Of Art and Literature

Reading Iqbal in class was a very rewarding experience. Not only did I see his writing in a different light, but I was excited to see the views of those who were complete outsiders to his work. Therefore, Iqbal’s view on the ever present conflict of East and West is illuminating. It’s interesting to see that he attributes the quality of love to the East and intellect to the West. First, he presents both of them as mutually exclusive as we can see in the first set of Venn Diagrams. However, his final conclusion, in the Complaint and the Answer, is that the union of the two is what will elevate both societies. Here, mutual exclusiveness is disregarded by Iqbal. By this analysis, we can say that Iqbal no longer wants the mutually exclusive view to prevail but rather an intersectional, fluid perception of the two.