A national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation or its people; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda.

Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations of the majestic wisdom and war goddess Minerva/Athena, and often took the Latin name of the ancient Roman province. Examples of this type include Britannia, Germania, Hibernia, Helvetia and Polonia. Representations of the citizenry of a nation—rather than of the nation itself—are Deutscher Michel and John Bull.

A national personification is not the same as a national animal, although in some cartoons the national animal rather than the human personification is used to represent a country.

Personifications by country or territory

! Country	! Personification
	Mother Albania
	Mother Armenia (''Mayr Hayastan''; lit. "Mother Hayastan")
	Boxing kangaroo
	Efígie da República, the Candango (only in Brasília), the Bandeirante (only in São Paulo state)
	Preah Thaong and Neang Neak
		Švejk, Hloupý Honza, Český Vašek
	El Roto, El Huaso, La Carmela, Doña Juanita (an average Chilean woman from the countryside)
	Chinese dragon
	Holger Danske
	Anacaona
	Mother of the World (Om El Donia)
	John Bull
	Finnish Maiden (Suomi-neito)
	Marianne , Gallic rooster
	Germany: Germania (personification)	Bavaria, Berlin: Berolina, Franconia: Franconia, Hamburg: Hammonia, Prussia: Borussia, Palatinate: Palatia, Saxony: Saxonia
	Athena, "Siege of Messolonghi (1825)
	[[Juan Pueblo
	Hungária/ Hunnia
	The Lady of the Mountains (''Fjallkonan'')
	Rama, The Kshatriya, The Asiatic Lion, The Bengal Tiger , The Lotus,''Bharat Mata'' ("Mother India")
	Ibu Pertiwi
	Srulik
	Italia Turrita
	Amaterasu Omikami, Samurai
	Mother Macedonia, Macedonian lion (national symbol)
	Melita
	Ola Nordmann, Kari Nordmann, hist. Nór
	Pak Watan is a national personification and a term of endearment for Pakistan.
	Handala
	The chalan
	[[Zé Povinho, ''Eu nacional'' (National Self), Lusitania, ''Efígie da República
	[[Mother Russia/Mother Motherland, Russian Bear
	Jock Tamson
	Saint Sava
	Kranjski Janez ("John from Carniola", an average man from Slovenia's central region), Peter Klepec
	Mother Svea
	Helvetia
	Anatolia
	Britannia, John Bull, Lion
	Uncle Sam (government personification), Lady Liberty, Columbia, Brother Jonathan (obsolete), Johnny Rebel (The South, obsolete), Billy Yank (The North, obsolete)
	Cossack Mamay
	Mother Motherland
	Liberty's White Horse
	Joseph Morewood Staniforth#Dame Wales

Gallery

See also

[[Hetalia: Axis Powers

Afghanis-tan

National emblem for other metaphors for nations

Italia Turrita

Emblem of Italy

Mural crown

The Stella d’Italia

References

Lionel Gossman. “Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck’s ‘Italia und Germania.’” American Philosophical Society, 2007. ISBN 0871699753.

External links

A scholarly case study of the evolution of Deutscher Michel

Category:Art genres

de:Nationalallegorie es:Personificación nacional fa:تجسم‌بخشی به ملیت fr:Figure allégorique nationale id:Personifikasi nasional it:Personificazione nazionale he:האנשת מדינות nn:Personar som nasjonalsymbol pl:Personifikacje narodowe pt:Personificação nacional ru:Национальная персонификация fi:Henkilöitymä sv:Nationspersonifikation uk:Національна персоніфікація zh:国家化身

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyayবঙ্কিমচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়
birth date	June 27, 1838
birth place	Naihati, Bengal, British India
death date	April 08, 1894
occupation	Magistrate, writer, lecturer
death place	Kolkata, Bengal, British India
genre	Poet, novelist, essayist, journalist
movement	Bengal Renaissance
subject	Literature
alma mater	University of Calcutta
notableworks	Author of Anandamath containing the National Song of India Vande Mataram
nationality	Indian
ethnicity	Bengali Hindu

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay ( ''Bôngkim Chôndro Chôţţopaddhae'') (27 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song ''Vande Mataram'', originally a Bengali and Sanskrit ''stotra'' personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement. Bankim Chandra wrote 13 novels and several ‘serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treaties’ in Bengali. His works were widely translated into other regional languages of India as well as in English.

Bankim Chandra was born to an orthodox Brahmin family at Kanthalpara, North 24 Parganas. He was educated at Hoogly College and Presidency College, Calcutta. He was one of the first graduates of the University of Calcutta. From 1858, until his retirement in 1891, he served as a deputy magistrate and deputy collector in the Government of British India.

Chatterjee is widely regarded as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as India. He is still held to be one of the timeless and brightest figures of not only Bengal, but also of the entire literati of India. Some of his writings, including novels, essays and commentaries, were a breakaway from traditional verse-oriented Indian writings, and provided an inspiration for authors across India.

When Bipin Chandra Pal decided to start a patriotic journal in August 1906, he named it Bande Mataram, after Chatterjee's song. Lala Lajpat Rai also published a journal of the same name.

Early life and background

Chattopadhyay was born in the village Kanthalpara in the district of Naihati,in an orthodox Bengali Brahmin family, the youngest of three brothers, to Yadav (or Jadab) Chandra Chattopadhyaya and Durgadebi. His family was orthodox, and his father, a government official who went on to become the Deputy Collector of Midnapur. One of his brothers, Sanjeeb Chandra Chatterjee, was also a novelist and his known for his famous book "Palamau".

He was educated at the Mohsin College in Hugli-Chinsura and later at the Presidency College, graduating with a degree in Arts in 1857. He was one of the first two graduates of the University of Calcutta . He later obtained a degree in Law as well, in 1869.

He was appointed as Deputy Collector, just like his father, of Jessore, Chatterjee went on to become a Deputy Magistrate, retiring from government service in 1891. His years at work were peppered with incidents that brought him into conflict with the ruling British. However, he was made a Companion, Order of the Indian Empire in 1894.

Literary career

Chatterjee, following the model of Ishwarchandra Gupta, began his literary career as a writer of verse. His majestic talents showed him other directions, and turned to fiction. His first attempt was a novel in Bengali submitted for a declared prize. He did not win the prize, and the novelette was never published. His first fiction to appear in print was ''Rajmohan's Wife''. It was written in English and was probably a translation of the novelette submitted for the prize. ''Durgeshnondini'', his first Bengali romance and the first ever novel in Bengali, was published in 1865.

''Kapalkundala'' (1866) is Chatterjee's first major publication. The heroine of this novel, named after the mendicant woman in Bhavabhuti's ''Malatimadhava'', is modelled partly after Kalidasa's Shakuntala and partly after Shakespeare's ''Miranda''. However, the partial similarities are only inferential analysis by critics, and Chatterjee's heroine may be completely his original. He had chosen Dariapur in Contai Subdivision as the background of this famous novel.

His next romance, ''Mrinalini'' (1869), marks his first attempt to set his story against a larger historical context. This book marks the shift from Chatterjee's early career, in which he was strictly a writer of romances, to a later period in which he aimed to stimulate the intellect of the Bengali speaking people and bring about a cultural renaissance of Bengali literature. He started publishing a monthly literary magazine Bangadarshan in April 1892, the first edition of which was filled almost entirely with his own work. The magazine carried serialized novels, stories, humorous sketches, historical and miscellaneous essays, informative articles, religious discourses, literary criticisms and reviews. ''Vishabriksha'' (The Poison Tree, 1873) is the first novel of Chatterjee that appeared serially in ''Bangodarshan''.

''Bangodarshan'' went out of circulation after 4 years. It was later revived by his brother, Sanjeeb Chandra Chatterjee.

Chatterjee's next major novel was ''Chandrasekhar'' (1877), which contains two largely unrelated parallel plots. Although the scene is once shifted back to eighteenth century, the novel is not historical. His next novel was ''Rajani'' (1877), which features an autobiographical plot, with a blind girl in the title role. Autobiographical plots had been used in Wilkie Collins' "A Woman in White", and a precedent for blind girl in a central role existed in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Nydia in "The Last Days of Pompeii", though the similarities of ''Rajani'' with these publications end there. In ''Krishnakanter Will'' (Krishnakanta's Will, 1878) Chatterjee produced a complex plot.It was a brilliant depiction of the contemporary India, lifestyle and corruption,In that complexity, critics saw resemblance to Western novels. The plot is somewhat akin to that of Poison Tree.

One of the many novels of Chatterjee that are entitled to be termed as historical fiction is ''Rajsimha'' (1881, rewritten and enlarged 1893). ''Anandamath'' (The Abbey of Bliss, 1882) is a political novel which depicts a Sannyasi (Hindu ascetic) army fighting the soldiers of the Muslim Nawab of Murshidabad. The book calls for the rise of Hindu nationalism to uproot the foreign Turko-Afghan Muslim rule of Bengal and put forth as a temporary alternative the East India Company till Hindus were fit for Self Rule. The novel was also the source of the song Vande Mataram (I worship my Motherland for she truly is my mother) which, set to music by Rabindranath Tagore, was taken up by many Indian nationalists, and is now the National Song of India. The novel is loosely based on the time of the Sannyasi Rebellion, In the actual rebellion, Hindus sannyasis and Muslim fakirs both rebelled against the British East India Company. The novel first appeared in serial form in Bangadarshan, the literary magazine that Bankim founded in 1872.

Chatterjee's next novel, ''Devi Chaudhurani'', was published in 1884. His final novel, ''Sitaram'' (1886), tells the story of a local Hindu lord, torn between his wife and the woman he desires but unable to attain, makes a series of blunders and takes arrogant, self-destructive decisions. Finally, he must confront his self and motivate the few loyal soldiers that stand between his estate and the Muslim ''Nabab'''s army about to take over.

Chatterjee's humorous sketches are his best known works other than his novels. ''Kamalakanter Daptar'' (From the Desk of Kamalakanta, 1875; enlarged as ''Kamalakanta'', 1885) contains half humorous and half serious sketches. Kamalakanta is an opium-addict, similar to De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, but Chatterjee goes much beyond with his deft handling of sarcastic, political messages that Kamalakanta delivers.

Chattarjee's commentary on the Gita was published eight years after his death and contained his comments up to the 19th Verse of Chapter 4. Through this work, he attempted to reassure Hindus who were increasingly being exposed to Western ideas. His belief was, that there was "No serious hope of progress in India except in Hinduism-reformed,regenerated and purified". He wrote an extensive commentary on two verses in particular-2.12 and 2.13-which deal with the immortality of the soul and its reincarnation

Critics, like Pramathnath Bishi, consider Chatterjee as the best novelist in Bangla literature. Their belief is that few writers in world literature have excelled in both philosophy and art as Bankim has done. They have felt that in a colonised nation Bankim could not overlook politics. He was one of the first intellectuals who wrote in a British colony, accepting and rejecting the status at the same time. Bishi also rejects the division of Bankim in `Bankim the artist' and `Bankim the moralist' - for Bankim must be read as a whole. The artist in Bankim cannot be understood unless you understand him as a moralist and vice versa.

Personal life

He was married at a very young of age of eleven, he had a son from his first wife, she died in 1859. He later married Rajalakshmi Devi. They had three daughters.

Quotes

Once Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, playing on the meaning of Bankim (''Bent A Little''), asked him what it was that had bent him. Chatterjee jokingly replied that it was the kick from the Englishman's shoe for he was a well known critique of the British and he used his excellent sense of humor and comedy to do so.

After the ''Vishabriksha'' (''The Poison Tree'') was published in 1873, The Times of London mentioned:

Bibliography

Fiction

''Durgeshnandini'' (March 1865)

''Kapalkundala'' (1866)

''Mrinalini'' (1869)

''Vishabriksha'' (The Poison Tree, 1873)

''Indira'' (1873, revised 1893)

''Jugalanguriya'' (1874)

''Radharani'' (1876, enlarged 1893)

''Chandrasekhar'' (1877)

''Kamalakanter Daptar'' (From the Desk of Kamlakanta, 1875)

''Rajani''(1877)

''Krishnakanter Uil'' (Krishnakanta's Will, 1878)

''Rajsimha'' (1882)

''Anandamath'' (1882)

''Devi Chaudhurani'' (1884)

''Kamalakanta'' (1885)

''Sitaram'' (March 1887)

''Muchiram Gurer Jivancharita'' (The Life of Muchiram Gur)

Religious Commentaries

''Krishna Charitra'' (Life of Krishna, 1886)

''Dharmatattva'' (Principles of Religion, 1888)

''Devatattva'' (Principles of Divinity, Published Posthumously)

''Srimadvagavat Gita'', a Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita (1902 - Published Posthumously)

Poetry Collections

''Lalita O Manas'' (1858)

Essays

''Lok Rahasya'' (Essays on Society, 1874, enlarged 1888)

''Bijnan Rahasya'' (Essays on Science, 1875)

''Bichitra Prabandha'' (Assorted Essays), Vol 1 (1876) and Vol 2 (1892)

''Samya'' (Equality, 1879)

** This bibliography does not include any of his English works. Indeed his first novel was an English one and he also started writing his religious and philosophical essays in English.

See also

References

Further reading

Ujjal Kumar Majumdar: ''Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay: His Contribution to Indian Life and Culture''. Calcutta : The Asiatic Society, 2000. ISBN 8172360983.

Walter Ruben: Indische Romane. Eine ideologische Untersuchung. Vol. 1: Einige Romane Bankim Chatterjees iund Ranbindranath Tagore. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1964. (German)

External links

Biography at Calcuttaweb.com

भारतीय साहित्य संग्रह में बंकिम चन्द्र

Bankim Chandra and Sabarna Roy Choudhury Family

Category:1838 births Category:1894 deaths Category:Alumni of Presidency University, Kolkata Category:People associated with the Bengal Renaissance Category:Bengali writers Category:Bengali-language writers Category:Indian civil servants Category:Indian novelists Category:People from Kolkata Category:People from North 24 Parganas district Category:University of Calcutta alumni

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Charlie Chaplin
birth name
birth date	April 16, 1889
birth place	Walworth, London, United Kingdom
death date
death place	Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland
medium	Film, music, mimicry
nationality	British
active	1895–1976
genre	Slapstick, mime, visual comedy
influenced	Marcel MarceauThe Three StoogesFederico FelliniMilton BerlePeter SellersRowan AtkinsonJohnny DeppJacques Tati
spouse	1 child 2 children 8 children
Signature	Firma de Charles Chaplin.svg }}

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in the Keystone comedy ''Kid Auto Races at Venice'' in 1914. From the April 1914 one-reeler ''Twenty Minutes of Love'' onwards he was writing and directing most of his films, by 1916 he was also producing them, and from 1918 he was even composing the music for them. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, he co-founded United Artists in 1919.

Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. He was influenced by his predecessor, the French silent film comedian Max Linder, to whom he dedicated one of his films. His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the music hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88. His high-profile public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin's identification with the left ultimately forced him to resettle in Europe during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Chaplin the 10th greatest male screen legend of all time. In 2008, Martin Sieff, in a review of the book ''Chaplin: A Life'', wrote: "Chaplin was not just 'big', he was gigantic. In 1915, he burst onto a war-torn world bringing it the gift of comedy, laughter and relief while it was tearing itself apart through World War I. Over the next 25 years, through the Great Depression and the rise of Adolf Hitler, he stayed on the job. ... It is doubtful any individual has ever given more entertainment, pleasure and relief to so many human beings when they needed it the most". George Bernard Shaw called Chaplin "the only genius to come out of the movie industry".

Biography

Early life in London (1889–1909)

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16 April 1889, supposedly in East Street, Walworth, London, England. (In 2011, a letter, written to him in the 1970s, came to light, claiming that he had been born in a Gypsy caravan at Black Patch Park in Smethwick, Staffordshire.) His parents were entertainers in the music hall tradition; his father, Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr, was a vocalist and an actor while his mother, Hannah Chaplin, was a singer and an actress who went by the stage name Lilly Harley. They separated before Charlie was three. He learned singing from his parents. The 1891 census shows that his mother lived with Charlie and his older half-brother Sydney on Barlow Street, Walworth.

As a child, Chaplin also lived with his mother in various addresses in and around Kennington Road in Lambeth, including 3 Pownall Terrace, Chester Street and 39 Methley Street. His paternal grandmother's mother was from the Smith family of Romanichals, a fact of which he was extremely proud, though he described it in his autobiography as "the skeleton in our family cupboard". Charles Chaplin Sr. was an alcoholic and had little contact with his son, though Chaplin and his half-brother briefly lived with him and his mistress, Louise, at 287 Kennington Road. The half-brothers lived there while their mentally ill mother lived at Cane Hill Asylum at Coulsdon. Chaplin's father's mistress sent the boy to Archbishop Temple's Boys School. His father died of cirrhosis when Charlie was twelve in 1901. As of the 1901 Census, Chaplin resided at 94 Ferndale Road, Lambeth, as part of a troupe of young male dancers, The Eight Lancashire Lads, managed by William Jackson.

A larynx condition ended the singing career of Hannah Chaplin. After her re-admission to the Cane Hill Asylum, her son was left in the workhouse at Lambeth in south London, moving several weeks later to the Central London District School for paupers in Hanwell.

In 1903 Chaplin secured the role of Billy the pageboy in ''Sherlock Holmes'', written by William Gillette and starring English actor H. A. Saintsbury. Saintsbury took Chaplin under his wing and taught him to marshal his talents. In 1905 Gillette came to England with Marie Doro to debut his new play, ''Clarice'', but the play did not go well. When Gillette staged his one-act curtain-raiser, ''The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes'' as a joke on the British press, Chaplin was brought in from the provinces to play Billy. When ''Sherlock Holmes'' was substituted for ''Clarice'', Chaplin remained as Billy until the production ended on 2 December. During the run, Gillette coached Chaplin in his restrained acting style. It was during this engagement that the teenage Chaplin fell hopelessly in love with Doro, but his love went unrequited and Doro returned to America with Gillette when the production closed.

