“In contradiction to prevailing ideas, literature is not just about emotion and abstraction. Nowadays literature encompasses everything under the sun, from Philosophy to Psychology and Sociology to Politics. The study of literature is not confined, therefore, to a single discipline or a single region. English Literature today refers to much more than just than the literature of England and America. It refers to all the literature written in the English Language.
In the ever-expanding expanse of English Literature, Shakespeare and Milton can no longer represent English Literature in its entirety. Alongside the age-old philosophical questions -Who am I? and What is life? the study of English Literature covers questions linked to Self & Identity, Cultural & Media Studies, Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Diasporic Literature, Translation Studies and much, much more.
Thus, the study of literature not only allows one to travel through time experiencing a fusion of past, present, and future, it also allows one to travel through space. Each text is an encounter with the Other and as such – a gateway to new experiences. This interaction with the Other, initiates an understanding of the Other that is otherwise quite limited and infused with intolerance. Access to different cultures, different thoughts, different values all combines to enrich one’s perception of the Other and also of the Self. This, in turn, allows for a greater understanding of the human condition.
Time cannot consume the benefits of such encounters. We hope you join us in our indomitable quest for knowledge and endeavor to understand the human condition with an enlightened perception that no other single discipline can offer.
Dr. Afruza Khanom
Associate Professor & Head
Department of English, NEUB”