Mahitosh MANDAL Assistant Professor Department of English Presidency University 86/1 College Street, Kolkata 700073 West Bengal, India [email protected]
EDUCATION
Since 2012: PhD (ongoing), Department of English, Jadavpur University Topic: Swami Vivekananda 2013 – 2014: Certificate course in French, School of Languages, Jadavpur University Jan-Apr. 2011: Certificate course in Film Appreciation, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University 2010 – 2012: M Phil, Department of English, Jadavpur University Dissertation title: ‘A Psychoanalytical Study of the Man-Woman Relationship in the Novels of John Fowles’ 2008 – 2010: MA in English, (First class, 69.75%) Dept. of English, Jadavpur University 2005 – 2008: BA in English (Hons.), (First class, 61.89%) Dept. of Eng., Jadavpur University 2003 – 2005: Higher Secondary in Arts (West Bengal Board), Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, Kolkata
LANGUAGES
Fluent in Bengali and English Reading competence in Sanskrit, Hindi, and French
COURSES TAUGHT
Literature and Psychoanalysis Classical Greek and Roman Drama Arthurian Romance Shakespeare Augustan Literature Modern and Postmodern Literature Literary and Cultural Theory Bengal Renaissance
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY AND GRANTS
Since 2012: Assistant Professor, Department of English, Presidency University, Kolkata, India 2010-2012: Guest Faculty, Postgraduate Department of English, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, Kolkata June 2011: Junior Research Fellowship, University Grants Commission, India 2011-2012: Rajib Gandhi National Fellowship, University Grants Commission, India 2010-2011: Merit-cum-Means Scholarship, Government of West Bengal
PAPERS PRESENTED OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS (2009-2014)
1. ‘“Eyes a man could drown in”: Disguise and Falsehood in Fowles’, presented at the Marginalised Mainstream Conference held at the Institute of English Studies, university of London, UK (November 2014)
2. ‘Reading Vivekananda, Reading Postmodernism: Some Problems and Possibilities’, presented at Vidyanagar College, West Bengal (December 2013)
3. ‘Digital Humanities and Man’, presented at the Digital Humanities in India Conference organized by Presidency University, Kolkata (September 2012)
4. “Engaging the ‘Criminal Other’ in Habib Tanvir’s Plays,” presented at the two- day UGC sponsored National Seminar on Contemporary Trends in Indian Drama: Theory, Practice and Criticism organized by the Department of English, Rishi Bankim Chandra College, Naihati, in collaboration with Department of English, West Bengal State University, Barasat (March 2012)
5. “‘The world as a single nest’: The Postcolonial, the European Critical Dialectic, and Beyond,” presented at DRS CU Seminar on The Post Postcolonial: Theory and Text held at the University of Calcutta (February 2012)
6. “Sri Ramakrishna and the Concept of Truth,” presented at the International Conference on Sri Ramakrishna’s Ideas and Our Times organized by Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur (January 2012)
7. “‘The eyes a man could drown in’: Filmic Gestures in the Novels of John Fowles,” presented at the two-day National Seminar on Genre organized by the Department of English, Krishnagar Govt. College (January 2012)
8. “Still Full of Colours: Barak Surama Folk Culture,” presented at the Tenth Biennial International Conference of Comparative Literature Association of India on the theme of Sociological Imagination in Comparative Perspective: Languages, Cultures and Literatures held at the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar (March, 2011)
9. “‘Terror in a square of cloth’: Indian Culture through the Eyes of John Maters,” presented at the UGC Sponsored two-day National Seminar on Indian Culture through British Eyes organized by the N S Patel Arts College, Anand, Gujarat (March 2011)
