Presidency University will soon start a new literary centre to help students think beyond the syllabus. Presidency is tying up with the University of East Anglia, (UEA) UK, to start the centre, which will be the first of its kind in the country.
Students at the Presidency University will no longer be restricted only poring over texts and writing their grades. This tie up is a first of its kind in the country which will help students kindle their creativity and train them in critical thinking.
According to TOI, author Amit Chaudhuri, who is a faculty member of UEA, will be the director of the new Centre for Creative and Critical, an initiative that will help create literary activists to bridge a gap in English literature studies.
"We are trying to bring about a synthesis here. For more than 20 years now, creative writing is divorced from critical writing. But you cannot do justice to literature unless a writer is called in to express his critique and unless an academic is encouraged to engage in creative writing," said Chaudhuri.
"Why should writers be looked upon with suspicion by theorists?" Chaudhuri is currently conducting a creative writing workshop for UEA India in the city.