Contemporary Poetics Forum

“New Questions in Literary Criticism” by Mr. Qasim Yaqoob

(On 6th December 2018)

Contemporary Poetics Forum, Department of English, Faculty of Languages and Literature, IIUI organized Mr. QasimYaqoob’s lecture on “New Questions in Literary Criticism” on Wednesday, 6th December 2018. Mr. Yaqoob is a well-known critic and poet of Urdu. Introducing the speaker, Mr. Farrukh Nadeem highlighted Mr. Yaqoob’s major works on criticism i.e., TanqeedkiSheriyaat and Urdu ShayeriPyJangonKyAsaraat. He also highlighted his poetic diction reflected in his works i.e., Shaakh (2002), Ret PeBehtaPaani(2010), DekhChuka Main MojMoj(2012). Later, he also talked about Mr. Yaqoob’s important contribution to the promotion of Urdu language and literature through prestigious Urdu journal, Nikaat that is edited by him.

The speaker began by highlighting the necessities and significance of question in criticism and said that question comes up in mind of a person to fill the gaps between the known and the unknown. Further, referring to Gautam Buddha, he explained a couple of types of questions i.e., mathematical, metaphysical, literary, etc. Later, he divided literary questions into ‘creative question’ and ‘critical question’. He described ‘creative question’ and ‘critical question’ as subjective and objective questions, respectively. He highlighted how a subjective approach creates a co-text from the context and an objective approach leads to practical as well as theoretical criticism. In the later part of his lecture, Mr. Yaqoob said that he observed more resistance to literary theory among the Urdu literary circles as compared to the English literary circles of Pakistan. His observations generated an interesting debate in the session about practical criticism and theoretical. He also mentioned a number of critics who raised many new questions in literary criticism. The names included Shams Ur Rehman Farooqi, Nasir Abbas Nayar, Maulana Hali, Wazir Agha, Farrukh Nadeem and Kaleem Uddin Ahmad.

Concluding his lecture, he claimed the questions raised in literary criticism are unforgettable, and he also accepted the fact that these questioned have not been properly foregrounded yet, but whenever they are they would provoke the rise of new questions. Later, he encouraged the participants to ask questions linking this to the need of raising new questions in literary criticism.

At the end, on the request of audience, Mr. Yaqoob also shared some beautiful verses from his own Urdu poetry. After this, Dr. Muhammad Sheeraz,Chairman, Department of English thanked the guest speaker for his presence and presented CPF souvenir to him, along Dr. Ameer Sultan, Mr. Farukh Nadeem, Mr. Mahmood ul Hassan (Coordinator, CPF), Mr. Ali Tariq, and Mr. Rafaqat Raazi. The lecture was attended by students, scholars and faculty members of Department of English and Urdu, IIUI.