Sneharika Roy
Associate Professor, Writing Program Administrator
- Department: Comparative Literature and English
- Office:G-117
- Office Hours:Tuesdays & Fridays 14:00鈥�15:00 or by appointment
Professor Roy studied English, French, and Indian literature at the University of Mumbai before pursuing a Ph.D. at La Sorbonne Nouvelle. During her doctorate, she taught courses in Postcolonial Studies and Literature as well as history and civilisation courses in French universities and grandes 茅coles. She joined the American University in 2014 where she teaches English and Comparative Literature courses, often drawing from her research in classical and contemporary trends in epic. Her forthcoming book Postcolonial Epic, a revised version of her thesis manuscript, identifies a contemporary avatar of classical epic鈥斺�減ostcolonial epic鈥濃�攑refigured by Herman Melville鈥檚 Moby Dick, a founding text of North America, and exemplified by Derek Walcott鈥檚 Caribbean masterpiece Omeros and Amitav Ghosh鈥檚 South Asian saga Ibis trilogy. Postcolonial Epic demonstrates the epic genre鈥檚 rich potential to articulate and interrogate postcolonial concerns of cultural hybridity, historical revisionism, and post-independence nation-building across the Global North/South divide. Professor Roy has continued to explore hybrid theoretical frameworks bridging classical and postcolonial paradigms in articles published in Commonwealth Essays and Studies and Journal of Postcolonial Writing. She is currently working on varied projects, notably a chapter for a volume on Amitav Ghosh in the MLA series 鈥淎pproaches to Teaching World Literature鈥� and entries for Le Dictionnaire des litt茅ratures de l鈥橧nde.
Education/Degrees
- Ph.D. (2013), Langues et Litt茅ratures 脡trang猫res, Universit茅 Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris III
- MA (2010), Litt茅rature G茅n茅rale et Compar茅e, Universit茅 Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris III
- MA (2007), French and Francophone Literature, University of Mumbai
- BA (2005), English Literature, University of Mumbai
Publications
Co-editor of an issue of a Journal 鈥�. 2014. With Madeleine Laurencin, Commonwealth Essays and Studies 36.2.
Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals
- 2016. Review of Karthika Na茂r鈥檚 Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata. Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 52.3: 374-5.聽聽鈥�. 2016. Review Le Postcolonial compar茅: anglophonie, francophonie, ed. Claire Joubert. 脡tudes anglaises 69.2 (2016).
- 2014. 鈥淧ostcolonial Epic Rewritings and the Poetics of Relation: A Glissantian Reading of Shashi Tharoor鈥檚 The Great Indian Novel and Derek Walcott鈥檚 Omeros鈥� in Journal of Postcolonial Writing 51.1: 59-71.
- 2014. 鈥溾�楢n Empire鈥檚 Bookends鈥� : vers une po茅tique de l鈥檌nach猫vement dans les r茅茅critures postcoloniales d鈥櫭﹑op茅es chez Shashi Tharoor et Derek Walcott鈥� in L鈥檌nachev茅 ou l鈥櫭╮e des possibles dans la litt茅rature anglophone : r茅cits ouverts et incomplets. Ed. Fran莽ois Gallix, Armelle Parey, and Isabelle Roblin. Caen: UP of Caen, 219-230.
- 2014. 鈥淪hining in 鈥楶aradoxical Splendor鈥�: The Staging of the 鈥榙ifficult Relation鈥� in Faulkner鈥檚 Sagas as a Prefiguration of Postcolonial Epic.鈥� Commonwealth Essays and Studies 37.1: 79-87.
- 2011. 鈥淧ostcolonial Engagements with the Epics: Multiple and Movable Tectonic Plates鈥� in Commonwealth Essays and Studies 34.1: 25-32.
- 2009. 鈥淭he White Tiger: The Beggar鈥檚 Booker鈥� in Commonwealth Essays and Studies 31.2: 57-67. Chapters
颁丑补辫迟别谤蝉听
- 2012. 鈥淎n Ever-Extending Dialogue with the Dead Poets: Nekuia as a Site of Dialogization in New World Epics鈥� in The Epic Expands: Rereading and widening the Epic Corpus / Relecture et ouverture du corpus 茅pique. Ed. Vincent Dussol. Brussels: Peter Lang, 267-276.