They met again in Hollywood eleven years later. She had forgotten his name but, when introduced to her, Chaplin told her of being silently in love with her and how she had broken his young heart. Over dinner, he laid it on thick about his unrequited love. Nothing came of it until two years later, when they were both in New York and she invited him to dinner and a drive. Instead, Chaplin noted, they simply “dined quietly in Marie’s apartment alone.” However, as Kenneth Lynn pointed out, “Chaplin would not have been Chaplin if he had simply dined quietly with Marie.”

First years in the United States (1910–1913)

Chaplin first toured the United States with the Fred Karno troupe from 1910 to 1912. After five months in England, he returned to the U.S. for a second tour, arriving with the Karno Troupe on 2 October 1912. In the Karno Company was Arthur Stanley Jefferson, who later became known as Stan Laurel. Chaplin and Laurel shared a room in a boarding house. Laurel returned to England but Chaplin remained in the United States. In late 1913, Chaplin's act with the Karno Troupe was seen by Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, Minta Durfee, and "Fatty" Arbuckle. Sennett hired him for his studio, the Keystone Film Company as a replacement for Ford Sterling. Chaplin had considerable difficulty adjusting to the demands of film acting and his performance suffered for it. After Chaplin's first film appearance, ''Making a Living'' was filmed, Sennett felt he had made a costly mistake. Most historians agree it was Normand who persuaded him to give Chaplin another chance.

Sennett did not warm to Chaplin right away, and Chaplin believed Sennett intended to fire him following a disagreement with Normand. However, Chaplin's pictures were soon a success, and he became one of the biggest stars at Keystone.

Chaplin was given over to Normand, who directed and wrote a handful of his earliest films. Chaplin did not enjoy being directed by a woman, and they often disagreed. Eventually, the two worked out their differences and remained friends long after Chaplin left Keystone.

The Tramp (1914–1915)

The Tramp debuted during the silent film era in the Keystone comedy ''Kid Auto Races at Venice'' (released on 7 February 1914). However, Chaplin had devised the tramp costume for a film produced a few days earlier but released later (9 February 1914), ''Mabel's Strange Predicament''. Mack Sennett had requested that Chaplin "get into a comedy make-up". As Chaplin recalled in his autobiography: }}

"The Tramp" is a vagrant with the refined manners, clothes, and dignity of a gentleman. Arbuckle contributed his father-in-law's bowler hat ('derby') and his own pants (of generous proportions). Chester Conklin provided the little cutaway tailcoat, and Ford Sterling the size-14 shoes, which were so big, Chaplin had to wear each on the wrong foot to keep them on. He devised the moustache from a bit of crepe hair belonging to Mack Swain. The only thing Chaplin himself owned was the whangee cane.

Chaplin, with his Little Tramp character, quickly became the most popular star in Sennett's company of players. He immediately gained enormous popularity among cinema audiences. "The Tramp", Chaplin's principal character, was known as "Charlot" in the French-speaking world, Italy, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Greece, Romania and Turkey, "Carlitos" in Brazil and Argentina, and "Der Vagabund" in Germany.

Chaplin continued to play the Tramp through dozens of short films and, later, feature-length productions (in only a handful of other productions did he play characters other than the Tramp). He portrayed a Keystone Kop in ''A Thief Catcher'' filmed 5–26 Jan 1914.

The Tramp was closely identified with the silent era, and was considered an international character; when the sound era began in the late 1920s, Chaplin refused to make a talkie featuring the character. The 1931 production ''City Lights'' featured no dialogue. Chaplin officially retired the character in the film ''Modern Times'' (released 5 February 1936), which appropriately ended with the Tramp walking down an endless highway toward the horizon. The film was only a partial talkie and is often called the last silent film. The Tramp remains silent until near the end of the film when, for the first time, his voice is finally heard, albeit only as part of a French/Italian-derived gibberish song.

Chaplin's early Keystones use the standard Mack Sennett formula of extreme physical comedy and exaggerated gestures. Chaplin's pantomime was subtler, more suitable to romantic and domestic farces than to the usual Keystone chases and mob scenes. The visual gags were pure Keystone, however; the tramp character would aggressively assault his enemies with kicks and bricks. Moviegoers loved this cheerfully earthy new comedian, even though critics warned that his antics bordered on vulgarity. Chaplin was soon entrusted with directing and editing his own films. He made 34 shorts for Sennett during his first year in pictures, as well as the landmark comedy feature ''Tillie's Punctured Romance''.

The Tramp was featured in the first film trailer to be exhibited in a U.S. cinema, a slide promotion developed by Nils Granlund, advertising manager for the Marcus Loew theatre chain, and shown at the Loew's Seventh Avenue Theatre in Harlem in 1914. In 1915, Chaplin signed a much more favourable contract with Essanay Studios, and further developed his cinematic skills, adding new levels of depth and pathos to the Keystone-style slapstick. Most of the Essanay films were more ambitious, running twice as long as the average Keystone comedy. Chaplin also developed his own stock company, including ingénue Edna Purviance and comic villains Leo White and Bud Jamison.

Chaplin's popularity continued to soar in the early years following the start of WW1. He started to become noticed by stars of the legitimate theatre. Minnie Maddern Fiske, one of the legends of the stage endorsed Chaplin's artistry in an article in Harper's Weekly(6 May 1915). At the start of her article Mrs. Fiske spoke, "...To the writer Charles Chaplin appears as a great comic artist, possessing inspirational powers and a technique as unfaltering as Rejane's. If it be treason to Art to say this, then let those exalted persons who allow culture to be defined only upon their own terms make the most of it..." In the following years Chaplin would make many friends from the world of the Broadway stage.

Chaplin was emerging as the supreme exponent of silent films, an emigrant himself from London. Chaplin's Tramp enacted the difficulties and humiliations of the immigrant underdog, the constant struggle at the bottom of the American heap and yet he triumphed over adversity without ever rising to the top, and thereby stayed in touch with his audience. Chaplin's films were also deliciously subversive. The bumbling officials enabled the immigrants to laugh at those they feared.

Pioneering film artist and global celebrity (1916–1918)

In 1916, the Mutual Film Corporation paid Chaplin US$670,000 to produce a dozen two-reel comedies. He was given near complete artistic control, and produced twelve films over an eighteen-month period that rank among the most influential comedy films in all cinema. Of his Mutual comedies, the best known include: ''Easy Street'', ''One A.M.'', ''The Pawnshop'', and ''The Adventurer''. Edna Purviance remained the leading lady, and Chaplin added Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, and Albert Austin to his stock company; Campbell, a Gilbert and Sullivan veteran, provided superb villainy, and second bananas Bergman and Austin would remain with Chaplin for decades. Chaplin regarded the Mutual period as the happiest of his career, although he also had concerns that the films during that time were becoming formulaic owing to the stringent production schedule his contract required. Upon the U.S. entering World War I, Chaplin became a spokesman for Liberty Bonds with his close friend Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.

Most of the Chaplin films in circulation date from his Keystone, Essanay, and Mutual periods. After Chaplin assumed control of his productions in 1918 (and kept exhibitors and audiences waiting for them), entrepreneurs serviced the demand for Chaplin by bringing back his older comedies. The films were recut, retitled, and reissued again and again, first for theatres, then for the home-film market, and in recent years, for home video. Even Essanay was guilty of this practice, fashioning "new" Chaplin comedies from old film clips and out-takes. The twelve Mutual comedies were revamped as sound films in 1933, when producer Amadee J. Van Beuren added new orchestral scores and sound effects.

At the conclusion of the Mutual contract in 1917, Chaplin signed a contract with First National to produce eight two-reel films. First National financed and distributed these pictures (1918–23) but otherwise gave him complete creative control over production. Chaplin now had his own studio, and he could work at a more relaxed pace that allowed him to focus on quality. Although First National expected Chaplin to deliver short comedies like the celebrated Mutuals, Chaplin ambitiously expanded most of his personal projects into longer, feature-length films, including ''Shoulder Arms'' (1918), ''The Pilgrim'' (1923) and the feature-length classic ''The Kid'' (1921).

United Artists (1919–1939)

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the United Artists film distribution company with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, all of whom were seeking to escape the growing power consolidation of film distributors and financiers in the developing Hollywood studio system. This move, along with complete control of his film production through his studio, assured Chaplin's independence as a film-maker. He served on the board of UA until the early 1950s.

All Chaplin's United Artists pictures were of feature length, beginning with the atypical drama in which Chaplin had only a brief cameo role, ''A Woman of Paris'' (1923). This was followed by the classic comedies ''The Gold Rush'' (1925) and ''The Circus'' (1928).

After the arrival of sound films, Chaplin continued to focus on silent films with a synchronised recorded score, which included sound effects and music with melodies based in popular songs or composed by him; ''The Circus'' (1928), ''City Lights'' (1931), and ''Modern Times'' (1936) were essentially silent films. ''City Lights'' has been praised for its mixture of comedy and sentimentality. Critic James Agee, for example, wrote in ''Life'' magazine in 1949 that the final scene in ''City Lights'' was the "greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid".

While ''Modern Times'' (1936) is a non-talkie, it does contain talk—usually coming from inanimate objects such as a radio or a TV monitor. This was done to help 1930s audiences, who were out of the habit of watching silent films, adjust to not hearing dialogue. ''Modern Times'' was the first film where Chaplin's voice is heard (in the nonsense song at the end, which Chaplin both performed and wrote the nonsense lyrics to). However, for most viewers it is still considered a silent film.

Although "talkies" became the dominant mode of film making soon after they were introduced in 1927, Chaplin resisted making such a film all through the 1930s. He considered cinema essentially a pantomimic art. He said: "Action is more generally understood than words. Like Chinese symbolism, it will mean different things according to its scenic connotation. Listen to a description of some unfamiliar object—an African warthog, for example; then look at a picture of the animal and see how surprised you are".

It is a tribute to Chaplin's versatility that he also has one film credit for choreography for the 1952 film ''Limelight'', and another as a singer for the title music of ''The Circus'' (1928). The best known of several songs he composed are "Smile", composed for the film ''Modern Times'' (1936) and given lyrics to help promote a 1950s revival of the film, famously covered by Nat King Cole. "This Is My Song" from Chaplin's last film, ''A Countess from Hong Kong'', was a number one hit in several different languages in the late 1960s (most notably the version by Petula Clark and discovery of an unreleased version in the 1990s recorded in 1967 by Judith Durham of The Seekers), and Chaplin's theme from ''Limelight'' was a hit in the 1950s under the title "Eternally." Chaplin's score to ''Limelight'' won an Academy Award in 1972; a delay in the film premiering in Los Angeles made it eligible decades after it was filmed. Chaplin also wrote scores for his earlier silent films when they were re-released in the sound era, notably ''The Kid'' for its 1971 re-release.

''The Great Dictator'' (1940)

Chaplin's first talking picture, ''The Great Dictator'' (1940), was an act of defiance against Nazism. It was filmed and released in the United States one year before the U.S. entry into World War II. Chaplin played the role of "Adenoid Hynkel", Dictator of Tomainia, modelled on German dictator Adolf Hitler, who was only four days his junior and sported a similar moustache. The film also showcased comedian Jack Oakie as "Benzino Napaloni", dictator of Bacteria, a jab at Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Paulette Goddard filmed with Chaplin again, depicting a woman in the ghetto. The film was seen as an act of courage in the political environment of the time, both for its ridicule of Nazism, for the portrayal of overt Jewish characters, and the depiction of their persecution. In addition to Hynkel, Chaplin also played a look-alike Jewish barber persecuted by the regime. The barber physically resembled the Tramp character.

At the conclusion, the two characters Chaplin portrayed swapped positions through a complex plot, and he dropped out of his comic character to address the audience directly in a speech denouncing dictatorship, greed, hate, and intolerance, in favour of liberty and human brotherhood.

The film was nominated for Academy awards for Best Picture (producer), Best Original Screenplay (writer) and Best Actor.

McCarthy era

Although Chaplin had his major successes in the United States and was a resident from 1914 to 1953, he always maintained a neutral nationalistic stance. During the era of McCarthyism, Chaplin was accused of "un-American activities" as a suspected communist and J. Edgar Hoover, who had instructed the FBI to keep extensive secret files on him, tried to end his United States residency. FBI pressure on Chaplin grew after his 1942 campaign for a second European front in the war and reached a critical level in the late 1940s, when Congressional figures threatened to call him as a witness in hearings. This was never done, probably from fear of Chaplin's ability to lampoon the investigators.

In 1952, Chaplin left the US for what was intended as a brief trip home to the United Kingdom for the London premiere of ''Limelight''. Hoover learned of the trip and negotiated with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to revoke Chaplin's re-entry permit, exiling Chaplin so he could not return for his alleged political leanings. Chaplin decided not to re-enter the United States, writing: "Since the end of the last world war, I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States."

That Chaplin was unprepared to remain abroad, or that the revocation of his right to re-enter the United States by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was a surprise to him, may be apocryphal: An anecdote in some contradiction is recorded during a broad interview with Richard Avedon, celebrated New York portraitist.

Avedon is credited with the last portrait of the entertainer to be taken before his departure to Europe and therefore, the last photograph of him as a singularly “American icon.” According to Avedon, Chaplin telephoned him at his studio in New York City, while on a layover for transportation connections before the final leg of his travel to England. The photographer considered the impromptu self-introduction a prank and angrily answered his caller with the riposte, “If you’re Charlie Chaplin, I’m Franklin Roosevelt!” To mollify Avedon, Chaplin assured the photographer of his authenticity and added the comment, “If you want to take my picture, you better do it now. They are coming after me and I won’t be back. I leave ... (imminently).” Avedon interrupted his production commitments to take Chaplin’s portrait the next day, and never personally saw Chaplin again.

Chaplin then made his home in Vevey, Switzerland. He briefly and triumphantly returned to the United States in April 1972, with his wife, to receive an Honorary Oscar, and also to discuss how his films would be re-released and marketed.

Final works (1957–1976)

Chaplin's final two films were made in London: ''A King in New York'' (1957) in which he starred, wrote, directed and produced; and ''A Countess from Hong Kong'' (1967), which he directed, produced, and wrote. The latter film stars Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando, and Chaplin made his final on-screen appearance in a brief cameo role as a seasick steward. He also composed the music for both films with the theme song from ''A Countess From Hong Kong,'' "This is My Song", reaching number one in the UK as sung by Petula Clark. Chaplin also compiled a film ''The Chaplin Revue'' from three First National films ''A Dog's Life'' (1918), ''Shoulder Arms'' (1918) and ''The Pilgrim'' (1923) for which he composed the music and recorded an introductory narration. As well as directing these final films, Chaplin also wrote ''My Autobiography,'' between 1959 and 1963, which was published in 1964.

In his pictorial autobiography ''My Life In Pictures'', published in 1974, Chaplin indicated that he had written a screenplay for his daughter, Victoria; entitled ''The Freak'', the film would have cast her as an angel. According to Chaplin, a script was completed and pre-production rehearsals had begun on the film (the book includes a photograph of Victoria in costume), but were halted when Victoria married. "I mean to make it some day," Chaplin wrote. However, his health declined steadily in the 1970s which hampered all hopes of the film ever being produced.

From 1969 until 1976, Chaplin wrote original music compositions and scores for his silent pictures and re-released them. He composed the scores of all his First National shorts: ''The Idle Class'' in 1971 (paired with The Kid for re-release in 1972), ''A Day's Pleasure'' in 1973, ''Pay Day'' in 1972, ''Sunnyside'' in 1974, and of his feature length films firstly ''The Circus'' in 1969 and ''The Kid'' in 1971. Chaplin worked with music associate Eric James whilst composing all his scores.

Chaplin's last completed work was the score for his 1923 film ''A Woman of Paris'', which was completed in 1976, by which time Chaplin was extremely frail, even finding communication difficult.

Death (1977)

Chaplin's robust health began to slowly fail in the late 1960s, after the completion of his final film ''A Countess from Hong Kong'', and more rapidly after he received his Academy Award in 1972. By 1977, he had difficulty communicating, and was using a wheelchair. Chaplin died in his sleep in Vevey, Switzerland on Christmas Day 1977.

Chaplin was interred in Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery, Switzerland. On 1 March 1978, his corpse was stolen by a small group of Swiss mechanics in an attempt to extort money from his family. The plot failed; the robbers were captured, and the corpse was recovered eleven weeks later near Lake Geneva. His body was reburied under of concrete to prevent further attempts.

Filmmaking techniques

Chaplin never spoke more than cursorily about his filmmaking methods, claiming such a thing would be tantamount to a magician spoiling his own illusion. In fact, until he began making spoken dialogue films with ''The Great Dictator'' in 1940, Chaplin never shot from a completed script. The method he developed, once his Essanay contract gave him the freedom to write for and direct himself, was to start from a vague premise—for example "Charlie enters a health spa" or "Charlie works in a pawn shop." Chaplin then had sets constructed and worked with his stock company to improvise gags and "business" around them, almost always working the ideas out on film. As ideas were accepted and discarded, a narrative structure would emerge, frequently requiring Chaplin to reshoot an already-completed scene that might have otherwise contradicted the story. Chaplin's unique filmmaking techniques became known only after his death, when his rare surviving outtakes and cut sequences were carefully examined in the 1983 British documentary ''Unknown Chaplin''.

This is one reason why Chaplin took so much longer to complete his films than his rivals did. In addition, Chaplin was an incredibly exacting director, showing his actors exactly how he wanted them to perform and shooting scores of takes until he had the shot he wanted. Animator Chuck Jones, who lived near Charlie Chaplin's Lone Star studio as a boy, remembered his father saying he watched Chaplin shoot a scene more than a hundred times until he was satisfied with it. This combination of story improvisation and relentless perfectionism—which resulted in days of effort and thousands of feet of film being wasted, all at enormous expense—often proved very taxing for Chaplin, who in frustration would often lash out at his actors and crew, keep them waiting idly for hours or, in extreme cases, shutting down production altogether.

