UGC SPONSORED INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR

A two - day UGC sponsored International seminar on “Shakespeare Through the Ages : A Historical Review” was held from 22nd to 23rd April 2016 at Hindu Girls College. The Seminar was organised to commemorate the 400th year of Shakespeare’s death and to deliberate upon the challenge of formulating an estimate of the Bard of Stratford’s worldwide impact. Dr. Suchitra Deswal from the Applied Sciences and Humanities department of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon presented her paper titled Looking for Shakespeare in India and India in Shakespeare at the conference.

The Seminar was an attempt to provide a juncture to academicians, researchers and practitioners to understand the global significance of such a great literary mind of the past who has a never ending influence on the world literature; how his enormous input to literature has shaped the body of English literature, developing a world-wide readership of such great texts. Some of the Sub-themes of the Seminar were Shakespeare and His Times, Shakespeare in Independent India, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, Shakespeare in the European Languages, Shakespeare in the Age of Dryden, Shakespeare in Indian Languages, Shakespeare in the Age of Johnson, Shakespeare on the Indian Stage, Shakespeare and the Romantics, the Shakespeare Studies in Independent India, Shakespeare in the Victorian Age, the Shakespeare Studies in Colonial, Shakespeare in the Age of Modernism, The Indian Critical Response to Shakespeare, Shakespeare and the Postmodernism, Children’s Shakespeare in India, Shakespeare and the Post colonialism, Shakespeare Today: The Latest Responses, Shakespeare in Colonial India and the Future of Shakespeare.

Dr. Deswal’s paper focused on understanding the characteristics of Shakespeare’s works which have made his literary works cross boundaries, culture and language barriers. The literary corpus of Shakespeare is enormous, and a continual motivation for writers throughout the world. Indian writers of almost all languages have adapted Shakespeare to the needs of the culture specific audience. Shakespeare has assimilated so much into the Indian contexts that down the lane Indians have used his stories, characters and scenes with a great liberty making bold experiments with the original. It is the all encompassing themes and the universality of Shakespeare's view of life that continues to have an important effect on writers, readers and viewers alike. Seeing this charm for the Bard, my paper focused on the Indian writings which are adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays and also attempted to reflect back upon what charm India held for Shakespeare.

The Seminar commenced with the Inaugural Session which witnessed the glittering presence of luminaries from across the country. Welcome Address was given by Dr. Ujjwal Sharma, Principal, Hindu Girls College, Jagadhri and Convenor of the Seminar. The Session Chair for the Inaugural Session was Dr. Margit Koves, Department of Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian Studies, University of Delhi. The Inaugural Address was delivered by Maj. Gen. Ranjit Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Ch. Ranbir Singh University, Jind. The Keynote Address was presented by Prof. (Dr.) Bhim S. Dahiya, former Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra and Seminar Director.

Prof. (Dr.) S.P.S. Dahiya, Department of English and Foreign Language Studies, M.D.U., Rohtak continued with the next session. The Resource Persons for this Session were Prof. Anu Shukla, Ch. Devi Lal University, Sirsa; Prof. Monika Sethi, University of Jammu, and Dr. Pankaj Sharma, Ch. Devi Lal University. The Post Lunch Session was chaired by Prof. Anand Prakash, University of Delhi. The Resource Persons for this Session were Dr. Suruchi Kalra Choudhary, Hindu Girls College, Jagadhri and Dr. Shikha, Rohtak. Both the Sessions concluded with the query sessions which were quite interactive. This was followed by Poetry Session by Prof. K.K. Rishi.

On day two, the first Session was chaired by Prof. Dipti Dharmani, Ch. Devi Lal University, Sirsa. The Resource persons for the Session were Prof. Ram Niwas, Chairperson Department of English, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra; Prof. Hema Dahiya, University of Delhi, Delhi; Prof. Jai Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Indian and World Literature, The English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad. The Post Lunch Session was chaired by Prof. V.P. Sharma, formerly Professor & Head Dept. of English, formerly Dean of Studies HP University, Shimla. The Resource Persons for the Session were Prof. (Dr.) Walia, Punjabi University and Prof (Dr.) Tejinder Kaur, Director, Centre for Diaspora Studies, Punjabi University. Their talks were followed by the query session. Thereafter many parallel sessions were conducted, which were chaired by learned dignitaries from across the country. The parallel sessions had enlightening talks by delegates on wide - ranging influence of Shakespeare on contemporary literature.

In the Valedictory Session Prof. (Dr.) Tejinder Kaur concluded with her knowledgeable lecture that was loudly applauded by the august gathering. Vote of Thanks was given by Dr. Suruchi Kalra Choudhary, Hindu Girls College, Jagadhri.

The seminar brought to light how the universal characteristics of Shakespeare’s works revolutionized the world literature. The seminar was quite enriching and extensive in its themes and provided the delegates an opportunity to expand their view of how different writers have explored and presented Shakespeare’s conceptual skills, knowledge and ideas in new perspectives.