ENH marks Ibsen anniversary with Peer Gynt exploration
On April 9th, the Department of English and Humanities (ENH) organised an event exploring nature and self-discovery in Peer Gynt, commemorating the 198th anniversary of the birth of the renowned Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Håkon Gulbrandsen (Norwegian Ambassador, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dhaka) graced the event alongside other notable guests, students, and faculty members. The programme featured a lecture by Dr Sabiha Huq (Professor, ENH) and premiered a short film by a student of the department.
The seminar started with remarks by the department chairperson, Firdous Azim (Professor, ENH). Following her, Dr Huq delivered a lecture on how landscape shapes meaning within literary texts. Drawing from her forthcoming monograph, Ibsen’s Green and Blue Cartography, she argued that although Ibsen’s critiques have long prioritised themes of class, gender, and social morality, Peer Gynt shows the Norwegian landscape as a moral and spiritual presence, reflecting the protagonist’s inner struggles. She also shared an eco-feminist reading of the play, highlighting how both nature and Solveig act as a quiet redemption that the protagonist took for granted, stating, “The reunion of Peer and Solveig in the Norwegian woods makes a statement that nature is the silent weakness to the process of freeing the spirits of men and women in fair gain. But Ibsen’s critiques refuse to accept this as poetry because of the twisted, psychosomatic behaviour of the protagonist.”
Photo credit: Mehbuba Emdad
The programme moved on to the screening of Nothing Inside, a short film by Abdullah Al Mamun (Senior, ENH), which reimagined Peer as a Bangladeshi youth, capturing desire, frustration, joy, and melancholy. The screening concluded with an interactive question-and-answer session with the director. Niloy Tarofder (Junior, ENH) expressed, “Self-discovery never truly ends in a complete sense of wholeness; sometimes your life experiences question humanity.” Like peeling an onion skin, life is the discovery of acceptance even at a ‘half-past’ version of yourself.”