Comparison with other silent comics

Since the 1960s, Chaplin's films have been compared to those of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd (the other two great silent film comedians of the time), especially among the loyal fans of each comic.

The three had different styles: Chaplin had a strong affinity for sentimentality and pathos (which was popular in the 1920s), Lloyd was renowned for his everyman persona and 1920s optimism, and Keaton adhered to onscreen stoicism with a cynical tone more suited to modern audiences.

Commercially, Chaplin made some of the highest-grossing films in the silent era; ''The Gold Rush'' is the fifth with US$4.25 million and ''The Circus'' is the seventh with US$3.8 million. However, Chaplin's films combined made about US$10.5 million while Harold Lloyd's grossed US$15.7 million. Lloyd was far more prolific, releasing twelve feature films in the 1920s while Chaplin released just three. Buster Keaton's films were not nearly as commercially successful as Chaplin's or Lloyd's even at the height of his popularity, and only received belated critical acclaim in the late 1950s and 1960s.

There is evidence that Chaplin and Keaton, who both got their start in vaudeville, thought highly of one another: Keaton stated in his autobiography that Chaplin was the greatest comedian that ever lived, and the greatest comedy director, whereas Chaplin welcomed Keaton to United Artists in 1925, advised him against his disastrous move to MGM in 1928, and for his last American film, ''Limelight'', wrote a part specifically for Keaton as his first on-screen comedy partner since 1915.

Composer and songwriter

Chaplin wrote or co-wrote the scores and songs for many of his films. "Smile", which he composed for his film, ''Modern Times'', hit number 2 on the UK charts when sung by Nat King Cole in the 1950s. It was also Michael Jackson's favourite song. "This Is My Song", written and composed by Chaplin for his film, ''A Countess from Hong Kong'', hit number 1 on the UK charts when sung by Petula Clark in the 1960s. In 1973, Chaplin won the Oscar for Best Film Score for his film, ''Limelight''. Chaplin was not the only member of his family with musical talent; his nephew, Spencer Dryden was the drummer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted band, Jefferson Airplane.

Politics

Chaplin's political sympathies always lay with the left. His silent films made prior to the Great Depression typically did not contain overt political themes or messages, apart from the Tramp's plight in poverty and his run-ins with the law, but his 1930s films were more openly political. ''Modern Times'' depicts workers and poor people in dismal conditions. The final dramatic speech in ''The Great Dictator'', which was critical of following patriotic nationalism without question, and his vocal public support for the opening of a second European front in 1942 to assist the Soviet Union in World War II were controversial.

Chaplin declined to support the war effort as he had done for World War I which led to public anger, although his two sons saw service in the Army in Europe. For most of World War II he was fighting serious criminal and civil charges related to his involvement with actress Joan Barry (see below). After the war, his 1947 black comedy, ''Monsieur Verdoux'' showed a critical view of capitalism. Chaplin's final American film, ''Limelight'', was less political and more autobiographical in nature. His following European-made film, ''A King in New York'' (1957), satirised the political persecution and paranoia that had forced him to leave the U.S. five years earlier.

On religion, Chaplin wrote in his autobiography, “In Philadelphia, I inadvertently came upon an edition of Robert Ingersoll's Essays and Lectures. This was an exciting discovery; his atheism confirmed my own belief that the horrific cruelty of the Old Testament was degrading to the human spirit.”

Other controversies

During World War I, Chaplin was criticised in the British press for not joining the Army. He had in fact presented himself for service, but was denied for being too small at 5'5" and underweight. Chaplin raised substantial funds for the war effort during war bond drives not only with public speaking at rallies but also by making, at his own expense, ''The Bond'', a comedic propaganda film used in 1918. The lingering controversy may have prevented Chaplin from receiving a knighthood in the 1930s. A 1916 propaganda short film ''Zepped'' with Chaplin was discovered in 2009.

For Chaplin's entire career, some level of controversy existed over claims of Jewish ancestry. Nazi propaganda in the 1930s and 40s prominently portrayed him as Jewish (named Karl Tonstein) relying on articles published in the U.S. press before, and FBI investigations of Chaplin in the late 1940s also focused on Chaplin's ethnic origins. There is no documentary evidence of Jewish ancestry for Chaplin himself. For his entire public life, he fiercely refused to challenge or refute claims that he was Jewish, saying that to do so would always "play directly into the hands of anti-Semites." Although baptised in the Church of England, Chaplin was thought to be an agnostic for most of his life.

Chaplin's lifelong attraction to younger women remains another enduring source of interest to some. His biographers have attributed this to a teenage infatuation with Hetty Kelly, whom he met in Britain while performing in the music hall, and which possibly defined his feminine ideal. Chaplin clearly relished the role of discovering and closely guiding young female stars; with the exception of Mildred Harris, all of his marriages and most of his major relationships began in this manner.

Personal life and family

Chaplin's mother died in 1928 in Glendale, California, seven years after she was brought to the U.S. by her sons. Unknown to Charlie and Sydney until years later, they had a half-brother through their mother. The boy, Wheeler Dryden (1892–1957), was raised abroad by his father but later connected with the rest of the family and went to work for Chaplin at his Hollywood studio.

The South African duo Locnville, Andrew and Brian Chaplin, are related to Chaplin (their grandfather was Chaplin's first cousin).

Relationships

Hetty Kelly was Chaplin's first love, a dancer with whom he fell in love when she was fifteen and almost married when he was nineteen, in 1908. It is said Chaplin fell madly in love with her and asked her to marry him. When she refused, Chaplin suggested it would be best if they did not see each other again; he was reportedly crushed when she agreed. Years later, her memory would remain an obsession with Chaplin. He was devastated in 1921 when he learned that she had died of influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic.

thumb|left|Chaplin with Edna Purviance in ''The Immigrant'' (1917) Edna Purviance was Chaplin's first major leading lady after Mabel Normand. Purviance and Chaplin were involved in a close romantic relationship during the production of his Essanay and Mutual films in 1916–1917. The romance seems to have ended by 1918, and Chaplin's marriage to Mildred Harris in late 1918 ended any possibility of reconciliation. Purviance would continue as leading lady in Chaplin's films until 1923, and would remain on Chaplin's payroll until her death in 1958. She and Chaplin spoke warmly of one another for the rest of their lives.

right|thumb|upright|Mildred Harris, c. 1918–1920 Mildred Harris: On 23 October 1918, Chaplin, age 29, married the popular child actress, Harris, who was 16 at the time. They had one son, Norman Spencer "The Little Mouse" Chaplin, born on 7 July 1919, who died three days later and is interred under the name ''The Little Mouse'' at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood California. Chaplin separated from Harris by late 1919, moving back into the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The couple divorced in November 1920, with Harris getting some of their community property and a US$100,000 settlement. Chaplin admitted that he "was not in love, now that [he] was married [he] wanted to be and wanted the marriage to be a success." During the divorce, Chaplin claimed Harris had an affair with noted actress of the time Alla Nazimova, rumoured to be fond of seducing young actresses.

Pola Negri: Chaplin was involved in a very public relationship and engagement with the Polish actress, Negri, in 1922–23, after she arrived in Hollywood to star in films. The stormy on-off engagement was halted after about nine months, but in many ways it foreshadowed the modern stereotypes of Hollywood star relationships. Chaplin's public involvement with Negri was unique in his public life. By comparison he strove to keep his other romances during this period very discreet and private (usually without success). Many biographers have concluded the affair with Negri was largely for publicity purposes.

Marion Davies: In 1924, during the time he was involved with the underage Lita Grey, Chaplin was rumoured to have had a fling with actress Davies, companion of William Randolph Hearst. Davies and Chaplin were both present on Hearst's yacht the weekend preceding the mysterious death of Thomas Harper Ince. Charlie allegedly tried to persuade her to leave Hearst and remain with him, but she refused and stayed by Hearst's side until his death in 1951. Chaplin made a rare cameo appearance in Davies' 1928 film ''Show People'', and by some accounts supposedly continued an affair with her until 1931.

Lita Grey: Chaplin first met Grey during the filming of ''The Kid''. Three years later, at age 35, he became involved with the then 16-year-old Grey during preparations for ''The Gold Rush'' in which she was to star as the female lead. They married on 26 November 1924, after she became pregnant (a development that resulted in her being removed from the cast of the film). They had two sons, the actors Charles Chaplin, Jr. (1925–1968) and Sydney Chaplin (1926–2009). The marriage was a disaster, with the couple hopelessly mismatched. The couple divorced on 22 August 1927. Their extraordinarily bitter divorce had Chaplin paying Grey a then-record-breaking US$825,000 settlement, on top of almost one million dollars in legal costs. The stress of the sensational divorce, compounded by a federal tax dispute, allegedly turned his hair white. The Chaplin biographer Joyce Milton asserted in ''Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin'' that the Grey-Chaplin marriage was the inspiration for Vladimir Nabokov's 1950s novel ''Lolita''.

Merna Kennedy: Lita Grey's friend, Kennedy was a dancer who Chaplin hired as the lead actress in ''The Circus'' (1928). It is rumoured that the two had an affair during shooting. Grey used the rumoured infidelity in her divorce proceedings.

Georgia Hale was Lita Grey's replacement on ''The Gold Rush''. In the documentary series, ''Unknown Chaplin'', (directed and written by film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill), Hale, in a 1980s interview states that she had idolised Chaplin since childhood and that the then-19-year-old actress and Chaplin began an affair that continued for several years, which she details in her memoir, ''Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Close-Ups.'' During production of Chaplin's film ''City Lights'' in 1929–30, Hale, who by then was Chaplin's closest companion, was called in to replace Virginia Cherrill as the flower girl. Seven minutes of test footage survives from this recasting, and is included on the 2003 DVD release of the film, but economics forced Chaplin to rehire Cherrill. In discussing the situation in ''Unknown Chaplin'', Hale states that her relationship with Chaplin was as strong as ever during filming. Their romance apparently ended sometime after Chaplin's return from his world tour in 1933.

Louise Brooks was a chorine in the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' when she met Chaplin. He had gone to New York for the opening there of ''The Gold Rush''. For two months in the summer of 1925, the two cavorted together at the Ritz, and with film financier A.C. Blumenthal and Brooks' fellow Ziegfeld girl Peggy Fears in Blumenthal's penthouse suite at the Ambassador Hotel. Brooks was with Chaplin when he spent four hours watching a musician torture a violin in a Lower East Side restaurant, an act he would recreate in ''Limelight''.

May Reeves was originally hired to be Chaplin's secretary on his 1931–1932 extended trip to Europe, dealing mostly with reading his personal correspondence. She worked only one morning, and then was introduced to Chaplin, who was instantly infatuated with her. May became his constant companion and lover on the trip, much to the disgust of Chaplin's brother, Syd. After Reeves also became involved with Syd, Chaplin ended the relationship and she left his entourage. Reeves chronicled her short time with Chaplin in her book, "The Intimate Charlie Chaplin".

thumb|right|Chaplin and Paulette Goddard in ''The Great Dictator'' (1940) Paulette Goddard: Chaplin and actress Goddard were involved in a romantic and professional relationship between 1932 and 1940, with Goddard living with Chaplin in his Beverly Hills home for most of this time. Chaplin gave her starring roles in ''Modern Times'' and ''The Great Dictator''. Refusal to clarify their marital status is often claimed to have eliminated Goddard from final consideration for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gone with the Wind''. After the relationship ended in 1940, Chaplin and Goddard made public statements that they had been secretly married in 1936; but these claims were likely a mutual effort to prevent any lasting damage to Goddard's career. In any case, their relationship ended amicably in 1942, with Goddard being granted a settlement. Goddard went on to a major career in films at Paramount in the 1940s, working several times with Cecil B. DeMille. Like Chaplin, she lived her later life in Switzerland, dying in 1990.

Joan Barry (1920–1996): In 1942, Chaplin had a brief affair with Barry, whom he was considering for a starring role in a proposed film, but the relationship ended when she began harassing him and displaying signs of severe mental illness (not unlike his mother). Chaplin's brief involvement with Barry proved to be a nightmare for him. After having a child, she filed a paternity suit against him in 1943. Although blood tests proved Chaplin was not the father of Barry's child, Barry's attorney, Joseph Scott, convinced the court that the tests were inadmissible as evidence, and Chaplin was ordered to support the child. The injustice of the ruling later led to a change in California law to allow blood tests as evidence. Federal prosecutors also brought Mann Act charges against Chaplin related to Barry in 1944, of which he was acquitted. Chaplin's public image in America was gravely damaged by these sensational trials. Barry was institutionalised in 1953 after she was found walking the streets barefoot, carrying a pair of baby sandals and a child's ring, and murmuring: "This is magic". Chaplin's second wife, Lita Grey, later asserted that Chaplin had paid corrupt government officials to tamper with the blood test results. She further stated that "there is no doubt that she [Carol Ann] was his child." Oona O'Neill: During Chaplin's legal trouble over the Barry affair, he met O'Neill, daughter of Eugene O'Neill, and married her on 16 June 1943. He was fifty-four; she had just turned eighteen. The marriage produced eight children; their last child, Christopher, was born when Chaplin was 73 years old. Oona survived Chaplin by fourteen years, and died from pancreatic cancer in 1991.

Children

! Child	! Birth	! Death	! Chaplin's Age at Time of Birth	! Mother	! Grandchildren
Norman Spencer Chaplin	7 July 1919	10 July 1919	30	Mildred Harris
	5 May 1925	20 March 1968	36		Susan Maree Chaplin (b 1959)
	31 March 1926	3 March 2009	36	Stephan Chaplin (b 19xx)
Carol Ann Barry Chaplin (Disputed)	2 October 1943		54		Unknown
	31 July 1944		55		Shane Saura Chaplin (b 1974) Oona Castilla Chaplin (b 1986)
	7 March 1946		56	Kathleen Chaplin (b. 1975) Dolores Chaplin (b. 1979) Carmen Chaplin (b 19xx) George Chaplin (b 19xx)
	28 March 1949		59	Julien Ronet (b. 1980)
Victoria Chaplin	19 May 1951		62	Aurélia Thiérrée (b. 1971) James Thiérrée (b. 1974)
	23 August 1953		64	Kiera Chaplin (b. 1982)
Jane Cecil Chaplin	23 May 1957		68
Annette Emily Chaplin	3 December 1959		70	Orson Salkind (b. 1986) Osceola Salkind (b. 1994)
	6 July 1962		73

Awards and recognition

Chaplin was knighted in 1975 at the age of 85 as a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. The honour had been first proposed in 1931. Knighthood was suggested again in 1956, but was vetoed after a Foreign Office report raised concerns over Chaplin's purported "communist" views and his moral behaviour in marrying two 16 year girls; it was felt that honouring him would damage both the reputation of the British honours system and relations with the United States.

Among other recognitions, Chaplin was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1970; that he had not been among those originally honoured in 1961 caused some controversy. Chaplin's Swiss mansion is to be opened as a museum tracing his life from the music halls in London to Hollywood fame.

A statue of Charlie Chaplin was made by John Doubleday, to stand in Leicester Square in London. It was unveiled by Sir Ralph Richardson in 1981. A bronze statue of him is at Waterville, County Kerry.

Academy Awards

Chaplin received three Academy Awards in his lifetime: one for Best Original Score, and two Honorary Awards. However, during his active years as a filmmaker, Chaplin expressed disdain for the Academy Awards; his son Charles Jr wrote that Chaplin invoked the ire of the Academy in the 1930s by jokingly using his 1929 Oscar as a doorstop. This may help explain why ''City Lights'' and ''Modern Times,'' considered by several polls to be two of the greatest of all motion pictures, were not nominated for a single Academy Award.

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony: When the first Oscars were awarded on 16 May 1929, the voting audit procedures that now exists had not yet been put into place, and the categories were still very fluid. Chaplin's ''The Circus'' was set to be heavily recognised, as Chaplin had originally been nominated for Best Production, Best Director in a Comedy Picture, Best Actor and Best Writing (Original Story). However, the Academy decided to withdraw his name from all the competitive categories and instead give him a Special Award "for versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing ''The Circus''". The only other film to receive a Special Award that year was ''The Jazz Singer''.

The 13th Academy Awards ceremony: In 1941, ''The Great Dictator'' was nominated for five awards, including two for Chaplin: Best Writing and Best Actor. Chaplin lost out on both counts. For writing, he lost to Preston Sturges for ''The Great McGinty'', and for acting to James Stewart for ''The Philadelphia Story''.

The 20th Academy Awards ceremony: In 1948, Chaplin's screenplay for ''Monsieur Verdoux'' was nominated, but the award went instead to Sidney Sheldon for ''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer''.

The 44th Academy Awards ceremony: Chaplin's second Oscar was awarded forty-three years after his first, in 1972. Chaplin came out of exile to accept the Honorary Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century". Stepping onto the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Chaplin received the longest standing ovation in Academy Award history, lasting a full twelve minutes.

The 45th Academy Awards ceremony: In 1973, Chaplin's film ''Limelight'' was honoured with an Oscar for Best Original Score. Though the film had originally been released in 1952, due to Chaplin's political difficulties at the time, the film did not play for one week in Los Angeles, and thus did not meet the criterion for nomination until it was re-released in 1972.

Legacy

Chaplin's "tramp" character is possibly the most imitated on all levels of entertainment. Chaplin once entered a "Chaplin look-alike" competition and didn't even make the final round. The influence of his 'Tramp' character could be seen on other artists and media providers. Beginning early on there were many tributes, and parodies made. Early examples include; E. C. Segar's 1916 comic strip "Charlie Chaplin's Comedy Capers". Segar would later become famous for his character Popeye, and his 'Chaplin' comics would later be collected in 1917 into five books, precursors of the later comic book format. Two different animated cartoon series also starred 'Charlie' a tramp character, the first a series of nine shorts from 1916 by Movca Film Service. And later ten films by the Pat Sullivan Studio from 1918–1919, which would later use the 'Charlie/Charley' gestures to create Felix the Cat, the character made one later appearance in one of Felix's 1923 cartoons "Felix in Hollywood". From 1917 to 1918, silent film actor Billy West made more than 20 films as a comedian precisely imitating Chaplin's tramp character, makeup and costume.

