His life is proof that prodigious, widely recognised talent isn't enough to secure reputation: ass-kissing and fib-telling, flattery and tongue-biting are often required to make careers.
The notion that literary prizes secure reputations and sell books is modern publishing wisdom, but nothing compares with what the Nobel did for Tagore a century ago.
He secured a reputation as an aggressive hawk, advocating a strong defense relationship with the U.S.
It was her role as the Pied Piper of Shea that secured her reputation from 1964 to 1979.
His controversial second novel, Giovanni's Room (1956), secured his reputation as an important new voice.
Here, in a South Africa beset by war, the young Winston Churchill secured his reputation as an adventurer.
After the years of neglect, modern criticism has secured his reputation with that of the great American writers.
He retired that same year, having secured a reputation as one of the greatest cricket players in history.
The nostalgists feel these jeremiads have distracted him from the cutting-edge research that secured his reputation.
These, with others, were collected in Bliss (1920), which secured her reputation and is typical of her art.
With this and his later victory at Oudenaarde, he secured a reputation unrivaled until Napoleon's rise.
