HYDERABAD: Speakers at a programme highlighted the significance of literature saying it served as mirror of life and was capable of shattering taboos and territorial bindings.

The Institute of English Language and Literature (IELL) of the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, in collaboration with the bureau of Student Tutorial Guidance/Counselling Services (STAGS) of the varsity organised a lecture programme under the aegis of Prof Amina Khamisani Lecture Series of the institute in the Shaikh Ayaz auditorium in arts faculty building, a press release said on Tuesday.

“This moment reminds me of all the fond faces, magical memories and tantalising times I spent at the department of English. I am indeed proud to be IELL-SU alumnus,” prominent scholar Prof K.S. Nagpal said while speaking as the chief guest of the programme.

He said that it was only through literature that one demystified the deepest secrets of one’s own being, one’s relation to society, to God and the purpose of one’s brief sojourn on earth.

Prof Nagpal maintained that literature was the most liberating of all forms of experiences available to man.

“Man remains incarcerated in hundreds of different personal, social, political, cultural and religious cocoons. These self-created and socially-imposed shells blur man’s vision, colour his insight, limit his experience and restrict his quest for truth. Literature alone is capable of shattering all these taboos and territorial bindings,” he said.

He said that literature presented life not as it was, but as it ought to be. “Literature and life enjoyed a subtle, integral, and apparently imperceptible link. Literature serves as a mirror of life,” SU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Mohammad Burfat said while presiding over the programme.

Alluding to illustrious philosopher Karl Marx, he said literature was largely responsible for transformation of individuals and societies.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2018