IXth annual lecture delivered, Literaria released in English Department, GC College

Feb. 24: The IXth Annual Lecture programme of the Department of English, Gurucharan College, Silchar, Assam, was held today, the 24th of February, 2022, in Gurucharan College. The Annual Lecture was delivered by Prof. Moon Moon Mazumdar of the Department of English, Northeastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.

On this occasion, Dr. Panthapriyo Dhar, the Head of the Department of English, reiterated the imperative for engagements with cutting edge scholarship and research, and highlighted the Department’s continual endeavour to facilitate academic platforms for the enrichment of students. In his presidential address, the Principal of Gurucharan College, Dr. Bibhash Deb, expressed his satisfaction at, and lauded, the various academic practices and events conducted by the Department.

The Annual Lecture of the Department began its journey around a decade ago. Under this programme, the Department has invited and hosted distinguished scholars from India and abroad, specializing in the arena of English studies primarily, with the goal of facilitating a platform for academic interaction and exposure for students. Invited speakers have included Prof Tapodhir Bhattacharjee, Prof. Himadri Lahiri, Prof. Dipankar Purkayastha, the British poet of Syrian-origin Dr. Amir Darwish, among others.

The distinguished scholar of English studies, Prof. Moon Moon Mazumdar, while delivering the Annual Lecture entitled “The Tragic Pattern of Macbeth and Adaptations from Northeast India”, signposted the significance of theatrical adaptations in the backdrop of local contexts and specificities. The lecture delineated the transformative potential inherent in adaptations of William Shakespeare’s dramatic oeuvre through a focus on his play Macbeth. Prof. Mazumdar instantiated her thesis by taking the audience to a theatrical journey into the works of acclaimed practitioners of the dramatic genre from Northeast India, namely – the doyens of Manipuri theatre Ratan Thiyam and Lokendra Aramban, and Santanu Paul of the Bhabhikal Theatre Group from Silchar, among others.

The programme also witnessed the unveiling and release of the VIIIth volume of Literaria, the peer-reviewed annual journal of the Department of English. Mr. Mehdi Hasan Chowdhury, Assistant Professor in the Department of English, and the editor of the volume, noted that the Department’s aspiration to publish a qualitative academic journal of its own fructified with the birth of the Ist volume of Literaria in 2012, and thanked the college’s administration for extending unstinting support in this regard. He further added that Literaria is being published with the International Standard Serial Number or ISSN since its inception. The journal was also accorded recognition in the UGC’s list of curated journals for some time, and the Department hopes to see Literaria in the UGC-CARE List in the near future.

On the occasion, Mr. Shantanu Swarup Roy read out a brief bio-note of the invited speaker and Dr. Arjun Choudhuri delivered the vote of thanks. The programme was attended by a lively audience comprising students of English (Honours), the Diploma in Creative Writing in English, faculty of the college and guests who participated in the discussion with the resource person following the delivery of the lecture.