The third of composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann's 1929–30 composition ''Wachsfigurenkabinett: Fünf kleine Opern (Waxworks: Five Little Operas)'' is entitled 'Chaplin-Ford-Trot', and features the character of Charlie Chaplin (in a speaking rather than operatic role).

Kamal Haasan moulded his character "Chaplin Chellappa" on Chaplin in the Tamil film Punnagai Mannan

In 1985, Chaplin was honoured with his image on a postage stamp of the United Kingdom, and in 1994 he appeared on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.

IBM ran a series of commercials for their personal computers during the 1980s featuring a Chaplin impersonator.

John Woo directed a parody film of Chaplin's "The Kid" called Hua ji shi dai (1981), also known as "Laughing Times."

A minor planet, 3623 Chaplin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina in 1981, is named after Chaplin.

In 1992, a film was made about Chaplin's life entitled ''Chaplin'', directed by Oscar-winner Richard Attenborough, and starring Robert Downey, Jr., in an Oscar-nominated performance, and Geraldine Chaplin playing the part of Charlie Chaplin's mother, her own grandmother.

In 2001, British comedian Eddie Izzard played Chaplin in Peter Bogdanovich's film, ''The Cat's Meow'', which speculated about the still-unsolved death of producer Thomas H. Ince during a yachting party thrown by William Randolph Hearst, of which Chaplin was a guest.

On 15 April 2011, a day before his 122nd birthday anniversary, Google celebrated this with a special Google Doodle video on its global and other country-wide homepages.

Filmography and current rights issues

Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in dozens of feature films and short subjects. Highlights include ''The Immigrant'' (1917), ''The Gold Rush'' (1925), ''City Lights'' (1931), ''Modern Times'' (1936), and ''The Great Dictator'' (1940), all of which have been selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry. Three of these films made the AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies and AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) lists: ''The Gold Rush'', ''City Lights'', and ''Modern Times''.

A listing of the dozens of Chaplin films and alternate versions can be found in the Ted Okuda-David Maska book ''Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp''. Thanks to The Chaplin Keystone Project, efforts to produce definitive versions of Chaplin's pre-1918 short films have come to a successful end: after ten years of research and clinical international cooperation work, 34 Keystone films have been fully restored and published in October 2010 on a 4-DVD box set. All twelve Mutual films were restored in 1975 by archivist David Shepard and Blackhawk Films, and new restorations with even more footage were released on DVD in 2006.

Today, nearly all of Chaplin's output is owned by Roy Export S.A.S. in Paris, which enforces the library's copyrights and decides how and when this material can be released. French company MK2 acts as worldwide distribution agent for the Export company. In the U.S. as of 2010, distribution is handled under license by Janus Films, with home video releases from Criterion Collection, affiliated with Janus.

See also

List of people on the cover of Time magazine (1920s)

References

Further reading

Charles Chaplin: ''My Autobiography''. Simon & Schuster, 1964.

Charles Chaplin: ''Die Geschichte meines Lebens''. Fischer-Verlag, 1964. (germ.)

Charlie Chaplin ''Die Wurzeln meiner Komik'' in: Jüdische Allgemeine Wochenzeitung, 3 March 1967, gekürzt: wieder ebd. 12.4. 2006, S. 54 (germ.)

''Chaplin: A Life'' by Stephen Weissman Arcade Publishing 2008.

Charles Chaplin: ''My Life in Pictures''. Bodley Head, 1974.

Alistair Cooke: ''Six Men''. Harmondsworth, 1978.

S. Frind: Die Sprache als Propagandainstrument des Nationalsozialismus, in: Muttersprache, 76. Jg., 1966, S. 129–135. (germ.)

Georgia Hale, ''Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Close-Ups'', edited by Heather Kiernan. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 1995 and 1999. ISBN 978-1-57886-004-3 (1999 edition).

Victor Klemperer: ''LTI – Notizbuch eines Philologen.'' Leipzig: Reclam, 1990. ISBN 978-3-379-00125-0; Frankfurt am Main (19. A.) 2004 (germ.)

''Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp'', Ted Okuda & David Maska. iUniverse, New York, 2005.

''Chaplin: His Life and Art'', David Robinson. McGraw-Hill, second edition 2001.

''Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema'', Jeffrey Vance. Abrams, New York, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8109-4532-6

''Charlie Chaplin: A Photo Diary'', Michel Comte & Sam Stourdze. Steidl, first edition, hardcover, 359pp, ISBN 978-3-88243-792-8, 2002.

''Chaplin in Pictures'', Sam Stourdze (ed.), texts by Patrice Blouin, Christian Delage and Sam Stourdze, NBC Editions, ISBN 978-2-913986-03-9, 2005.

''Double Exposure: Charlie Chaplin as Author and Celebrity'', Jonathan Goldman. M/C Journal 7.5.

''Charlie Chaplin's World of Comedy'', Wes D. Gehring, 1980.

External links

Official sites

* Charlie Chaplin Website

* Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival Website

* The Charlie Chaplin Archive

Biography

* Charlie Chaplin Biography

* Charlie Chaplin's Golden Silence

* Chaplin A Life: 40 Photo-Essays

* Works by or about Charlie Chaplin at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)

Filmography

* Films by, about or starring Charlie Chaplin at the Internet Archive

** More Chaplin films at the Internet Archive

Others

* Obituary, NY Times, 26 December 1977 ''Chaplin's Little Tramp, an Everyman Trying to Gild Cage of Life, Enthralled World''

* The TIME 100: Charlie Chaplin

* Chaplin films at ednapurviance.org

* About Chaplin UK

* Top 10 Charlie Chaplin Movies

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Rabindranath Tagoreরবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর
birth date	May 07, 1861
birth place	Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India
death date	August 07, 1941
death place	Calcutta, Bengal Province, British India
occupation	Poet, playwright, philosopher, composer, artist
period	Bengal Renaissance
influenced	D.R. Bendre, Vijay Ghate, André Gide, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Yasunari Kawabata, Kuvempu, Henry Miller, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz
signature	Rabindranath Tagore Signature.svg|altClose-up on a Bengali word handwritten with angular, jaunty letters.
awards	}}

Rabindranath Tagore () (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941), sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music. Author of ''Gitanjali'' and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he was the first non-European Nobel laureate. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric persona, floccose locks, and empyreal garb lended him a prophet-like aura in the West. His "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal.

A Pirali Brahmin from Kolkata, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old. At age sixteen, he cheekily released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym ''Bhanushingho'' (Bhānusiṃha: "Sun Lion"), which were duly seized upon by the region's obligatory literary grandees as long-lost classics. Tagore graduated to his first short stories and dramas—and the aegis of his birth name—by 1877. He came to denounce the British Raj and he supported Indian independence; his efforts endure in his vast canon, comprising paintings, sketches, doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs, and in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to political and personal topics. ''Gitanjali'' (''Song Offerings''), ''Gora'' (''Fair-Faced''), and ''Ghare-Baire'' (''The Home and the World'') are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and contemplation. Tagore penned two national anthems: India's ''Jana Gana Mana'' and Bangladesh's ''Amar Shonar Bangla''.

Early life (1861–1901)

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The youngest of thirteen surviving children, Tagore was born in the Jorasanko mansion in Kolkata of parents Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Sarada Devi (1830–1875). Tagore family patriarchs were of gentle provenance and were the Brahmo founding fathers of the Adi Dharm faith. The fabulously loyalist "Prince" Dwarkanath Tagore, with his European estate managers and his serial visits with Queen Victoria and other occidental royals, was his grandfather. "Rabi" was raised mostly by servants, as his mother had died in his early childhood; his father travelled widely. Tagore largely begged off classroom schooling and preferred to roam the manor or nearby idylls: Bolpur, Panihati. His ''upanayan'' initiation at age eleven augured a pivotal trip; Tagore forthwith left Calcutta on 14 February 1873 with his father for a months-long tour of outer India. They visited his father's Santiniketan estate and stopped in Amritsar en route to the Himalayan Dhauladhars, their destination the remote hill station at Dalhousie.

Amid crystalline peaks and a vivid chill Tagore read biographies in the rented lodge; his stridently learned father tutored him in history, astronomy, other modern sciences, and Sanskrit; they examined the poetry of together. Through the months a frigid regime of twilight baths in icy water attended the sessions. He survived to return to Jorosanko and commence a writing spree; he completed a set of major works by 1877, one a long poem in the Maithili style of Vidyapati. Published pseudonymously, experts accepted them as the lost works of Bhānusiṃha, a newly discovered 17th-century poet. He debuted the short-story genre in Bengali with "Bhikharini" ("The Beggar Woman"), and his ''Sandhya Sangit'' (1882) includes the famous poem "Nirjharer Swapnabhanga" ("The Rousing of the Waterfall").

Tagore fancied himself a prospective barrister, and so in 1878 he took up studies anew, this time at a public school in Brighton, East Sussex, England. He stayed for some months at a house that the Tagore family owned near Brighton and Hove, in Medina Villas; in 1877, his nephew and niece—Suren and Indira, the children of Tagore's brother Satyendranath—were sent together with their mother, Tagore's sister-in-law, to live with him. He did read law at University College London, but again left school to undertake freelance study of Shakespeare and other greats: ''Religio Medici'', ''Coriolanus'', and ''Antony and Cleopatra''. In 1880 he returned to Bengal degree-less. In life and art Tagore resolved to hence reconcile English strictures and his Hindu background; he'd take the best from each. In 1883 he married Mrinalini Devi, born Bhabatarini, 1873–1902; they had five children, two of whom died in childhood.

In 1890 Tagore began managing his family's vast estates in Shilaidaha, a region now in Bangladesh; he was joined by his wife and children in 1898. Tagore released his ''Manasi'' (1890) poems, among his best-known work. As ''Zamindar Babu'', Tagore criss-crossed the riverine holdings in command of the ''Padma'', the luxurious family barge. He was a friendly feudalist who collected mostly token rents; he would bless villagers and in turn suffered their impromptu honorary feasts. This period from 1891 to 1895, Tagore's ''Sadhana'' period, after one of Tagore's magazines, was his most fecund. In it, he wrote more than half the stories of the three-volume, 84-story ''Galpaguchchha''. Ironic and grave, they savoured the lazuline lacunae, the verdant verges of Bengali rural life.

Santiniketan (1901–1932)

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In 1901, Tagore moved to Santiniketan to found an ''ashram'' with a marble-floored prayer hall—"The ''Mandir''"—an experimental school, groves of trees, gardens, a library. There, his wife and two of his children died. His father died in 1905. He received monthly payments as part of his inheritance and income from the Maharaja of Tripura, sales of his family's jewellery, his seaside bungalow in Puri, and a derisory 2,000 in book royalties. He was gaining Bengali and foreign readers alike; he published ''Naivedya'' (1901) and ''Kheya'' (1906) and translated poems into free verse. In November 1913, Tagore learned he'd won the year's Nobel Prize in Literature: the Swedish Academy appreciated the idealistic—and for Westerners—accessible nature of a small body of his translated material focussed on the 1912 ''Gitanjali: Song Offerings''. In 1915, the British Crown granted Tagore a knighthood. He renounced it after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

In 1921, Tagore and agricultural economist Leonard Elmhirst set up the "Institute for Rural Reconstruction", later renamed Shriniketan or "Abode of Welfare", in Surul, a village near the ashram. With it, Tagore afforded short shrift to Gandhi's scroggy ''Swaraj'' protests, which he despised as wretched recompense for India's mental—and thus ultimely colonial—dénouement. He sought aid from donors, officials, and scholars worldwide to "free village[s] from the shackles of helplessness and ignorance" by "vitalis[ing] knowledge". In the early 1930s, he targeted India's "abnormal caste consciousness" and untouchability. He lectured against these, he penned Dalit heroes for his poems and his dramas, and he campaigned—successfully—to open Guruvayoor Temple to Dalits.

Twilight years (1932–1941)

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Tagore's international travels affirmed his opinion that human divisions were shallow. During a May 1932 visit to a Bedouin encampment in the Iraqi desert, the tribal chief told him that "Our prophet has said that a true Muslim is he by whose words and deeds not the least of his brother-men may ever come to any harm ..." Tagore confided in his diary: "I was startled into recognizing in his words the voice of essential humanity." To the end Tagore scrutinized orthodoxy—and in 1934, he struck. That year, an earthquake hit Bihar and killed thousands. Gandhi hailed it as seismic ''karma'', as divine retribution avenging the oppression of Dalits. Tagore immediately blasted him for his seemingly unseemly, cullionly cant and his ignominious inferences. He mourned the perennial poverty of Calcutta and the rising tide of militant mediocrity—social, cultural, architectural—in Bengal, as detailed in an unrhymed hundred-line poem whose technique of searing double-vision foreshadowed Satyajit Ray's film ''Apur Sansar''. Fifteen new volumes appeared, among them prose-poem works ''Punashcha'' (1932), ''Shes Saptak'' (1935), and ''Patraput'' (1936). Experimentation continued in his prose-songs and dance-dramas: ''Chitrangada'' (1914), ''Shyama'' (1939), and ''Chandalika'' (1938); and in his novels: ''Dui Bon'' (1933), ''Malancha'' (1934), and ''Char Adhyay'' (1934).

Tagore studied science in his last years, writing ''Visva-Parichay''—a collection of essays—in 1937. His respect for scientific laws and his exploration of biology, physics, and astronomy impacted his poetry, which exhibited extensive naturalism. He wove the ''process'' of science, the narratives of scientists, into stories in ''Se'' (1937), ''Tin Sangi'' (1940), and ''Galpasalpa'' (1941). His last five years were marked by chronic pain and two long periods of illness. These began when Tagore lost consciousness in late 1937; he remained comatose and near death for a time. This was followed in late 1940 by a similar spell. He never recovered. Poetry from these years is among his finest, a vestigial valour hieing towards death. A period of prolonged agony ended with Tagore's death on 7 August 1941, aged eighty; he was in an upstairs room of the Jorasanko mansion he was raised in. The date is still mourned. A. K. Sen, brother of the first chief election commissioner, received dictation from Tagore: his last poem. He was the last to see Tagore alive.

Travels

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Between 1878 and 1932, Tagore set foot in more than thirty countries on five continents; these trips acquainted non-Indians with his works and polemics. In 1912, he took a sheaf of his translated works to England, where they impressed missionary and Gandhi protégé Charles F. Andrews, Irish poet William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Bridges, Ernest Rhys, Thomas Sturge Moore, and others. Yeats wrote the preface to the English translation of ''Gitanjali''; Andrews joined Tagore at Santiniketan. In November 1912, Tagore began touring the United States and the United Kingdom, staying in Butterton, Staffordshire with Andrews's clergymen friends. From May 1916 until April 1917, he lectured in Japan and the United States and denounced nationalism. His essay "Nationalism in India" was scorned and praised, this latter by pacifists like Romain Rolland.

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Shortly after returning to India, the 63-year-old Tagore accepted an invitation from the Peruvian government. He travelled to Mexico. Each government pledged 100,000 to his school to commemorate the visits. A week after his 6 November 1924 arrival in Buenos Aires, an ill Tagore shifted to the Villa Miralrío at the behest of Victoria Ocampo. He left for India in January 1925. On 30 May 1926, Tagore reached Naples, Italy; the next day he met Mussolini in Rome. Their warm rapport waned when Tagore questioned ''Il Duce'''s fascist finesse. He had earlier enthused: "[w]ithout any doubt he is a great personality. There is such a massive vigour in that head that it reminds one of Michael Angelo’s chisel." A "fire-bath" of fascism was to have educed "the immortal soul of Italy ... clothed in quenchless light".

On 14 July 1927, Tagore and two companions began a four-month tour of Southeast Asia, visiting Bali, Java, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Siam, and Singapore. Tagore's travelogues from the tour were collected into the work "Jatri". In early 1930 he left Bengal for nearly a year-long tour of Europe and the United States. Upon returning to Britain—while his paintings were being exhibited in Paris and London—he stayed at a Quaker settlement in Birmingham. There he wrote his Oxford Hibbert Lectures and spoke at London's annual Quaker gathering. There (addressing relations between the British and Indians, a topic he would grapple with over the next two years), Tagore spoke of a "dark chasm of aloofness". He visited Aga Khan III, stayed at Dartington Hall, toured Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany from June to mid-September 1930, then went on into the Soviet Union. In April 1932, Tagore—who was acquainted with the legends and works of the Persian mystic Hafez—was hosted by Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran. The well-heeled Tagore chatted with certain people: Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, Thomas Mann, George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells and Romain Rolland. Tagore's final foreign sojourns were in Persia and Iraq (in 1932) and Sri Lanka (in 1933): these only sharpened his views on the fissiparous freedoms afforded by communalism and nationalism.

Works

Known mostly for his poetry, Tagore wrote novels, essays, short stories, travelogues, dramas, and thousands of songs. Of Tagore's prose, his short stories are perhaps most highly regarded; he is indeed credited with originating the Bengali-language version of the genre. His works are frequently noted for their rhythmic, optimistic, and lyrical nature. Such stories mostly borrow from deceptively simple subject matter: commoners. Tagore's non-fiction grappled Indian history, linguistics, and spirituality. He wrote autobiographies. His travelogues, essays, and lectures were compiled into several volumes, including ''Europe Jatrir Patro'' (''Letters from Europe'') and ''Manusher Dhormo'' (''The Religion of Man''). His brief chat with Einstein, "Note on the Nature of Reality", is included as an appendix to the latter. On the occasion of Tagore's 150th birthday an anthology (titled ''Kalanukromik Rabindra Rachanabali'') of the total body of his works is currently being published in Bengali in chronological order. This includes all versions of each work and fills about eighty volumes.

