VOLUME 1

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO

© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 2003

Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department

Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry

PRINTED IN INDIA

  Early Cultural Writings

Publisher's Note

Early Cultural Writings consists of essays and other prose writings on literature, education, art and other cultural subjects. Most of them were written between 1890 and 1910, a few between 1910 and 1920. The editors have arranged the material by topic in nine parts and two appendixes. Many of the pieces were published in journals or books during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime. The others are reproduced from his manuscripts. The editors have checked all the texts against the relevant printed or manuscript versions. Simple editorial problems arising from incomplete revision, etc., are indicated by means of the system explained in the Guide to Editorial Notation on the next page. More complex problems are discussed in footnotes or in the Note on the Texts at the end of the volume.

Guide to Editorial Notation

About half the material in this volume was not prepared by Aurobindo for publication. This material has been transcribed from manuscripts that present a variety of textual difficulties. As far as possible the editors have indicated these problems by means of the notation shown below.