English Literary Society

Yearbook Report 2009-2010

The year began on a low note due to the lack of a department trip and the disappointingly sparse turnout of first year applicants. However, four major talks hosted by the English Literary Society ensured that we had already surpassed last years tally before the first term had even ended. The flurry of talks was kick started with a session by Dr. Geeta Patel on the Poetics of Ismat Chugtai, followed by a poetry reading in collaboration with the Poetry Society of India which featured Keki Daruwalla and Sukrita Paul. Next was a reading and interactive session with poet, translator and novelist Sampurna Chattarji, succeeded by a talk by author Kamla Kapur and artist Payson Stevens on ‘Myth and Storytelling’. The more mundane activities of the society like Book Club, Poetry Reading, Film Screening and Play Reading began with a burst of enthusiasm but soon petered out with a few notable exceptions.

Chaos ensued once again as the official sponsors, Penguin India, appeared to be on the brink of leaving us in the lurch. However, the situation was brought under control and having fought to retain both the official sponsor as well as the traditional duration of the fest, LOGOS 2009 went off without any further glitches. The majority of our events like debate, elocution, short story writing and taboo were centered on the theme ‘Literature and the Fantastic’,  as were the two panel discussions. The first panel, The Many Facets of Fantasy, featured Dr. Sambuddha Sen, Dr. Prasanta Chakravarty and Dr. Eric Soreng and the second, The Fantastic -Magnifying Reality, featured Sarnath Banerjee and Dr. Shirshendu Chakrabarti. A new addition this year was a highly successful interview session with fantasy novelist Samit Basu which was well attended by students from all over the university.

Third term has brought two talks, hosted by the ‘Litsoc’ in collaboration with the British Council.  Noted biographer Claire Tomalin delivered a stimulating paper on Jane Austen, while Geoff Dyer treated listeners to an entertaining session on travel writing. The Litsoc shall end the year with the publication of its annual journal Postscript and judging by what’s gone before, perhaps another talk or two! We can only hope that the success rate this year will translate into a larger number of applicants in the next, for though we pretend to subsist on words alone, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a heavy tome (no matter if it be of Russian origin) never carried a table from the SCR to the library lawns.