Novels

Tagore wrote eight novels and four novellas, among them ''Chaturanga'', ''Shesher Kobita'', ''Char Odhay'', and ''Noukadubi''. ''Ghare Baire'' (''The Home and the World'')—through the lens of the idealistic ''zamindar'' protagonist Nikhil—excoriates rising Indian nationalism, terrorism, and religious zeal in the ''Swadeshi'' movement; a frank expression of Tagore's conflicted sentiments, it emerged out of a 1914 bout of depression. The novel ends in Hindu-Muslim violence and Nikhil's—likely mortal—wounding. ''Gora'' raises controversial questions regarding the Indian identity. As with ''Ghare Baire'', matters of self-identity (''''), personal freedom, and religion are developed in the context of a family story and love triangle.

In ''Jogajog'' (''Relationships''), the heroine Kumudini—bound by the ideals of ''Śiva-Sati'', exemplified by —is torn between her pity for the sinking fortunes of her progressive and compassionate elder brother and his foil: her exploitative, rakish, and fatuously patriarchal husband. Tagore flaunts his feminist leanings; ''pathos'' depicts the plight and ultimate demise of Bengali women trapped by pregnancy, duty, and family honour; he simultaneously trucks with the fall of Bengal's landed oligarchy. The story revolves around the underlying rivalry between two families—the Chatterjees, aristocrats now on the decline (Biprodas) and the Ghosals (Madhusudan), representing new money and new arrogance. Kumudini, Biprodas' sister, is caught between the two as she is married off to Madhusudan. She was brought up in a sheltered home where she had followed the traditional way of life and observed all the religious rituals like all the other womenfolk in the family.

Others were uplifting: ''Shesher Kobita''—translated twice as ''Last Poem'' and ''Farewell Song''—is his most lyrical novel, with poems and rhythmic passages written by the main character, a poet. It contains elements of satire and postmodernism; stock characters gleefully attack the reputation of an old, outmoded, oppressively renowned poet who, incidentally, goes by the name of ''Rabindranath Tagore''. Though his novels remain among the least-appreciated of his works, they have been given renewed attention via film adaptations by Satyajit Ray and others: ''Chokher Bali'' and ''Ghare Baire'' are exemplary. In the first, Tagore elaborately inscribes coeval Bengali society via its heroine: a rebellious widow who would live for herself alone. He exposes the custom of perpetual mourning on the part of widows, who were not allowed to remarry, who were consigned to seclusion and loneliness. It is of choleric melancholy, a stirring tale of deceit and sorrow arising from dissatisfaction and sorrow. Tagore wrote of it: "I have always regretted the ending".

The latter work illustrates the battle Tagore had with himself, between the ideas ''of'' Western culture and revolution ''against'' Western culture. These moieties are portrayed in two of the main characters: Nikhil, who is rational and opposes violence; and Sandip, who in pursuit of his goals will not be stopped. These rivals are key in understanding the history of his region and its contemporary problems. There is much controversy over whether Tagore was representing Gandhi in Sandip. But many argue that Tagore would not even venture to personify Sandip as Gandhi because Tagore could—grudgingly—offer a sort of derogatory devotion to Gandhi's antiquarian ardor, and Gandhi was anti-violence while Sandip would employ violence ''in any respect'' to keep body and soul.

Music and art

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Tagore composed 2,230 songs and was a prolific painter. His songs compose ''rabindrasangit'' ("Tagore Song"), which is one with his literature, most of which—poems or parts of novels, stories, or plays alike—were lyricised. Influenced by the ''thumri'' style of Hindustani music, they ran the entire gamut of human emotion, ranging from his early dirge-like Brahmo devotional hymns to quasi-erotic compositions. They emulated the tonal color of classical ''ragas'' to varying extents. Some songs mimicked a given raga's melody and rhythm faithfully; others newly blended elements of different ragas.

Tagore influenced ''sitar'' maestro Vilayat Khan and ''sarodiyas'' Buddhadev Dasgupta and Amjad Ali Khan. His songs are immensely popular and undergird the Bengali ethos to an extent perhaps rivaling Shakespeare's impact on the English-speaking world. It is said that his songs are the outcome of five centuries of Bengali literary churning and communal yearning. Dhan Gopal Mukerji has said that these songs transcend the mundane to the aesthetic and express all ranges and categories of human emotion. The poet gave voice to all—big or small, rich or poor. The poor Ganges boatman and the rich landlord air their emotions in them. They birthed a distinctive school of music whose practitioners can be fiercely traditional: novel interpretations have drawn severe censure in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.

For Bengalis, the songs' appeal, stemming from the combination of emotive strength and beauty described as surpassing even Tagore's poetry, was such that the ''Modern Review'' observed that "[t]here is in Bengal no cultured home where Rabindranath's songs are not sung or at least attempted to be sung ... Even illiterate villagers sing his songs". Arthur Strangways of ''The Observer'' introduced non-Bengalis to ''rabindrasangit'' in ''The Music of Hindostan'', calling it a "vehicle of a personality ... [that] go behind this or that system of music to that beauty of sound which all systems put out their hands to seize."

In 1971, ''Amar Shonar Bangla'' became the national anthem of Bangladesh. It was written—ironically—to protest the 1905 Partition of Bengal along communal lines: lopping Muslim-majority East Bengal from Hindu-dominated West Bengal was to avert the region's pyrolatrous demise. Tagore saw the partition as a ploy to upend the independence movement, and he aimed to rekindle Bengali unity and tar communalism. ''Jana Gana Mana'' was written in ''shadhu-bhasha'', a Sanskritised register of Bengali, and is the first of five stanzas of a Brahmo hymn that Tagore composed. It was first sung in 1911 at a Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress and was adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the Indian national anthem in 1950.

At sixty, Tagore took up drawing and painting; successful exhibitions of his many works—which made a debut appearance in Paris upon encouragement by artists he met in the south of France—were held throughout Europe. He was likely red-green color blind. The result: his hale paintings betrayed fey colour schemes and off-beat aesthetics. Tagore limned craftwork from northern New Ireland, Haida carvings from British Columbia, and woodcuts by Max Pechstein. His artist's eye for his handwriting were revealed in the simple artistic and rhythmic leitmotifs embellishing the scribbles, cross-outs, and word layouts of his manuscripts.

Theatre

At sixteen, Tagore led his brother Jyotirindranath's adaptation of Molière's ''Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme''. At twenty, he wrote his first drama-opera ''Valmiki Pratibha'' (''The Genius of Valmiki''), which describes how the pandit Valmiki reforms his ethos, is blessed by Saraswati, and composes the ''Rāmāyana''. Through it, Tagore vigorously explores a wide range of dramatic styles and emotions, including usage of revamped ''kirtans'' and adaptation of traditional English and Irish folk melodies as drinking songs. Another play, ''Dak Ghar'' (''The Post Office''), describes how a child striving to escape his stuffy confines, ultimately "fall[s] asleep" (which suggests his physical death). A story with worldwide appeal—it received rave reviews in Europe—''Dak Ghar'' dealt with death as, in Tagore's words, "spiritual freedom" from "the world of hoarded wealth and certified creeds". In the Nazi-era Warsaw Ghetto, Polish doctor-educator Janusz Korczak had orphans in his care stage "The Post Office" in July 1942. In ''The King of Children'', biographer Betty Jean Lifton suspected that Korczak, agonising over whether one should determine when and how to die, was easing the children into accepting death. Three weeks later, the Nazis sent them to Treblinka.

His other works emphasizing fusion of lyrical flow and emotional rhythm tightly focused on a core idea, were unlike previous Bengali dramas. His works sought to articulate, in Tagore's words, "the play of feeling and not of action". In 1890 he wrote ''Visarjan'' (''Sacrifice''), regarded as his finest drama. The Bengali originals included intricate subplots and prolonged monologues. His latter dramas probed more philosophical and allegorical themes; these included ''Dak Ghar''. Another is Tagore's ''Chandalika'' (''Untouchable Girl''), which was modeled on an ancient Buddhist legend describing how Ananda—the Gautama Buddha's disciple—asks water of an ''Adivasi'' (belonging to an indigenous tribe) girl. Lastly, among his most famous dramas is ''Raktakaravi'' (''Red Oleanders''), which tells of a kleptocratic king who enriches himself by forcing his subjects to mine. The heroine, Nandini, eventually rallies her common people to destroy these symbols of subjugation. Tagore's other plays include ''Chitrangada'', ''Raja'', and ''Mayar Khela''. Dance-drama adaptations of Tagore's plays are known as ''rabindra nritya natyas''.

Stories

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The "Sadhana" period, 1891–1895, was among Tagore's most fecund, yielding more than half the stories contained in the three-volume ''Galpaguchchha'', itself a group of eighty-four stories. They reflect upon Tagore's surroundings, on modern and fashionable ideas, on mind puzzles. Tagore associated his earliest stories, such as those of the "''Sadhana''" period, with an exuberance of vitality and spontaneity; these traits were cultivated by ''zamindar'' Tagore’s life in villages such as Patisar, Shajadpur, and Shilaida. Seeing the common and the poor, he examined their lives with a depth and feeling singular in Indian literature up to that point.

In "The Fruitseller from Kabul", Tagore speaks in first person as a town dweller and novelist imputing exotic origins to an Afghan seller. He channels the lucubrative lust of those mired in the blasé, nidorous morass of Indian city life: for distant vistas. "There were autumn mornings, the time of year when kings of old went forth to conquest; and I, never stirring from my little corner in Calcutta, would let my mind wander over the whole world. At the very name of another country, my heart would go out to it ... I would fall to weaving a network of dreams: the mountains, the glens, the forest .... ". Other ''Galpaguchchha'' stories were written in Tagore’s ''Sabuj Patra'' period of 1914–1917; it too named for one of his magazines.

Tagore's ''Golpoguchchho'' (''Bunch of Stories'') ranks among the most popular pieces of Bengali fiction, and it provides much fodder for film and theatre. The Satyajit Ray film ''Charulata'' echoed Tagore's controversial novella ''Nastanirh'' (''The Broken Nest''). In ''Atithi''—again, made into a film—the young Brahmin boy Tarapada shares a boat ride with a village ''zamindar''. The boy reveals his flight from home and his subsequent wanderings. Taking pity, the elder adopts him; he fixes the boy to marry his own daughter. The night before the wedding, Tarapada runs off—again. ''Strir Patra'' (''The Letter from the Wife'') is among Bengali literature's earliest depictions of female emancipation. Mrinal is wife to a Bengali middle class man: prissy, preening, patriarchal. Travelling alone, she writes a letter, comprising the story. She details the pettiness of her life with him; she refuses to return to her husband, chanting ''Amio bachbo. Ei bachlum'': "And I shall live. Here, I live".

''Haimanti'' assails Hindu arranged marriage and the dismal domesticity of Bengali wives, hypocrisies plaguing the Indian middle classes, and how Haimanti, a young woman, due to her sensitivity and free spirit, sacrifices her life. In the last passage Tagore blasts the reification of Sita's self-immolation attempt; she had meant to appease her consort Rama's doubts of her chastity. ''Musalmani Didi'' eyes recrudescent Hindu-Muslim tensions and, in many ways, embodies the essence of Tagore's humanism. ''Darpaharan'' exhibits Tagore's self-consciousness, describing a fey young man harboring literary ambitions. Though he loves his wife, he wishes to stifle her literary career, deeming it unfeminine. In youth, Tagore likely agreed with him. ''Darpaharan'' depicts the final humbling of the man as he ultimately ''acknowledges'' his wife's talents. As do many other Tagore stories, ''Jibito o Mrito'' equips Bengalis with a ubiquitous epigram: ''Kadombini moriya proman korilo she more nai''—"Kadombini died, thereby proving that she hadn't."

Poetry

Tagore's poetic style ranges from classical formalism to the comic, visionary, and ecstatic, yet proceeds from a lineage established by 15th- and 16th-century Vaishnava poets. His ken was the ancestral mysticism of the ''rishi''-authors of the Upanishads ''à la'' Vyasa, the Bhakti-Sufi mystic Kabir, and Ramprasad Sen. Tagore's poetry became most innovative and mature after his exposure to rural Bengal's folk music, which included Baul ballads—especially those of the bard Lalon. These—rediscovered and repopularised by Tagore—resemble 19th-century hymns that emphasize inward divinity and rebellion against religious and social orthodoxy. During his Shilaidaha years, his poems took on a lyrical quality, speaking via the ''maner manus'' (the Bāuls' "man within the heart") or meditating upon the ''jivan devata'' ("living God within"). This figure thus sought connection with divinity through appeal to nature and the emotional interplay of human drama. Such tools saw use in his poems—chronicling the Radha-Krishna romance—which were repeatedly revised over seventy years.

Tagore responded to the somewhat bastardised uptake of modernist and realist techniques in Bengali literature by writing matching experimental works in the 1930s. These include ''Africa'' and ''Camalia'', among the better known of his latter poems. He occasionally wrote poems using ''Shadhu Bhasha'', a Sanskritised dialect of Bengali; he later adopted a more popular dialect known as ''Cholti Bhasha''. Other works include ''Manasi'', ''Sonar Tori'' (''Golden Boat''), ''Balaka'' (''Wild Geese''—the title being a metaphor for migrating souls), and ''Purobi''. ''Sonar Tori'''s most famous poem, dealing with the fleeting vitality of life and achievement, goes by the same name; hauntingly it ends: "শূন্য নদীর তীরে রহিনু পড়ি / যাহা ছিল লয়ে গেল সোনার তরী" ("''Shunno nodir tire rohinu poŗi / Jaha chhilo loe gêlo shonar tori''"—"all I had achieved was carried off on the golden boat—only I was left behind."). Internationally, ''Gitanjali'' () is Tagore's best-known collection, winning him his Nobel. Song VII ( 127) of ''Gitanjali'':

{| |- | :আমার এ গান ছেড়েছে তার সকল অলংকার, :তোমার কাছে রাখে নি আর সাজের অহংকার। :অলংকার যে মাঝে পড়ে মিলনেতে আড়াল করে, :তোমার কথা ঢাকে যে তার মুখর ঝংকার। :তোমার কাছে খাটে না মোর কবির গর্ব করা, :মহাকবি তোমার পায়ে দিতে যে চাই ধরা। :জীবন লয়ে যতন করি যদি সরল বাঁশি গড়ি, :আপন সুরে দিবে ভরি সকল ছিদ্র তার। || :''Amar e gan chheŗechhe tar shôkol ôlongkar'' :''Tomar kachhe rakhe ni ar shajer ôhongkar'' :''Ôlongkar je majhe pôŗe milônete aŗal kôre,'' :''Tomar kôtha đhake je tar mukhôro jhôngkar.'' :''Tomar kachhe khaţe na mor kobir gôrbo kôra,'' :''Môhakobi, tomar paee dite chai je dhôra.'' :''Jibon loe jôton kori jodi shôrol bãshi goŗi,'' :''Apon shure dibe bhori sôkol chhidro tar.'' |}

Free-verse translation by Tagore (''Gitanjali'', verse VII): {| |- | :"My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration. Ornaments would mar our union; they would come between thee and me; their jingling would drown thy whispers." || :"My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight. O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music." |}

"Klanti" (; "Fatigue"), the sixth poem in ''Gitanjali'':

{| |- | :ক্লান্তি আমার ক্ষমা করো,প্রভু, :পথে যদি পিছিয়ে পড়ি কভু। :এই যে হিয়া থর থর কাঁপে আজি এমনতরো, :এই বেদনা ক্ষমা করো,ক্ষমা করো প্রভু।। :এই দীনতা ক্ষমা করো,প্রভু, :পিছন-পানে তাকাই যদি কভু। :দিনের তাপে রৌদ্রজ্বালায় শুকায় মালা পূজার থালায়, :সেই ম্লানতা ক্ষমা করো, ক্ষমা করো প্রভু।। || :''Klanti amar khôma kôro, probhu'' :''Pôthe jodi pichhie poŗi kobhu'' :''Ei je hia thôro thôro kãpe aji êmontôro,'' :''Ei bedona khôma kôro, khôma kôro probhu.'' :''Ei dinota khôma kôro, probhu,'' :''Pichhon-pane takai jodi kobhu.'' :''Diner tape roudrojalae shukae mala pujar thalae,'' :''Shei mlanota khôma kôro, khôma kôro, probhu.'' |}

Tagore's poetry has been set to music by composers: Arthur Shepherd's triptych for soprano and string quartet, Alexander Zemlinsky's famous Lyric Symphony, Josef Bohuslav Foerster's cycle of love songs, Leoš Janáček's famous chorus "Potulný šílenec" ("The Wandering Madman") for soprano, tenor, baritone, and male chorus—JW 4/43—inspired by Tagore's 1922 lecture in Czechoslovakia which Janáček attended, and Garry Schyman's "Praan", an adaptation of Tagore's poem "Stream of Life" from ''Gitanjali''. The latter was composed and recorded with vocals by Palbasha Siddique to accompany Internet celebrity Matt Harding's 2008 viral video. In 1917 his words were translated adeptly and set to music by Anglo-Dutch composer Richard Hageman to produce what is regarded as one of the finest art songs in the English language: "Do Not Go, My Love". The second movement of Jonathan Harvey's "One Evening" (1994) sets an excerpt beginning "As I was watching the sunrise..." from a letter of Tagore's, this composer having previously chosen a text by the poet for his piece "Song Offerings" (1985).