10. “‘Flame Ignites Flame’: Revolution in Rabindranath and Llosa,” presented at the two-day National Seminar on Indian and Latin American Modernities: Self, Exile, Revolution organized by the Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University and the Centre for Advanced Studies in Latin American Literatures and Cultures (March 2011)
11. “Rabindranath through the Eyes of Tan lee,” presented at the two-day National Seminar on Tagore: In the Light of Twentieth Century organized by NEEV Foundation at Indumati Sabhagriha, Jadavpur University (February 2011)
12. “’Here we are down in a hole’: Exploration of the ‘Other Spaces’ in Samuel Beckett,” presented at the UGC Sponsored two-day National Seminar on Heterotopologies: Redefining Space and Cultural Imaginaries organized by the University of Burdwan (February 2011)
13. “Doing Things with Narratives: The Performative in The Thousand and One Nights” presented at the All India Students’ Seminar on Performance, Text, Event, organized by the Department of English, Jadavpur University (March 2010)
14. “Desire and language in Blake’s Poetry,” presented at the Annual International Conference of the Centre for Studies in Romantic Literature (CSRL) held at H L Roy Bulilding, Jadavpur University (February, 2010)
15. “Comedy and Magic: Oberon’s Magic Flower and Prospero’s Magic Wand,” presented at the First Annual Department of English Students’ Seminar in memory of Professor Debabrata Mukherjee on the theme of Comic Imagination in drama organized by the Department of English, Jadavpur University (March 2009)
WORKSHOPS, SEMINARS, CONFERENCES
I was the Joint Convener of the two-day UGC sponsored National Seminar on “Engaging the ‘Other’ in South Asian Literature in English: Problems and Politics of Representation” organized by the Department of English, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, Kolkata, in collaboration with Sahitya Akademi, Kolkata, on 17 and 18 February 2012
PUBLICATIONS
Published
Mandal, M. (2011) ‘Engaging the “Other” in Ramakrishna’s Philosophy’, Narendrapur Samachar, Ramakrishna Mission Ashram Narendrapur, Kolkata
Mandal, M. (2013) ‘Sri Ramakrisha and Our Times’, Sri Ramakrishna’s Ideas and Our Times, ed. Swarup Roy et al. Belur Math, Howrah, pp. 353-360
Mandal, M. and Swami Suparnananda, (2012) Swami Lokeswarananda: The Person and Personality, Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Ashram Praktani, Narendrapur, 52pp
Mandal, M. (2011) ‘Science, Love, Literature: John Donne and Constance Naden,’ Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities Volume 3 No 1, 2011 (http://rupkatha.com/v3n1.php)
Mandal, M. (2014) ‘A House for Taslima: Reflections on an “Exilic” Intellectual’, The Diasporic Dilemma: Exile, Alienation And Belonging, eds. Pradipta Mukherjee and Sajal K. Bhattacharya. Creative Books, New Delhi, pp. 118-133
Mandal, M. and Maity, D. (2014) ‘The Magic Ring Found and Lost: Divakaruni's Arranged Marriage and the Problems of Representation’. Indian Fiction in English: Mapping the Contemporary Literary Landscape, eds. Himadri Lahiri, Sajal K. Bhattacharya et al. Creative Books, New Delhi, 298-311
Forthcoming
Mandal, M. and Bhattacharjee, A., Revisiting Rabindranath and His Santiniketan: The Epitome of Joy and Peace. Tagore Foundation, New Delhi.
INVITED TALKS
A speech on ‘Importance of Radhakrishnan’ delivered on the Teachers’ Day at Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (September 2011)
A Speech on the ‘Historicity of Jewish and Christian Culture’ delivered at Brahmananda Bhaban, Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Narendrapur (December 2011)
A talk on ‘Aspects of Structuralism’ delivered at the Department of English, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur (August 2010)
A talk on ‘Outline of Greek tragedy’ delivered at the Department of History, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur (November 2010)
A talk on Twentieth-century Drama (with special reference to Anotnin Artaud and Samuel Beckett) delivered to a class of students from West Bengal University of Technology, at the NITS, Kolkata (October 2010)