Studies in Culture, Art and Literature

Description

This second volume of Professor K. K. Aziz’s selected writings and addresses opens with a moving piece on the meaning of prayer. Then follow 3 lectures on culture: the way of life in medieval Muslim Deccan, the predicament of the Pakistani intellectual, and the departed glory of the Government College of Lahore. The 4 lectures on Islamic art explore its spiritual symbolism, religious significance and historical relevance. The section on literature mainly deals with the nature of poetry, the glory of love, John Keats, Oscar Wilde, Plato’s theory of poetry, and Anglo-Indian fiction. These pieces were written between 1948 and 2000 and show how the author’s mind has developed and his knowledge widened across the years. The outstanding quality of this collection is its freshness, regardless of the time when a particular item was composed. Aziz wrote well while still a student, and his mastery of words has kept pace with his growing years. His third and final collection, on remembering some great men. will be published shortly.

Author Biography

Khursheed Kamal Aziz (K. K. Aziz) (b. 1927) has taught politics, history. Islam and Asian Studies for 50 years at various institutions, including Government College, Lahore, and the universities of Manchester. Punjab, London, Khartoum, Heidelberg, Toronto and Cambridge. In Pakistan he has served as Deputy Official Historian to the federal government, Chairman of the National Commission on Historical & Cultural Research, and Special Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister. In 1997, he was elected to the coveted Aziz Ahmad Memorial Lectureship at the University of Toronto. Author of over two dozen scholarly works, he commands an international reputation as a political scientist, historian and general lecturer.