Politics

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Tagore's political thought was tortured. Foremost, he opposed imperialism and supported Indian nationalists. His views have their first poetic release in ''Manast'', mostly composed in his twenties. Evidence produced during the Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial and latter accounts affirm his awareness of the Ghadarites, and stated that he sought the support of Japanese Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake and former Premier Ōkuma Shigenobu. Yet he lampooned the Swadeshi movement as brahminising barbermongering; he denounced it in "The Cult of the Charka", an acrid 1925 essay. He exhorted the masses to eschew victimological foppery and hew instead to self-help and mental uplift; he attributed the congenital presence of British grifters to a condign "political symptom of our social disease". He held that even for Indians at a loose end "there can be no question of blind revolution"; he would that they took to a "steady and purposeful education".

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Such views enraged many. He escaped a ghastly assassination—and only narrowly—by Indian expatriates during his stay in a San Francisco hotel in late 1916; the plot failed only because the would-be assassins fell into argument. Yet Tagore wrote songs lionizing the Indian independence movement and renounced his knighthood. Two of Tagore's more politically charged compositions, "Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo" ("Where the Mind is Without Fear") and "Ekla Chalo Re" ("If They Answer Not to Thy Call, Walk Alone"), gained mass appeal, with the latter favoured by Gandhi. Given to sedulously reviling Gandhi's senescent brand of abstemious militancy, Tagore was yet key in resolving a Gandhi-Ambedkar dispute involving separate electorates for untouchables and thereby mooting at least one of Gandhi's fasts "unto death".

Tagore lauded rote classroom schooling as puerile pedagogy imparting a simian sagacity: in "The Parrot's Training", a bird is caged and force-fed—to death—textbook pages. Tagore, visiting Santa Barbara in 1917, conceived a new type of university: he sought to "make Santiniketan the connecting thread between India and the world [and] a world center for the study of humanity somewhere beyond the limits of nation and geography." The school, which he named Visva-Bharati had its foundation stone laid on 24 December 1918 and was inaugurated precisely three years later. Tagore used a ''brahmacharya'' system: ''gurus'' gave pupils ''personal'' guidance—emotional, intellectual, spiritual. Teaching was often done under trees. He staffed the school, he contributed his Nobel Prize moneys, and his duties as steward-mentor at Santiniketan kept him busy: mornings he taught classes; afternoons and evenings he wrote the students' textbooks. He fundraised widely for the school in Europe and the United States between 1919 and 1921.

Impact

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Tagore's relevance can be gauged by the honours paid him: ''Kabipranam'', Tagore's birth anniversary; the annual Tagore Festival held in Urbana, Illinois; grueling ''Rabindra Path Parikrama'' walking pilgrimages from Calcutta to Shantiniketan; austere recitals of Tagore's poetry held on important anniversaries. Bengali culture is fraught with this legacy: from language and arts to history and politics. Amartya Sen scantly deemed Tagore a "towering figure", a "deeply relevant and many-sided contemporary thinker". Tagore's Bengali source—the 1939 ''''—is canonised as one of his nation's greatest cultural treasures, and he was roped into a reasonably humble role: "the greatest poet India has produced".

Tagore ''was'' famed throughout much of Europe, North America, and East Asia. He co-founded Dartington Hall School, a progressive coeducational institution; in Japan, he influenced such figures as Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata. Tagore's works were widely translated into English, Dutch, German, Spanish, and other European languages by Czech indologist Vincenc Lesný, French Nobel laureate André Gide, Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, former Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, and others. In the United States, Tagore's lecturing circuits, particularly those of 1916–1917, were widely attended and wildly acclaimed. Some controversies involving Tagore, possibly fictive, trashed his popularity and sales in Japan and North America after the late 1920s, concluding with his "near total eclipse" outside Bengal.

Via translations Tagore influenced Chileans Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, Mexican writer Octavio Paz, and Spaniards José Ortega y Gasset, Zenobia Camprubí, and Juan Ramón Jiménez. Between 1914 and 1922, the Jiménez-Camprubí spouses translated twenty-two of Tagore's books from English into Spanish and extensively revised and adapted such works as Tagore's ''The Crescent Moon''. In this time, Jiménez developed "naked poetry". Ortega y Gasset wrote that "Tagore's wide appeal [may stem from the fact that] he speaks of longings for perfection that we all have ... Tagore awakens a dormant sense of childish wonder, and he saturates the air with all kinds of enchanting promises for the reader, who ... pays little attention to the deeper import of Oriental mysticism". Tagore's works circulated in free editions around 1920—alongside those of Plato, Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, and Tolstoy.

Tagore was deemed overrated by some. Graham Greene doubted that "anyone but Mr. Yeats can still take his poems very seriously." Yet vestigial Latin reverence of Tagore was discovered by an astonished Salman Rushdie during a trip to Nicaragua.

Corpus

The SNLTR hosts Tagore's complete Bengali works, as does Tagore Web, including annotated songs. English translations are found at Project Gutenberg and Wikisource. More sources are below.

;— Bengali — {| |- ! Poetry |- | * ভানুসিংহ ঠাকুরের পদাবলী || ''Bhānusiṃha Ṭhākurer Paḍāvalī'' || (''Songs of Bhānusiṃha Ṭhākur'') || 1884 |- | * মানসী || ''Manasi'' || (''The Ideal One'') || 1890 |- | * সোনার তরী || ''Sonar Tari'' || (''The Golden Boat'') || 1894 |- | * গীতাঞ্জলি || ''Gitanjali'' || (''Song Offerings'') || 1910 |- | * গীতিমাল্য || ''Gitimalya'' || (''Wreath of Songs'') || 1914 |- | * বলাকা || ''Balaka'' || (''The Flight of Cranes'') || 1916 |- ! Dramas |- | * বাল্মিকী প্রতিভা || ''Valmiki-Pratibha'' || (''The Genius of Valmiki'') || 1881 |- | * বিসর্জন || ''Visarjan'' || (''The Sacrifice'') || 1890 |- | * রাজা || ''Raja'' || (''The King of the Dark Chamber'') || 1910 |- | * ডাকঘর || ''Dak Ghar'' || (''The Post Office'') || 1912 |- | * অচলায়তন || ''Achalayatan'' || (''The Immovable'') || 1912 |- | * মুক্তধারা || ''Muktadhara'' || (''The Waterfall'') || 1922 |- | * রক্তকরবী || ''Raktakaravi'' || (''Red Oleanders'') || 1926 |- ! Fiction |- | * নষ্টনীড় || ''Nastanirh'' || (''The Broken Nest'') || 1901 |- | * গোরা || ''Gora'' || (''Fair-Faced'') || 1910 |- | * ঘরে বাইরে || ''Ghare Baire'' || (''The Home and the World'') || 1916 |- | * যোগাযোগ || ''Yogayog'' || (''Crosscurrents'') || 1929 |- ! Memoirs |- | * জীবনস্মৃতি || ''Jivansmriti'' || (''My Reminiscences'') || 1912 |- | * ছেলেবেলা || ''Chhelebela'' || (''My Boyhood Days'') || 1940 |}

;— English — {| | * ''Thought Relics'' || 1921 |}

;— Translations — {| |- | * ''Chitra'' || 1914 |- | * ''Creative Unity'' || 1922 |- | * ''The Crescent Moon'' || 1913 |- | * ''Fireflies'' || 1928 |- | * ''Fruit-Gathering'' || 1916 |- | * ''The Fugitive'' || 1921 |- | * ''The Gardener'' || 1913 |- | * ''Gitanjali: Song Offerings'' || 1912 |- | * ''Glimpses of Bengal'' || 1991 |- | * ''The Home and the World'' || 1985 |- | * ''The Hungry Stones and other stories'' || 1916 |- | * ''I Won't Let you Go: Selected Poems'' || 1991 |- | * ''The Lover of God'' || 2003 |- | * ''My Boyhood Days'' || 1943 |- | * ''My Reminiscences'' || 1991 |- | * ''Nationalism'' || 1991 |- | * ''The Post Office'' || 1914 |- | * ''Sadhana: The Realisation of Life'' || 1913 |- | * ''Selected Letters'' || 1997 |- | * ''Selected Poems'' || 1994 |- | * ''Selected Short Stories'' || 1991 |- | * ''Songs of Kabir'' || 1915 |- | * ''Stray Birds'' || 1916 |}

Notes

; Hindi: . ''''. }} }} "Visva-Bharati" also translates as "India in the World".}} and Rash Behari Bose, his yen for Soviet Communism, and papers confiscated from Indian nationalists in New York allegedly implicating Tagore in a plot to overthrow the Raj via German funds. These ''destroyed'' Tagore's image—and book sales—in the United States. His relations with and ambivalent opinion of Mussolini revolted many; close friend Romain Rolland despaired that "[h]e is abdicating his role as moral guide of the independent spirits of Europe and India".}}

Citations

References

;Articles

;Books |0 = [[File:Chandalika Barisha Udayan Palli 2010 Arnab Dutta.JPG|thumb|upright| A scene from ''Chandalika'' carved for Tagore’s sesquicentennial birth anniversary, Barisha Udayan Palli, Kolkata.]] |1 = }}

(editor) (2011), ''Rabindranath Tagore—Wanderer zwischen Welten'', Klemm & Oelschläger, ISBN 978-3-86281-018-5 (2004), ''The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature'', Vintage, ISBN 0-375-71300-X ; (1989), ''The Art of Rabindranath Tagore'', Monthly Review Press, ISBN 0-233-98359-7 (editor); Robinson, A. (editor) (1997), ''Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore'', Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-59018-3 (1961), Tagore—A Life, National Book Trust of India, ISBN 81-237-1959-0 (1977), ''Rabindranath Tagore'', Twayne Publishers, Boston, ISBN 978-0805762426 (1985), Selected Poems (English translation of Bengali poems), Penguin, London, ISBN 0-14-018366-3 (2009), ''Rabindranath Tagore: The Singer and His Song'', Viking, ISBN 978-0-670-08248-3

External links

; Analyses

"Tagore, ...", Banglapædia

" ... and his India", The New York Review of Books

"... Current Articles", Parabaas

"... The Founder", Visva-Bharati University

; Audiobooks

"Sadhana: ...", LibriVox

; Complete Works

... A new site dedicated to his works

... The complete collection of his works

; Talks

... with Albert Einstein and H. G. Wells, School of Wisdom

; Texts

... at Project Gutenberg

... at Tagore Web

... at Wikilivres

; Sources

Mary Lago Collection, University of Missouri

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Kobe Bryant
width	233px
position	Shooting guard
height ft	6
height in	6
weight lb	205
team	Los Angeles Lakers
number	24
birth date	August 23, 1978
birth place	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
nationality	American
high school	Lower Merion HS, Ardmore, Pennsylvania
draft year	1996
draft round	1
draft pick	13
draft team	Charlotte Hornets
career start	1996
years1	–present
team1	Los Angeles Lakers
highlights	5× NBA Champion (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010) 2× NBA Finals MVP (2009–2010) NBA Most Valuable Player () 13× NBA All-Star (1998, 2000–2011) 2× NBA scoring champion (–) 9× All-NBA First Team (–, –) 2× All-NBA Second Team (–) 2× All-NBA Third Team (, ) 9× All-Defensive First Team (, –, –) 2× All-Defensive Second Team (–) NBA All-Rookie Second Team () 4× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011) NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion (1997) Naismith Prep Player of the Year (1996)
medaltemplates	}}

Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978) is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country. He decided to declare his eligibility for the NBA Draft upon graduation, and was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. As a rookie, Bryant earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest.

Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. A heated feud between the duo and a loss in the 2004 NBA Finals was followed by O'Neal's trade from the Lakers after the 2003–04 season. In 2003, Bryant was accused of sexual assault after having sex with a hotel employee in Colorado. In September 2004, prosecutors dropped the case after his accuser refused to testify, and Bryant had to rebuild his image while becoming the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, setting numerous scoring records in the process. In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second most points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point performance in 1962. In the 2007–08 season, he was awarded the regular season's Most Valuable Player Award (MVP). After losing in the 2008 NBA Finals, Bryant led the Lakers to two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010 and was named NBA Finals MVP on both occasions.

, Bryant ranks third and sixth on the league's all-time post-season scoring and all-time regular season scoring lists, respectively. He is also the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history. Since his second year in the league, Bryant has started in every NBA All-Star Game that has been held with thirteen All-Star appearances, winning the All-Star MVP Award four times (2002, 2007, 2009, and 2011). Bryant is tied for the most All Star MVP Awards in NBA History. He is a thirteen-time member of the All-NBA team and eleven-time All-Defensive team, and is the youngest player ever to receive defensive honors. At the 2008 Olympics, he won a gold medal as a member of the USA national team. In 2009, Sporting News and TNT named Bryant the NBA player of the 2000s decade.

Early years

Childhood and youth

Kobe Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the youngest of three children and the only son of former Philadelphia 76ers player and former Los Angeles Sparks head coach Joe "Jellybean" Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant. He is also the maternal nephew of John "Chubby" Cox. His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu. Bryant was raised Roman Catholic. When Bryant was six, his father left the NBA and moved his family to Italy to continue playing professional basketball. Bryant became accustomed to his new lifestyle and learned to speak Italian and Spanish fluently. During summers, Bryant would come back to the United States to play in a basketball summer league. He started playing basketball when he was 3 years old, and his favorite team growing up was the Lakers. Bryant's grandfather would mail him videos of NBA games, which Bryant would study. At an early age he also learned to play soccer; his favorite team is AC Milan. He has said that if he had stayed in Italy, he would have tried to become a professional soccer player; Bryant is a big fan of former FC Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard and their former player Ronaldinho. Upon Joe Bryant's retirement from playing basketball in 1991, the Bryant family moved back to the United States.

High school

Bryant earned national recognition during a spectacular high school career at Lower Merion High School located in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion. As a freshman, he played for the varsity basketball team. His father coached him his second year of high school. Although during his first year the team was mediocre, the following three years the Aces compiled a 77–13 record, with Bryant playing all five positions. At Adidas ABCD camp, Bryant earned the 1995 senior MVP award, while playing alongside future NBA teammate Lamar Odom. While in high school, then 76ers coach John Lucas invited Bryant to work out and scrimmage with the team, where he played one-on-one with Jerry Stackhouse. In his senior year of high school, Bryant led the Aces to their first state championship in 53 years. During the run, he averaged 30.8 points, 12 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4.0 steals, and 3.8 blocked shots in leading the Aces to a 31–3 record. He ended his career as Southeastern Pennsylvania's all-time leading scorer at 2,883 points, surpassing both Wilt Chamberlain and Lionel Simmons. Bryant received several awards for his performance his senior year including being named Naismith High School Player of the Year, Gatorade Men's National Basketball Player of the Year, a McDonald's All-American, and a ''USA Today'' All-USA First Team player. Bryant's varsity coach, Greg Downer, commented that Bryant was "a complete player who dominates". In 1996, Bryant took R&B; singer Brandy Norwood to her senior prom, though the two were, and remain, just friends. His SAT score of 1080 would have ensured his basketball scholarship to various top-tier colleges. Ultimately, however, the 17-year-old Bryant made the decision to go directly into the NBA, only the sixth player in NBA history to do so. Bryant's news was met with a lot of publicity at a time when prep-to-pro NBA players were not very common (Kevin Garnett being the only exception in 20 years). Bryant has stated that had he decided to go to college after high school, he would have attended Duke University.

NBA career

1996 NBA Draft

The first guard to ever be taken out of high school, Bryant was chosen as the 13th overall draft pick by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996. According to Arn Tellem, Bryant's agent at the time, Bryant playing for the Charlotte Hornets was "an impossibility". However, Bill Branch, the Hornets' head scout at the time, said that the Hornets agreed to trade their draft selection to the Lakers before picking Bryant. The teams agreed to the trade the day before the draft and the Lakers did not tell the Hornets who to select until five minutes before the pick was made. Branch said that prior to the trade agreement, the Hornets never even considered drafting Bryant. Prior to the draft, Bryant had worked out in Los Angeles, in which he scrimmaged against former Lakers players Larry Drew and Michael Cooper, and according to then-Laker manager Jerry West "marched over these people". On July 1, 1996, West traded his starting center, Vlade Divac, to the Hornets in exchange for Bryant's draft rights. Since he was still 17 at the time of the draft, his parents had to cosign his contract with the Lakers until he was able to sign his own when he turned 18 before the season began.

First three seasons (1996–99)

During his rookie season, Bryant mostly came off the bench behind guards Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel. At the time he became the youngest player ever to play in an NBA game (a record since broken by Jermaine O'Neal and Andrew Bynum), and also became the youngest NBA starter ever. Initially, Bryant played limited minutes, but as the season continued, he began to see some more playing time. By the end of the season, he averaged 15.5 minutes a game. During the All-Star weekend, Bryant was the winner of the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, becoming the youngest player to be named the slam dunk champion at the age of 18. Bryant's performance throughout the year earned him a spot on the NBA All Rookie second team with fellow bench teammate Travis Knight. His final minutes of the season ended in disaster when he shot 4 air balls at crucial times in the game. He first missed a jumper to win the game in the 4th quarter and 3 three-pointers in overtime (2 of which would have tied the game in the final minute). With that the Utah Jazz ended the playoffs for the Lakers in the second round. Shaquille O'Neal commented years later that "[Bryant] was the only guy who had the guts at the time to take shots like that."

In Bryant's second season, he received more playing time and began to show more of his abilities as a talented young guard. As a result Bryant's point averages more than doubled from 7.6 to 15.4 points per game. Bryant would see an increase in minutes when the Lakers "played small", which would feature Bryant playing small forward along side the guards he'd usually back up. Bryant was the runner-up for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award, and through fan voting, he also became the youngest NBA All-Star starter in NBA history. He was joined by fellow teammates Shaquille O'Neal, Nick Van Exel, and Eddie Jones, making it the first time since 1983 that four players on the same team were selected to play in the same All-Star Game. Bryant's 15.4 points per game was the highest of any non-starter in the season.

The 1998–99 season marked Bryant's emergence as a premiere guard in the league. With starting guards Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones traded, Bryant started every game for the lockout-shortened 50 game season. During the season, Bryant signed a 6-year contract extension worth $70 million. This kept him with the Lakers until the end of the 2003–04 season. Even at an early stage of his career sportswriters were comparing his skills to that of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. The playoff results, however, were no better, as the Lakers were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference semi-finals.

