Language, Limits, and Beyond: Early Wittgenstein and Rabindranath Tagore by Priyambada Sarkar Oxford University Press, 2021

THE TWO WHO KNEW THE LIMITS OF REALITY AND THE EXISTENCE OF THE MYSTICAL ​"The world was non-existent to our knowledge until ourselves came upon the stage. It was waiting to be realized by the human mind." - Rabindranath Tagore, The Religion of Man "That the world is my world, shows itself in the fact that the limits of the language (the only language which I understand) mean the limits of my world." - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Ludwig Wittgenstein's interest in the writings of Rabindranath Tagore, is recognized among scholars worldwide though little has been written on his fascination with Tagore's poetry and symbolic plays. In Language, Limits, and Beyond, Priyambada Sarkar explores Tagore and Wittgenstein's philosophical arguments on the concept of 'threshold of language and meaning', highlighting the systematic connections between Tagore's canon and Wittgenstein's early works. Situating her study in the early 1900s, when Tagore's poetry had just become available in Europe, Sarkar finds similarities between Tagore's and Wittgenstein's exploration of the limits of language. She argues that Wittgenstein's early philosophy can be better understood when juxtaposed with Tagore. Drawing parallels between the worlds of philosophy and poetry, Sarkar identifies the point of convergence of their two philosophies in the realm of language, tracing how they reach surprisingly similar conclusions through entirely different paths of inquiry. Sarkar finally claims that such important points of contact will help one to arrange the pieces of the Tractarian jigsaw puzzle in a manner where all the pieces of logic, language, world, and the mystical will fall into place and form a coherent picture. An important study of the thinker/poet and the poet/thinker I most admire.