanity through nationality-as reflected in his use of the Bengali language-exploring the universal through reflections on the Indian human condition, and combining traditional Indian poetics with modern Western techniques. The study suggests that Vietnamese literature, in the process of international integration, should consciously expand and deepen its cultural identity, remain closely connected with real life - especially Vietnamese people’s destiny - and inherit as well as renew traditional poetics while embracing modern literary techniques.