Three-peat (1999–2002)

Bryant's fortunes would soon change when Phil Jackson became coach for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1999. After years of steady improvement, Bryant became one of the premier shooting guards in the league, earning appearances in the league's All-NBA, All-Star, and All-Defensive teams. The Los Angeles Lakers became true championship contenders under Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, who formed a legendary center-guard combination. Jackson utilized the triangle offense he used to win six championships with the Chicago Bulls, which would help both Bryant and O'Neal rise to the elite class of the NBA. The three resulting championships won consecutively in 2000, 2001, and 2002 further proved such a fact.

Bryant started the 1999–2000 season sidelined for six weeks due to an injury to his hand in a preseason game against the Washington Wizards. With Bryant back and playing over 38 minutes a game, he saw an increase in all statistical categories in the 1999–2000 season. This included leading the team in assists per game and steals per game. The duo of O'Neal and Bryant backed with a strong bench led to the Lakers winning 67 games, tied for fifth-most in NBA history. This followed with O'Neal winning the MVP and Bryant being named to the All-NBA Team Second Team and All-NBA Defensive Team for the first time in his career (the youngest player ever to receive defensive honors). While playing second fiddle to O'Neal in the playoffs, Bryant had some clutch performances including a 25 point, 11 rebound, 7 assist, 4 block game in game 7 of the Western Conference finals against the Portland Trail Blazers. He also threw an alley-oop pass to O'Neal to clinch the game and the series. In the 2000 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers, Bryant injured his ankle in the second quarter of game 2 and missed the rest of the game and game 3. In game 4, Bryant scored 22 points in the second half, and led the team to an overtime victory as O'Neal fouled out of the game. Bryant scored the winning shot to put the Lakers ahead 120–118. With a game 6 victory, the Lakers won their first championship since 1988.

Statistically, the 2000–01 season saw Bryant perform similarly to the previous year except Bryant was averaging 6 more points a game (28.5). It was also the year when disagreements between Bryant and O'Neal began to surface. Once again he led the team in assists with 5 per game. The Lakers however, only won 56 games, an 11 game drop off from last year. The Lakers would respond by going 15–1 in the playoffs. They easily swept the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, and San Antonio Spurs, before losing their first game against the Philadelphia 76ers in overtime. They would go on to win the next 4 games and bring their second championship to Los Angeles in as many seasons. During the playoffs Bryant played heavy minutes which brought his stats up to 29.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game. In the playoffs teammate O'Neal declared Bryant the best player in the league. Bryant ended up making the All NBA Second team and All NBA Defensive Team for the second year in a row. In addition, he was also voted to start in the NBA All-Star Game for the 3rd year in a row (no game in 1999).

In the 2001–02 season, Bryant played 80 games for the first time in his career. He continued his all-round play by averaging 25.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game. He also had a career high 46.9% shooting and once again led his team in assists. While making the All-Star team and All-NBA Defensive team again, he was also promoted to the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career. The Lakers won 58 games that year and finished second place in the Pacific Division behind in-state rival Sacramento Kings. Bryant was suspended one game after he punched Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers after the Lakers' March 1, 2002 victory over the Pacers.

The road to the Finals would prove a lot tougher than the record run the Lakers had the previous year. While the Lakers swept the Trail Blazers and defeated the Spurs 4–1, the Lakers did not have home court advantage against the Sacramento Kings. The series would stretch to 7 games, the first time this happened to the Lakers since the Western Conference Finals in the 2000 NBA Playoffs. However, the Lakers were able to beat their division rivals and make their third consecutive NBA Finals appearance. In the 2002 Finals, Bryant averaged 26.8 points, 51.4% shooting, 5.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists per game, which included scoring a quarter of the teams points. At age 23, Bryant became the youngest player to win three championships. Bryant's play was notable and praised for his performance in the 4th quarter of games, specifically the last 2 rounds of the playoffs. This cemented Bryant's reputation as a clutch player.

Coming up short (2002–04)

In the 2002–03 season, Bryant averaged 30 points per game and embarked on a historic run, posting 40 or more points in nine consecutive games while averaging 40.6 in the entire month of February. In addition, he averaged 6.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 2.2 steals per game, all career highs up to that point. Bryant was once again voted on to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive 1st teams, and came in third place in voting for the MVP award. After finishing 50–32 in the regular season, the Lakers foundered in the playoffs and lost in the Western Conference semi-finals to the eventual NBA champions San Antonio Spurs in six games.

In the following 2003–04 season, the Lakers were able to acquire NBA All-Stars Karl Malone, and Gary Payton to make another push at the NBA Championship. Before the season began, Bryant was arrested for sexual assault. This caused Bryant to miss some games due to court appearances or attend court earlier in the day and travel to play games later in same day. In the final game of the regular season the Lakers played the Portland Trail Blazers. Bryant made two buzzer beaters to win the game and the Pacific Division title. At the end of the fourth quarter, Bryant made a three-pointer as time ran out to tie the game and send it into over time. The game eventually went to a second over time and Bryant made another three pointer as time expired to lift the Lakers past the Trail Blazers 105–104.

With a starting lineup of four future Hall of Famers, O'Neal, Malone, Payton, and Bryant, the Lakers were able to reach the NBA Finals. In the Finals, they were defeated in five games by the Detroit Pistons, who won their first championship since 1990. In that series, Bryant averaged 22.6 points per game and 4.4 assists. He shot a mere 35.1% from the field. Phil Jackson's contract as coach was not renewed, and Rudy Tomjanovich took over. Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant. The following day, Bryant declined an offer to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers and re-signed with the Lakers on a seven-year contract.

Playoffs disappointments (2004–07)

Bryant was closely scrutinized and criticized during the 2004–05 season with his reputation badly damaged from all that had happened over the previous year. A particularly damaging salvo came when Phil Jackson wrote ''The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul''. The book detailed the events of the Lakers' tumultuous 2003–04 season and has a number of criticisms of Bryant. In the book Jackson called Bryant "uncoachable". Midway through the season, Rudy Tomjanovich suddenly resigned as Lakers coach, citing the recurrence of health problems and exhaustion. Without Tomjanovich, stewardship of the remainder of the Lakers' season fell to career assistant coach Frank Hamblen. Despite the fact that Bryant was the league's second leading scorer at 27.6 points per game, the Lakers floundered and missed the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. The year signified a drop in Bryant's overall status in the NBA, as he did not make the NBA All-Defensive Team and was also demoted to the All-NBA Third Team. During the season, Bryant also engaged in public feuds with Ray Allen and Karl Malone.

The 2005–06 NBA season would mark a crossroads in Bryant's basketball career. Despite past differences with Bryant, Phil Jackson returned to coach the Lakers. Bryant endorsed the move, and by all appearances, the two men worked together well the second time around, leading the Lakers back into the playoffs. Bryant's individual scoring accomplishments posted resulted in the finest statistical season of his career. On December 20, 2005, Bryant scored 62 points in three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks. Entering the fourth quarter, Bryant had outscored the entire Mavericks team 62–61, the only time a player has done this through three quarters since the advent of the 24-second shot clock. When the Lakers faced the Miami Heat on January 16, 2006, Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal made headlines by engaging in handshakes and hugs before the game, signifying a change in the feud that had festered between the two players. A month later, at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game, the two were seen laughing together.

On January 22, 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points in a victory against the Toronto Raptors. In addition to breaking the previous franchise record of 71 set by Elgin Baylor, Bryant's 81-point game was the second highest point total in NBA history, surpassed only by Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. In that same month, Bryant also became the first player since 1964 to score 45 points or more in four consecutive games, joining Chamberlain and Baylor as the only players ever to do so. For the month of January, Bryant averaged 43.4 points per game, the eighth highest single month scoring average in NBA history and highest for any player other than Chamberlain. By the end of the 2005–06 season, Bryant set Lakers single-season franchise records for most 40-point games (27) and most points scored (2,832). He won the league's scoring title for the first time, posting a scoring average of (35.4). Bryant finished in fourth place in the voting for the 2006 NBA Most Valuable Player Award, but received 22 first place votes—second only to winner Steve Nash. The Los Angeles Lakers posted a 45–37 record, an eleven-game improvement over the previous season, and the entire squad seemed to be clicking.

Later in the season, it was reported that Bryant would change his jersey number from 8 to 24 at the start of the 2006–07 NBA season. Bryant's first high school number was 24 before he switched to 33. After the Lakers' season ended, Bryant said on TNT that he wanted 24 as a rookie, but it was unavailable, as was 33, retired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bryant wore 143 at the Adidas ABCD camp, and chose 8 by adding those numbers. In the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers played well enough to reach a 3–1 series lead over the Phoenix Suns, culminating with Bryant's OT-forcing and game-winning shots in Game 4. They came within six seconds of eliminating the second-seeded Suns in Game 6, however, they lost that game 126 to 118 in overtime. Despite Bryant's 27.9 points per game in the series, the Lakers broke down, and ultimately fell to the Suns in seven games. Bryant received criticism for only taking three shots in the second half of the 90–121 loss to Phoenix in Game 7. In the 2006 off-season, Bryant had knee surgery, preventing him from participating in the 2006 FIBA World Championship tournament.

During the 2006–07 season, Bryant was selected to his 9th All-Star Game appearance, and on February 18, he logged 31 points, 6 assists, and 6 steals, earning his second career All-Star Game MVP trophy. Over the course of the season, Bryant became involved in a number of on court incidents. On January 28 while attempting to draw contact on a potential game winning jumpshot, he flailed his arm striking San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginóbili in the face with his elbow. Following a league review, Bryant was suspended for the subsequent game at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks. The basis given for the suspension was that Bryant had performed an "unnatural motion" in swinging his arm backwards. Later, on March 6, he seemed to repeat the motion, this time striking Minnesota Timberwolves guard Marko Jarić. On March 7, the NBA handed Bryant his second one-game suspension. In his first game back on March 9, he elbowed Kyle Korver in the face which was retroactively re-classified as a Type 1 flagrant foul.

On March 16, Bryant scored a season-high 65 points in a home game against the Portland Trail Blazers, which helped end the Lakers 7-game losing streak. This was the second best scoring performance of his 11-year career. The following game, Bryant recorded 50 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves, after which he scored 60 points in a road win against the Memphis Grizzlies—becoming the second Laker to score three straight 50-plus point games, a feat not seen since Michael Jordan last did it in 1987. The only other Laker to do so was Elgin Baylor, who also scored 50+ in three consecutive contests in December 1962. In the following day, in a game against the New Orleans Hornets, Bryant scored 50 points, making him the second player in NBA history to have 4 straight 50 point games behind Wilt Chamberlain, who is the all-time leader with seven consecutive 50 point games twice. Bryant finished the year with a total of ten 50-plus point games, becoming the only player beside Wilt Chamberlain in 1961–62 and 1962–63 to do so in one season. He also won his second straight scoring title that season. Throughout the 2006–07 season, Bryant's jersey became the top selling NBA jersey in the United States and China. A number of journalists have attributed the improved sales to Bryant's new number, as well as his continuing All-Star performance on the court. In the 2007 NBA Playoffs, the Lakers were once again eliminated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns, 4–1.

MVP year (2007–08)

On May 27, 2007, ESPN reported that Bryant stated that he wanted to be traded if Jerry West did not return to the team with full authority. Bryant later confirmed his desire for West's return to the franchise, but denied stating that he would want to be traded if that does not occur. However, three days later, on Stephen A. Smith's radio program, Bryant expressed anger over a Lakers "insider" who claimed that Bryant was responsible for Shaquille O'Neal's departure from the team, and publicly stated, "I want to be traded." Three hours after making that statement, Bryant stated in another interview that after having a conversation with head coach Phil Jackson, he has reconsidered his decision and backed off his trade request. Bryant would later be shown on an infamous amateur video saying that center Andrew Bynum should have been traded for All-Star Jason Kidd.

On December 23, 2007, Bryant became the youngest player (29 years, 122 days) to reach 20,000 points, in a game against the New York Knicks, in Madison Square Garden. Despite an injury to his shooting hand's small finger, described as "a complete tear of the radial collateral ligament, an avulsion fracture, and a volar plate injury at the MCP joint" that occurred in a game on February 5, 2008, Bryant played all 82 games of the regular season instead of opting for surgery. Regarding his injury, he stated, "I would prefer to delay any surgical procedure until after our Lakers season, and this summer's Olympic Games. But, this is an injury that and the Lakers' medical staff will just have to continue to monitor on a day-to-day basis." In early September 2008, Bryant decided not to have surgery to repair the injury.

Leading his team to a West best 57–25 record, they swept the Nuggets in the first round and on May 6, 2008, Bryant was officially announced as the NBA Most Valuable Player award, his first for his career. He said, "It's been a long ride. I'm very proud to represent this organization, to represent this city." Jerry West, who was responsible for bringing Bryant to the Lakers, was on hand at the press conference to observe Bryant receive his MVP trophy from NBA commissioner David Stern. He stated, "Kobe deserved it. He's had just another great season. Doesn't surprise me one bit." In addition to winning his MVP award, Bryant was the only unanimous selection to the All-NBA team on May 8, 2008 for the third straight season and sixth time in his career. He would then headline the NBA All-Defensive First Team with Kevin Garnett, receiving 52 points overall including 24 first-place nods, earning his eighth selection.

The Lakers concluded the 2007–08 regular season with a 57–25 record, finishing first in the Western Conference and setting up themselves for a first-round contest against the Nuggets. In Game 1, Bryant, who said he made himself a decoy through most of the game, scored 18 of his 32 points in the final 8 minutes to keep Los Angeles safely ahead. That made Denver the first 50-win team to be swept out of the first round of the playoffs since the Memphis Grizzlies fell in four to the San Antonio Spurs in 2004. In the first game of the next round against the Jazz, Bryant scored 38 points as the Lakers beat the Jazz in Game 1. The Lakers won the next game as well, but dropped Games 3 and 4, even with Bryant putting up 33.5 points per game. The Lakers then won the next two games to win the semifinals in 6. This set up a Western Conference Finals berth against the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers defeated the Spurs in 5 games, sending themselves to the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. This marked the fifth time in Bryant's career and the first time without Shaquille O'Neal to go to the NBA Finals. The Lakers then lost to the Boston Celtics in 6 games.

Repeat (2008–10)

In the 2008–09 season, the Lakers opened the campaign by winning their first seven games. Bryant led the team to tie the franchise record for most wins to start the season going 17–2, and by the middle of December they compiled a 21–3 record. He was selected to his eleventh consecutive All-Star Game as a starter, and was named the Western Conference Player of the Month for December and January in addition to being named Western Conference Player of the week three times. In a game against the Knicks on February 2, 2009, Bryant scored 61 points, setting a record for the most points scored at Madison Square Garden. During the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, Bryant who tallied 27 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals was awarded All-Star Game co-MVP with former teammate Shaquille O'Neal. The Lakers finished the regular season with the best record in the west with a 65–17 record. Bryant was runner-up in the MVP voting behind LeBron James, and was selected to the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team for the seventh time in his career.

In the playoffs, the Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz in five games and the Houston Rockets in seven games in the opening two rounds. After finishing off the Denver Nuggets in the Conference Finals in six games, the Lakers earned their second straight trip to the NBA Finals where they defeated the Orlando Magic in five games. Bryant was awarded his first NBA Finals MVP trophy upon winning his fourth championship, achieving series averages: 32.4 points, 7.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks. He became the first player since Jerry West in the 1969 NBA Finals to average at least 32.4 points and 7.4 assists for a finals series and the first since Michael Jordan to average 30 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists for a title-winning team in the finals.

During the 2009–10 season, Bryant made six game-winning shots including a buzzer-beating, one-legged three point shot against the Miami Heat on December 4, 2009. Bryant considered the shot one of the luckiest he has made. A week later, Bryant suffered an avulsion fracture in his right index finger in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite the injury, Bryant elected to continue playing with it, rather than take any time off to rest the injury. Five days after his finger injury, he made another game winning shot, after missing on an opportunity in regulation, this time against the Milwaukee Bucks in an overtime game. Bryant also became the youngest player (31 years, 151 days) to reach 25,000 points during the season, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain. He continued his dominant clutch plays making yet another game winning three-pointer against the Sacramento Kings, and what would be the game-winning field goal against the Boston Celtics. The following day, he surpassed Jerry West to become the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history. After being sidelined for five games from an ankle injury, Bryant made his return and made another clutch three-pointer to give the Lakers a one point lead with four seconds remaining against the Memphis Grizzlies. Two weeks later, he made his sixth game-winning shot of the season against the Toronto Raptors.

On April 2, 2010, Bryant signed a three-year contract extension worth $87 million. Bryant finished the regular season missing four of the final five games, due to injuries to his knee and finger. Bryant suffered multiple injuries throughout the season and as a result, missed nine games. The Lakers began the playoffs as the number one seed in the Western Conference against the Oklahoma City Thunder, eventually defeating them in six games. The Lakers swept the Utah Jazz in the second round and advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they faced Phoenix Suns. In Game 2, Bryant finished the game with 13 assists, setting a new playoff career high; it was the most assists by a Laker in the playoffs since Magic Johnson had 13 in 1996. The Lakers went on to win the series in six games capturing the Western Conference Championship and advancing to the NBA Finals for a third straight season. In a rematch against the 2008 Champion Boston Celtics, Bryant, despite shooting 6 for 24 from the field, led the Lakers back from a thirteen-point third quarter deficit in Game 7 to win the championship; he scored 10 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter, and finished the game with 15 rebounds. Bryant won his fifth championship and earned his second consecutive NBA Finals MVP award. This marked the first time the Lakers won a Game 7 against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. Bryant said that this was the most satisfying of all of his five championships.

