Published on: March 2026 2026
DWELLING IN UNCERTAINTIES: NEGATIVE CAPABILITY AND THE ART OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE'S SHORT STORIES
Susmita Mondal Sanchari Basak
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Abstract
This article applies John Keats's concept of 'negative capability' — the capacity to remain 'in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason' — to the short fiction of Rabindranath Tagore. Drawing on Cassandra Falke's phenomenological reading of negative capability through Jean-Luc Marion, and on Tagore's own reflections on the creative process, the article argues that Tagore exemplifies negative capability not merely as a literary technique but as an ethical and aesthetic orientation toward human experience. Close readings of 'The Postmaster', 'Kabuliwala', 'Atithi', and 'Nastanirh' reveal how Tagore consistently refuses to resolve the emotional and moral tensions of his narratives, holding his characters — and his readers — in productive uncertainty. The article positions Tagore within an expanding cross-cultural tradition of negatively capable authorship, demonstrating that Keats's Romantic concept finds rich expression in the Bengal literary imagination
How to Cite this Paper
Mondal, S. & Basak, S. (2026). Dwelling in Uncertainties: Negative Capability and the Art of Rabindranath Tagore's Short Stories. International Journal of Creative and Open Research in Engineering and Management, <i>02</i>(03). https://doi.org/10.55041/ijcope.v2i3.064
Mondal, Susmita, and Sanchari Basak. "Dwelling in Uncertainties: Negative Capability and the Art of Rabindranath Tagore's Short Stories." International Journal of Creative and Open Research in Engineering and Management, vol. 02, no. 03, 2026, pp. . doi:https://doi.org/10.55041/ijcope.v2i3.064.
Mondal, Susmita, and Sanchari Basak. "Dwelling in Uncertainties: Negative Capability and the Art of Rabindranath Tagore's Short Stories." International Journal of Creative and Open Research in Engineering and Management 02, no. 03 (2026). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.55041/ijcope.v2i3.064.
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References
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