User:Shahabyarkhan

Shahab Yar Khan (born: 15.01.1967, Lahore, Pakistan) is a Bosnian scholar of Shakespearean and Renaissance studies from University of Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina. Born in 1967 in Lahore, Pakistan, Khan comes from an ancient, traditional family of academics, writers and teachers. His grand uncle, Dr. Ebadat Brelvi was among the early modern critics of Urdu literature and his books are among the most used references for the students and scholars of Urdu in both Pakistan and India. Dr. Ebadat's contribution to Urdu amounts to well over hundred books which include works of criticism, fiction, travelogues, memoirs, sketches and autobiography. Khan had good opportunity to be brought up under the careful eyes of his ancestors who encouraged creative thinking, writing and traditional means of research. He was also fortunate to have access to his uncle's personal library (now donated to Government College, known as 'Gosha-e-Ebadat' or Ebadat's Corner) where he went through classics of Urdu, English and Farsi literature and developed passionate interest in writing fiction and poetry. in mid 1980's Khan emerged as a young promising poet of Urdu and in scores of 'All Pakistan Poetry Contests' in high colours represented the renowned Government College, Lahore as a leading poet of the region. He was well respected as a remarkable speaker and was considered an authentic name for declamation contests during this period of his life at the college (1985-1989). He was also secretary of one of the three leading literary circles of Government College, Lahore, 'Anjuman-e-Farsi' (Persian Council) and conducted gathering of high literary and social-liberal value during the last phase of General Zia-ul-Haq's military dictatorship. It was during this time when his collection of Urdu poems and ghazals, Gayan, was published by some of his friends and admirers at College Book Depot, Lahore (1990). After completing his B.A. from the Government College, Lahore (now Government College University), Khan completed his M.A. from the Punjab University and started teaching English literature at several private institutes of Lahore which by the time had become center of English learning in Pakistan. During his years of affiliation with Keynesian Institute of Management and Sciences (KIMS, 1993-1995), Lahore, Khan came to be recognized among the pioneers of introducing A'level, London University, English literature courses in Pakistan. He joined Muhammeden-Anglo-Oriental College, Lahore (M.A.O. College, the Punjab University) in 1995 and until his stay in Pakistan served the college as a lecturer of Shakespearean and Renaissance drama at the newly established department of M.A. English studies. In 1998, he moved to Bosnia and Herzegovina with his future wife, then fiancé, Mrs. Amra Kaljanac. During the Balkan wars of early 1990's Mrs. Amra's family stayed in Kenya and then in Pakistan and after the Dayton peace accord decided gradually to move back. Khan visited Sarajevo in 1998 and once University of Sarajevo offered him a teaching position he decided to leave his previous positions in Pakistan and finally got the post of senior teaching assistant after getting Bosnian nationality in 2004. In 2007 he completed his doctoral studies (Influences of Shakespearean Drama on 20th Century Post-colonial Literature, University of Sarajevo) and got elected as assistant professor. Since 2012 he is an associate professor of Shakespearean and Renaissance studies at the University of Sarajevo. Khan has so far published 5 books of great esteem among them the two volumes on Shakespearean tragedy are very highly rated by academics and students of literature in the region. His first ever book in Bosnia, From Renaissance to Classicism (2008), is the first volume of its kind in the country dealing with many significant aspects of several important Renaissance authors. However, a major shift in Khan's approach towards English Renaissance took place in 2015 which he finally presented in one of his milestone articles in 2018, 'Renaissance and the Stagnancy Mechanism'. Herein for the first time the terms coined by Khan, 'Genessance and Primussance' are introduced to a very wide range of audience. The terms are highly challenging and straightaway became controversial the first ever time Khan introduced these in an international conference held in Montenegro in 2016. The treatment of the subject in Khan's innovative approach shakes to the roots the existing formal theoretical trend towards European Renaissance and invokes new methods of research and previously unseen modes of thinking to survey the entire critical tradition from an entirely fresh angle. during the last couple of years Khan has written extensively in various local journals about the relationship between the mishandling of the institutionalized systems of the world and the chaotic social life of our contemporary age. He has given new dimension to Shakespearean drama by seeing the complete forecast of our age and the resolve for the crises that we live in. Khan's study of Shakespearean texts suggest the creation of a new matriarchal system, where women aught to be distinctively different from their male counterparts and consequently a new role model for human civilization. Khan sees in Shakespearean drama the birth of the matriarchal system and this exactly what he performed during his highly charged, single-handed, three days celebration of 400th death anniversary of William Shakespeare in 2016. The 400th anniversary celebrations were organized under the banner of Shakespeare Drama Club, founded by Khan in October of 1998. In the last two decades the club has performed 16 plays of Shakespeare alongside several other momentous adventures. 'How to Perform Shakespeare' (2010), was among the first of the challenges that Khan posed to the established theatrical tradition of Shakespearean drama. In his presentation he questioned the understanding of both the big screen and the live Shakespeare on the Globe, the New York National Theater etc. 2016 was an important year for the club as it took up to the task of performing three different plays of Shakespeare in three days (King Lear, The Winter's Tale, The Merry Wives of Windsor), This amazing achievement made this club the only amateur drama club in the world which could perform three plays of Shakespeare in three consecutive days. Khan introduced to the audiences his method of editing the works of Shakespeare and the art of directing it the way he claims was done in the days of Shakespeare 4 centuries ago. As a method actor of enormous depth, Khan performed himself the lead roles throughout the three days celebrations. He showed it to a large number of Shakespeare lovers that King Lear is the suggestion that the old patriarchal system has already exhausted itself and shall come to its end in a natural way to give way to the new matriarchal system shown in the Winter's Tale. The final day was an attempt to explore the traits of womanhood in contrast to those evolved as a result of the feminist movement of the 20th century by women of the contemporary age. Merry Wives of Windsor, was a tribute to the lost dignity and grace of women and it was dedicated, as Khan would put it, 'to the greatest woman 4 centuries later ruling over a house called Windsor, Elizabeth II'. This amazing coincidence was of great amusement for the audiences with whom Khan kept on sharing his correspondence with the Queen, saying, 'I have written letters to many democratically elected ministers and officials of states in India, Pakistan and Bosnia but the only one reply which I ever got from any official, happens to be from a monarch'.