- 2011. 鈥淗ybridizing Homer: A Case of Epic Genes and Genre鈥� in Hybridity: Forms and Figures in Literature and the Visual Arts. Ed. Vanessa Guignery, Catherine Pessoa-Miquel, and Fran莽ois Specq. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 312-321.
Conferences & Lectures
- 鈥淔acets of Freedom: Social Death and Karmic Rebirth in Amitav Ghosh鈥檚 Sea of Poppies鈥�. Relations and Networks in Indian Ocean Writing. Autonomous University of Barcelona.聽November 2015.聽
- 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Postcoloniality got to do with it? Classical, Modern, and Postcolonial Perspectives on the Post- War Expatriate Experience of Neurosis鈥�. Empire and Neurosis. University of Dortmund. October 2015.聽
- 鈥淲hy Faulkner? Aporetic Nonpassage and 脡douard Glissant鈥檚 鈥榙ifficult鈥� Relation鈥�. 54th Congress of the S.A.E.S. University of Caen. May 2014
- 鈥淢oby Dick and the Narrative of the Heroic Slave: Affinities with Epic and Slave Narratives, Anticipations of Postcolonial Epic鈥�. The Ninth Melville Conference, George Washington University. June 2013.
- 鈥淟a 鈥榙茅s-h茅llenisation鈥� d鈥橦om猫re et la 鈥榙茅s-orientalisation鈥� de Ved Vyas : la r茅appropriation postcoloniale de l鈥櫭﹑op茅e chez Shashi Tharoor et Derek Walcott鈥�. Litt茅ratures et Th茅ories Postcoloniales. E.N.S. d鈥橴lm. January 2012. Invited speaker.聽
- 鈥淭he Great Indian Novel and the 鈥榣ittle鈥� Indian traditions: Situating Shashi Tharoor鈥檚 Great Indian Novel in the Pre-Colonial Traditions of Epic Allegory in India鈥�. Chotro 4: Imagining the Intangible: Languages, Literature and Visual Arts of the Indigenous, co-organised by E.A.C.L.A.L.S. and Bhasha. University of Vadodara, India. January 2012.聽
- 鈥溾�楢n Empire鈥檚 Bookends鈥� : vers une po茅tique de l鈥檌nach猫vement dans les r茅茅critures postcoloniales d鈥櫭﹑op茅es chez Derek Walcott et Shashi Tharoor鈥�. The Unfinished / L鈥檌nachev茅. University of Caen Lower Normandy. December 2011.聽
- 鈥淣ew World Epics: Multiple and Movable Tectonic Plates鈥�. 51st Congress of the S.A.E.S. La Sorbonnne Nouvelle, Paris. May 2011.聽
- 鈥淓pic Rewritings as Postcolonial Gateways: A Comparative Approach to Shashi Tharoor鈥檚 The Great Indian Novel and Derek Walcott鈥檚 Omeros鈥�. 14th Triennial E.A.C.L.A.L.S. Conference. University of Istanbul. April 2011.聽
- 鈥淎n Ever-Extending Dialogue with the Dead Poets: Nekuia as a Site of Epic Dialogization鈥�. The Epic Today / L鈥櫭塸op茅e aujourd鈥檋ui. Paul Val茅ry University-Montpellier 3. October 2010.聽
- 鈥淗ybridizing Homer: A Case of Epic Genes and Genre鈥�. Hybridity / Hybridit茅. E.N.S. de Lyon. October 2010.聽
- 鈥淓pic Horizons and Intertextuality in Moby Dick鈥�. 50th Congress of the S.A.E.S., doctorials. University of Lille. Mai 2010.聽
Affiliations
- Modern Language Association
- European Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies
- Soci茅t茅 des Anglicistes de l鈥橢nseignement Sup茅rieur
Research Areas
- Postcolonial Studies
- Indian Literature
- Classical Studies聽