Guest Lecture on “Topological Shifts along Metaphorical Terrains: A Literary Approach”

In continuation with the Academic Enrichment Activities, another significant event organized by the Department of English was a Guest Lecture on 21 July, on the topic Topological Shifts along Metaphorical Terrains: A Literary Approach, by Dr. Ashutosh Mohan, Professor and Dean, Department of English at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi. Ms. Priyanka Ruth Prim formally welcomed the guest. Dr. Rimika Singhvi extended the floral greeting and a token of gratitude was presented by Dr. Shruti Rawal. Dr. Mohan was accompanied by his Research Scholars Kanika, Mahim and Avani Bhattacharya. The students were recommended texts like Hamlet, “Idgaah”, “The Shield of Achiles” and “Usne Kaha Tha” as pre-readings for the lecture.

The topic of the talk was not focused to a rigid and defined study of metaphors in literary texts. Rather, Dr Mohan introduced the literary domain of extended meanings in metaphors and their inference beyond the prescribed idea. He created awareness for the scholarly reading of a text in order to derive the essence of joy, while explaining how literature is to be read not for shape but for the form, in order to improvise the possibilities and dimensions of literary aesthetics beyond topology or imposed analytical shapes.

His views and ideas were highly relevant and insightful for the students as Dr. Mohan supported and explained them with the help of multiple examples from texts and works of art across cultures and ages by great writers like Shakespeare, Faiz Ahmed Faiz,W B Yeats and painters like Van Gogh. The session was highly interactive and interesting, owing to the students participation in an extended discussion over the impressions of literature and literary works. The audience also enjoyed a self composed poem in Punjabi by Ms. Kanika, whose words gave a perfect close to the entire idea of the lecture to look for ‘irrationality in rationality’. The event came to a formal close with a vote of thanks by Ms. Priyanka Ruth Prim.