2010–11 season

The Lakers started the 2010–11 season by winning their first eight games. In his ninth game of the season, playing against the Denver Nuggets, Bryant became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 26,000 career points. Bryant also recorded his first triple double since January 21, 2009. On January 30 against the Celtics, he become the youngest player to score 27,000 points. On February 1, 2011, Bryant became one of seven players with at least 25,000 points, 5,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists. In Boston on February 10, Bryant scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half as the Lakers rallied from an early 15-point deficit for a 92–86 win over the Celtics. It was the Lakers' first victory of the season against one of the league's top four teams, as they entered the game 0–5 in previous matchups and had been outscored by an average of 11 points. Bryant, selected to his 13th straight All-Star game after becoming the leading vote-getter, had 37 points, 14 rebounds, and three steals in the 2011 All-Star Game and won his fourth All-Star MVP, tying Hall of Famer Bob Pettit for the most All-Star MVP awards. During the season, Bryant moved from 12th to 6th place on the NBA all-time career scoring list, passing John Havlicek, Dominique Wilkins, Oscar Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes, and Moses Malone. Bryant finished the season averaging less than 20 shots a game, his fewest since the 2003–04 season.

On April 13, 2011, the NBA fined Bryant $100,000 for directing a gay slur at referee Bennie Adams in frustration in the previous day's game. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation praised the NBA's decision to fine Bryant, and the Human Rights Campaign said that Bryant's language was a "disgrace" and "distasteful". Bryant stated that he was open to discussing the matter with gay rights groups and wanted to appeal his fine. He later apologized for the use of the word. Bryant and other Lakers appeared in a Lakers public service announcement denouncing Bryant's behavior. The team's quest for another three-peat was ended when they were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs. The Mavericks would go on to win the 2011 NBA Finals.

International career

Kobe Bryant declined to play in the 2000 Olympics due to getting married in the off-season. He also decided not to play in the 2002 FIBA World Championship. Bryant was originally selected for the FIBA Americas Championship 2003 but withdrew due to surgeries and was replaced by Vince Carter. In the following summer, he had to withdraw from the Olympic team because of his legal case. Along with LeBron James, he was one of the first two players to publicly named to the 2006–2008 U.S. preliminary roster in 2006 by Jerry Colangelo. However, he was once again sidelined after knee surgery and didn't participate in the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Bryant's senior international career with the United States national team finally began in 2007. He was a member of the 2007 USA Men's Senior National Team and USA FIBA Americas Championship Team that finished 10–0, won gold and qualified the United States men for the 2008 Olympics. He started in all 10 of the USA's FIBA Americas Championship games. He finished third on the team for made and attempted free throws, ranked fourth for made field goals, made 3-pointers. Among all FIBA Americas Championship competitors, Bryant is ranked 15th in scoring, 14th in assists, and eighth in steals. Bryant scored double-digits in eight of the 10 games played. Bryant also made the game winning jumper above the foul line with seconds left in the game. He currently averages a .530 shooting percentage, with 16.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists.

As a part of his international expansion, he is also featured in a Chinese reality TV show, called the ''Kobe Mentu'' show, which documents Chinese basketball players on different teams going through drills, preparing to play each other while Bryant gives advice and words of encouragement to the players while they practice.

On June 23, 2008, he was named to the USA Men's Senior National Team for the 2008 Summer Olympics. This was his first time going to the Olympics. Bryant scored 20 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, along with six assists, as Team USA defeated Spain 118–107 in the gold medal game of the 2008 Summer Olympics on August 24, 2008, for its first gold medal in a worldwide international competition since the 2000 Olympics. He averaged 15.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting .462 from the field in eight Olympic contests.

Bryant has committed to playing for the national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Player profile

Bryant is a shooting guard who is capable of playing the small forward position. He is considered one of the most complete players in the NBA, has been selected to every All-NBA Team since 1999, and has been featured in the last twelve NBA All-Star games. Sports writers and sports casters have frequently compared Bryant to Michael Jordan, a comparison Bryant dislikes. In 2007, an ESPN poll of sportswriters voted him as the second best shooting guard in NBA history behind Jordan.

He is a prolific scorer, averaging 25.3 points per game for his career, along with 5.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.5 steals (as of the end of the 2010–2011 regular season). He is known for his ability to create shots for himself and is a standout three-point shooter, sharing the single-game NBA record for three pointers made with twelve. Bryant is often cited as one of the most prolific scorers in the NBA, though his 45.4% career field goal average is considered moderate. He utilizes his wide array of moves and shots to elude defenders and score from virtually anywhere on the floor. Some of Bryant's best moves are his turnaround jump shot, and his ability to post up his defenders and score with a fadeaway jumpshot. Chris Ballard, a ''Sports Illustrated'' NBA writer, describes a "jab step-and-pause" as a move Bryant uses where he jabs his non-pivot foot forward to let the defender relax and instead of bringing the jab foot back, he pushes off it and drive around his opponent to get to the basket.

Aside from his scoring ability, he has established himself as a standout defender, having made the All-Defensive first or second team eleven of the last twelve seasons. Bryant has also been noted being one of the premier clutch performers in the NBA. For nine consecutive seasons, Bryant has been selected by an NBA GM survey as the player they most want taking the shot with the game on the line. Both Sporting News and TNT named Bryant the NBA player of the 2000s decade.

NBA career statistics

	Led the league

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 71 || 6 || 15.5 || .417 || .375 || .819 || 1.9 || 1.3 || .7 || .3 || 7.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 79 || 1 || 26.0 || .428 || .341 || .794 || 3.1 || 2.5 || .9 || .5 || 15.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 50 || 50 || 37.9 || .465 || .267 || .839 || 5.3 || 3.8 || 1.4 || 1.0 || 19.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 66 || 62 || 38.2 || .468 || .319 || .821 || 6.3 || 4.9 || 1.6 || .9 || 22.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 68 || 68 || 40.9 || .464 || .305 || .853 || 5.9 || 5.0 || 1.7 || .6 || 28.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 80 || 80 || 38.3 || .469 || .250 || .829 || 5.5 || 5.5 || 1.5 || .4 || 25.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 82 || 82 || 41.5 || .451 || .383 || .843 || 6.9 || 5.9 || 2.2 || .8 || 30.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 65 || 64 || 37.6 || .438 || .327 || .852 || 5.5 || 5.1 || 1.7 || .4 || 24.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 66 || 66 || 40.7 || .433 || .339 || .816 || 5.9 || 6.0 || 1.3 || .8 || 27.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 80 || 80 || 41.0 || .450 || .347 || .850 || 5.3 || 4.5 || 1.8 || .4 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 35.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 77 || 77 || 40.8 || .463 || .344 || .868 || 5.7 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .5 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 31.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 82 || 82 || 38.9 || .459 || .361 || .840 || 6.3 || 5.4 || 1.8 || .5 || 28.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 82 || 82 || 36.1 || .467 || .351 || .856 || 5.2 || 4.9 || 1.5 || .4 || 26.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 73 || 73 || 38.8 || .456 || .329 || .811 || 5.4 || 5.0 || 1.6 || .3 || 27.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 82 || 82 || 33.9 || .451 || .323 || .828 || 5.1 || 4.7 || 1.2 || .1 || 25.3 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| | 1103 || 955 || 36.4 || .454 || .339 || .837 || 5.3 || 4.7 || 1.5 || .6 || 25.3 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:left;"| All-Star | style="text-align:left;"| | 12 || 12 || 27.3 || .507 || .345 || .808 || 5.3 || 4.5 || 2.8 || .3 || 20.3

Playoffs

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 1997 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 9 || 0 || 14.8 || .382 || .261 || .867 || 1.2 || 1.2 || .3 || .2 || 8.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1998 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 11 || 0 || 20.0 || .408 || .214 || .689 || 1.9 || 1.5 || .3 || .7 || 8.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1999 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 8 || 8 || 39.4 || .430 || .348 || .800 || 6.9 || 4.6 || 1.9 || 1.2 || 19.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2000 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 22 || 22 || 39.0 || .442 || .344 || .754 || 4.5 || 4.4 || 1.5 || 1.5 || 21.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2001 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 16 || 16 || 43.4 || .469 || .324 || .821 || 7.3 || 6.1 || 1.6 || .8 || 29.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2002 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 19 || 19 || 43.8 || .434 || .379 || .759 || 5.8 || 4.6 || 1.4 || .9 || 26.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2003 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 12 || 12 || 44.3 || .432 || .403 || .827 || 5.1 || 5.2 || 1.2 || .1 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 32.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2004 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 22 || 22 || 44.2 || .413 || .247 || .813 || 4.7 || 5.5 || 1.9 || .3 || 24.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2006 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 7 || 7 || 44.9 || .497 || .400 || .771 || 6.3 || 5.1 || 1.1 || .4 || 27.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2007 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 5 || 5 || 43.0 || .462 || .357 || .919 || 5.2 || 4.4 || 1.0 || .4 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 32.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2008 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 21 || 21 || 41.1 || .479 || .302 || .809 || 5.7 || 5.6 || 1.7 || .4 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 30.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 23 || 23 || 40.8 || .457 || .349 || .883 || 5.3 || 5.5 || 1.7 || .9 || 30.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2010 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 23 || 23 || 40.1 || .458 || .374 || .842 || 6.0 || 5.5 || 1.4 || .7 || 29.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2011 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers | 10 || 10 || 35.4 || .446 || .293 || .820 || 3.4 || 3.3 || 1.6 || .3 || 22.8 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| | 208 || 188 || 39.3 || .448 || .335 || .815 || 5.1 || 4.8 || 1.4 || .7 || 25.4

Accomplishments and records

Bryant led the NBA in scoring during the and seasons. In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second-highest number of points scored in a game in NBA history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point performance. Bryant was awarded the regular season's Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in the 2007–08 season and led his team to the 2008 NBA Finals as the first seed in the Western Conference. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. men's basketball team, occasionally referred to as "The Redeem Team". He led the Lakers to two more championships in 2009 and 2010, winning the Finals MVP award on both occasions.

Bryant has been selected to 13 All-NBA Team (nine times to the All-NBA First Team) and 11 All-Defensive Team (nine times to the All-Defensive First Team). He was selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game on 13 occasions, winning All-Star MVP Awards in 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011 (he shared the 2009 award with Shaquille O'Neal). He also won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 1997. As of May 2011, he has had 5 sixty-point games, 24 fifty-point games, and 107 forty-point games.

Off the court

Personal life

In November 1999, 21-year-old Bryant met 17-year-old Vanessa Laine while she was working as a background dancer on the Tha Eastsidaz music video "G'd Up". Bryant was in the building working on his debut musical album, which was never released. The two began dating and became engaged just six months later in May 2000, while Laine was still a senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. To avoid media scrutiny, she finished high school through independent study. According to Vanessa's cousin Laila Laine, there was no prenuptial agreement. Vanessa said Bryant "''loved her too much for one''".

They married on April 18, 2001, at St. Edward Roman Catholic Church in Dana Point, California. Neither Bryant's parents, his two sisters, longtime advisor and agent Arn Tellem, nor Bryant's Laker teammates attended. Bryant's parents were opposed to the marriage for a number of reasons. Reportedly Bryant's parents had problems with him marrying so young, especially to a woman who was not African-American. This disagreement resulted in an estrangement period of over two years, which ended when Bryant had his first daughter.

In January 2002, Bryant bought a Mediterranean-style house for $4 million, located in a cul-de-sac in Newport Coast, Newport Beach. The Bryants' first child, a daughter named Natalia Diamante Bryant, was born on January 19, 2003. The birth of Natalia influenced Bryant to reconcile his differences with his parents. Vanessa Bryant suffered a miscarriage due to an ectopic pregnancy in the spring of 2005. Their second daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, was born on May 1, 2006. Gianna was born six minutes ahead of former teammate Shaquille O'Neal's daughter Me'arah Sanaa, who was born in Florida. In an early 2007 interview, it was revealed that Bryant still speaks Italian fluently. Bryant assigned himself the nickname of "Black Mamba", citing a desire for his basketball skills to mimic the snake of that name's ability to "strike with 99% accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession."

Sexual assault allegation

In the summer of 2003, the sheriff's office of Eagle, Colorado arrested Bryant in connection with an investigation of a sexual assault complaint filed by 19-year old hotel employee Katelyn Faber. Bryant had checked into The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Eagle County in advance of undergoing knee surgery nearby. Faber accused Bryant of raping her in his hotel room the night before Bryant was to have the procedure. Bryant admitted an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser, but denied her sexual assault allegation.

The accusation tarnished Bryant's reputation, as the public's perception of Bryant plummeted, and his endorsement contracts with McDonald's and Nutella were terminated. Sales for Bryant's replica jersey fell significantly from their previous highs. However, in September 2004, the assault case was dropped by prosecutors after Faber refused to testify in the trial. Afterward, Bryant agreed to apologize to Faber for the incident, including his public mea culpa: "Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter." Faber filed a separate civil lawsuit against Bryant, which the two sides ultimately settled with the specific terms of the settlement being undisclosed to the public.

Endorsements

Before starting the 1996–97 NBA season, Bryant signed a 6-year contract with Adidas worth approximately $48 million. His first signature shoe was the Equipment KB 8. Bryant's other earlier endorsements included deals with The Coca-Cola Company to endorse their Sprite soft drink, appearing in advertisements for McDonald's, promoting Spalding's new NBA Infusion Ball, Upper Deck, Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA's brand Nutella, Russell Corporation, and appearing on his own series of video games by Nintendo. Many companies like McDonald's and Ferrero SpA terminated his contracts when rape allegations against him became public. A notable exception was Nike, Inc., who had signed him to a 5-year, $40–45 million contract just before the incident. However, they refused to use his image or market a new shoe of his for the year, but eventually did start promoting Bryant once his image recovered 2 years later. He has since resumed endorsement deals with The Coca-Cola Company, through their subsidiary Energy Brands to promote their Vitamin Water brand of drinks. Bryant was also the cover athlete for NBA '07: Featuring the Life Vol. 2 and appeared in commercials for the video games Guitar Hero World Tour (with Tony Hawk, Michael Phelps, and Alex Rodriguez) in 2008 and Call of Duty: Black Ops (alongside Jimmy Kimmel) in 2010.

In a 2008 video promoting Nike's Hyperdunk shoes, Bryant appears to jump over a speeding Aston Martin. The stunt was considered to be fake, and the Los Angeles Times said a real stunt would probably be a violation of Bryant's Lakers contract. After promoting Nike's Hyperdunk shoes, Bryant came out with the fourth edition of his signature line by Nike, the Zoom Kobe IV. In 2010 Nike launched another shoe, Nike Zoom Kobe V. In 2009, Bryant signed a deal with Nubeo to market the "Black Mamba collection", a line of sports/luxury watches that range from $25,000 to $285,000. On February 9, 2009, Bryant was featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine. However, it was not for anything basketball related, rather it was about Bryant being a big fan of FC Barcelona. CNN estimated Bryant's endorsement deals in 2007 to be worth $16 million a year. In 2010, Bryant was ranked third behind Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan in ''Forbes'' list of the world's highest-paid athletes with $48 million.

On December 13, 2010, Bryant signed a two-year endorsement deal with Turkey's national airline, Turkish Airlines. The deal involved Bryant being in a promotional film to be aired in over 80 countries in addition to him being used in digital, print and billboard advertising.

Bryant has appeared as the cover athlete for the following video games: Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside NBA Courtside 2: Featuring Kobe Bryant NBA Courtside 2002 NBA 3 On 3 Featuring Kobe Bryant NBA '07: Featuring the Life Vol. 2 NBA '09: The Inside

NBA 2K10

Music

In 2011, Bryant was featured in Taiwanese singer Jay Chou's single, "The Heaven and Earth Challenge" (天地一鬥, pronounced "Tian Di Yi Dou"). The proceeds for downloads of both the single and ringtones were donated to impoverished schools for basketball facilities and equipment. The music video of the single also features Bryant. The song was also used by Sprite in its 2011 marketing campaign in China.

Philanthropy

Bryant is the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in 13 US cities. Bryant also started the Kobe Bryant China Fund which partnered with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity backed by the Chinese government. The Kobe Bryant China Fund raises money within China earmarked for education and health programs. On November 4, 2010, Bryant appeared alongside Zach Braff at the Call of Duty: Black Ops launch event at the Santa Monica Airport, where they presented a $1 million check to the Call of Duty Endowment, an Activision-founded nonprofit organization that helps veterans transition to civilian careers after their military service has ended.

See also

Kobe Bryant (song)

Kobe Bryant – Shaquille O'Neal feud

Kobe Doin' Work

List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise

List of 40-plus point games by Kobe Bryant

List of National Basketball Association players with 1000 games played

List of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders

List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders

List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders

List of National Basketball Association career 3-point scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association career playoff scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association career playoff assists leaders

List of National Basketball Association career playoff steals leaders

List of National Basketball Association career playoff turnovers leaders

List of National Basketball Association career playoff 3-point scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association career playoff free throw scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association players with 50 or more points in a playoff game

List of NBA players with most championships

List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game

List of National Basketball Association season scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association top individual scoring season averages

References

External links

Official Site

NBA.com – The Ultimate Kobe Page

Kobe Bryant Video on ESPN Video Archive

Kobe Bryant Video on FoxSports Video Archive

Category:1978 births Category:African American basketball players Category:American basketball players Category:American expatriates in Italy Category:Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Basketball players from Pennsylvania Category:Charlotte Hornets draft picks Category:Gatorade National Basketball Player of the Year Category:Living people Category:Los Angeles Lakers players Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans Category:National Basketball Association high school draftees Category:NBA Slam Dunk Contest champions Category:NBA Finals MVP Award winners Category:Olympic basketball players of the United States Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:People from Newport Beach, California Category:Sportspeople from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Shooting guards Category:United States men's national basketball team members Category:Olympic medalists in basketball

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