International Seminar of Literature and Commitment held in Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Tehran

International Seminar of Literature and Commitment held in Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Tehran

“In addition to addressing the man’s material and earthly issues and solving the problems and imperfections of human societies, literature should pay attention to spiritual side of humans as well”, Vice-President for Cultural Affairs, University of Tehran, Majid Sarsangi said.

Public relations office at University of Tehran reported that on Thursday the 4th of Esfand (23 February, 2016) in opening ceremony of the International Seminar of Literature and Commitment, mentioning the war and conflicts in different part of the world including the Middle East, Prof. Majid Sarsangi said: nowadays artists and scholars have a greater mission to humanity; literature and art should be used to alleviate human pains and sufferings.

Referring to the post-Islamic revolution literature, Doctor Sarsangi added: after the Islamic revolution, efforts were made to promote a kind of literature to consider spiritual side of human; besides, there are lots of potentials for the committed literature such as Qur’an.

Appreciating the organizers of this international Seminar, Vice-President for Cultural Affairs at University of Tehran said: holding such seminars shows the efforts of Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature to issues of cultural sphere and this faculty can play its role in cultural atmosphere of Iran.

Pointing to the history of the Committed Literature from different philosophers’ standpoint, he emphasized the existence of a committed literature and stated that literature and art not resulting to ethics and commitment doesn’t have a valuable status; in all historical eras and almost every culture we can see the importance of the committed literature.

Prof. Maryam Haqrousta, Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, after presenting a short report on the holding the seminar addressed the status of the committed literature among writers of different literary theories and added: commitment in nowadays’ literature is much more important than the past and all writers should fulfill their commitment to writing, their (written) works and human society.

Pointing to the history of the committed literature, Prof. Haqrousta stated: this thinking emerged in 19th century mostly among the surrealists; they believed that literature should reveal the pains and sufferings of human society to provide a solution to decline man’s pain and sufferings.

Mentioning to the importance and the role of holding such international seminars, Prof. Fernandez Kamacheo, the representative of Atonomai University of Madrid said: these conferences can assist the cooperation between universities as well.

He considered this conference as the first step to hold joint seminar between University of Tehran and Spanish Universities and declared the concern of Atonomai University to promote the cooperation with institutions of Tehran University and other Iranian Universities.

Referring to literature and commitment holding, he pointed to the effective role of political elite of Latin America in generating this type of literature.

In Literature and Commitment Conference, more than 50 articles in 4 morning and afternoon sessions (2 days) are presented in Persian, Spanish and English.

Speakers from Spain, Mexico, Kuwait, America and Uruguay attend the conference.

During the conference, four specialized workshops titled “revolutionary cultures of Mexico”, “fact and fantasy”, “Fransisco Dobeckdo’s romantic poetry and “Latinos of the United States’ were held.