Lecture on Edward Said at IUB
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Nahid Kaiser Toma
Independent University Bangladesh (IUB), one of the leading private universities in Bangladesh, is going to start its English department from the fall semester 2007. With this purpose, since March, the university has been arranging the 'Lecture Series on English Studies' which focuses on English language and literature. The university invites each month (generally the last Wednesday of the month ) a scholar and expert to talk on a subject of his/her interest and expertise. The first lecture in this series was given by Dr Radha Chakaravarty on 'The Violence of Translation' and the second by Professor Kaiser Haq on 'South-Asian Poetry in English.' Professor Fakrul Alam's lecture on May 30 was the third in the series.
After Professor Dr Shawkat Hussain`s brief introduction, Dr Alam spoke on 'Edward Said after Orientalism,' keeping the audience spell-bound for about 40 minutes. Dr Alam discussed Said`s colossal work composed after Orientalism. Generally, people know only Said`s Orientalism as his only great work and sometimes consider him a one-book man. But, Professor Alam emphasized that this great scholar produced several great works after Orientalism. We should know about those works, he stressed, so that we can understand the genius of Said better. Dr Alam discussed several books briefly to acquaint the audience with Said's later writings. Said's Begginings is a pregnant book on, perhaps the only, book on theory
At first Dr Alam talked of Power, Politics and Culture, a collection of essays on political issues. He noted that Said's Out of Place, his autobiography, expressed his feelings of rooted cosmopolitanism and his sensibility as an extraterritorial. After the Last Sky, a semi-autobiographical piece of writing, exposes Said's trauma of being on exile. This self-acclaimed 'secular Christian' also wrote Covering Islam, which, Dr. Alam thought, is a most eloquent defence of Islam.
There were many sides of Said, Dr Alam noted. Said, the theorist, is evident in a number of books like The World, the Text and the Critic and Culture and Imperialism where he destroyed the notion that literature is apolitical. After Said, the political and historical contexts of literature can no longer be ignored. Said's passion for and knowledge of music is expressed in Musical Elaboration. Dr Alam also referred to Said's Representations of the Intellectual in which Said discussed his idea of the responsibilities of intellectuals.
Dr. Alam's aim in the lecture had been to make his audience aware of Said after Orientalism. Everyone present in the audience that day would say he succeeded brilliantly.
This monthly lecture series is open for everyone who is interested.
Independent University Bangladesh (IUB), one of the leading private universities in Bangladesh, is going to start its English department from the fall semester 2007. With this purpose, since March, the university has been arranging the 'Lecture Series on English Studies' which focuses on English language and literature. The university invites each month (generally the last Wednesday of the month ) a scholar and expert to talk on a subject of his/her interest and expertise. The first lecture in this series was given by Dr Radha Chakaravarty on 'The Violence of Translation' and the second by Professor Kaiser Haq on 'South-Asian Poetry in English.' Professor Fakrul Alam's lecture on May 30 was the third in the series.
After Professor Dr Shawkat Hussain`s brief introduction, Dr Alam spoke on 'Edward Said after Orientalism,' keeping the audience spell-bound for about 40 minutes. Dr Alam discussed Said`s colossal work composed after Orientalism. Generally, people know only Said`s Orientalism as his only great work and sometimes consider him a one-book man. But, Professor Alam emphasized that this great scholar produced several great works after Orientalism. We should know about those works, he stressed, so that we can understand the genius of Said better. Dr Alam discussed several books briefly to acquaint the audience with Said's later writings. Said's Begginings is a pregnant book on, perhaps the only, book on theory
At first Dr Alam talked of Power, Politics and Culture, a collection of essays on political issues. He noted that Said's Out of Place, his autobiography, expressed his feelings of rooted cosmopolitanism and his sensibility as an extraterritorial. After the Last Sky, a semi-autobiographical piece of writing, exposes Said's trauma of being on exile. This self-acclaimed 'secular Christian' also wrote Covering Islam, which, Dr. Alam thought, is a most eloquent defence of Islam.
There were many sides of Said, Dr Alam noted. Said, the theorist, is evident in a number of books like The World, the Text and the Critic and Culture and Imperialism where he destroyed the notion that literature is apolitical. After Said, the political and historical contexts of literature can no longer be ignored. Said's passion for and knowledge of music is expressed in Musical Elaboration. Dr Alam also referred to Said's Representations of the Intellectual in which Said discussed his idea of the responsibilities of intellectuals.
Dr. Alam's aim in the lecture had been to make his audience aware of Said after Orientalism. Everyone present in the audience that day would say he succeeded brilliantly.
This monthly lecture series is open for everyone who is interested.