Vrtlar

Tagore (1861–1941), an Indian poet, philosopher and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, wrote a cycle of 85 short poems in The Gardener. The collection is erotic-mystical: love between a man and a woman is depicted as a deep, sensual, but also spiritual longing that transforms into universal, divine love. The poems are full of natural images (flowers, garden, rain, spring), symbolism and subtle eroticism, and the style is lyrical, melodic and meditative – typical of Tagore.

In the Croatian context, this edition represents an important part of the reception of Eastern and world literature in the interwar period. The book is intended for a wider reading audience – intellectuals, poetry lovers and those interested in Eastern spirituality. Today, this edition is a rare antiquarian publication, sought after by collectors.

The Gardener is not an ordinary love poem, but a kind of erotic-religious breviary in which physical love rises to a spiritual level, and human longing becomes a path towards the divine. The work is one of Tagore's most widely read works even in the 21st century.