Rachit Anand holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University at Buffalo, SUNY. His research and teaching focus on Postcolonial Studies, Global Anglophone Literature, World Literature, and Psychoanalysis. His first book project, The Shadow of a Word: Thinking Allegorically with J.M. Coetzee, theorizes the function of allegorical thinking in relation to apartheid ideology in the works of J.M. Coetzee. His research articles have appeared in Bloomsbury and BRILL (forthcoming) edited volumes, as well as in journals such as Cultural Critique and English in Africa. He also co-edited the latest issue of Penumbr(a), titled “Psychoanalysis from Elsewhere,” crisscrossing psychoanalysis and postcolonialism.
Education
- 2023, Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, University at Buffalo, State University of New York
- 2015, M.Phil. in English Literature, University of Delhi, India
- 2013, M.A. in English Literature, University of Delhi, India
- 2009, B.A. (H). in English Literature, University of Delhi, India
Research Interests
Global Anglophone Literature, Postcolonial Studies, World Literature, Psychoanalysis, Black Studies, and Critical Theory, especially in relation to German Idealism.
Current Research Activities/Projects
“The Shadow of a Word: Thinking Allegorically with J.M. Coetzee” (Book Project)
“A Rootless Language: How to Read Global English” (Research Article / Under Review)
“On Idleness” (Research Article / Under Review).
Selected Publications
Edited Chapters
Anand, Rachit. ‘“Extra-Poetics” of the English Language in The Pole,’ The Pole(s): Coetzee and Others, edited by Robert Kusek, BRILL (In Press).
Anand, Rachit. “The Lost Object: Abandoned in the Vastness.” Assured Self, Restive Self, edited by Prasanta Chakravarty, Bloomsbury Academic, 2023, pp. 288-306.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Anand, Rachit. “Coetzee and His Man: Rethinking the Problematics of Form and Meaning in Dusklands,” English in Africa (Special Issue), Vol 52 (No. 1 and 2), 2025, edited by Herman Wittenberg and Carol Clarkson, pp. 65-83 https://doi.org/10.4314/eia.v52i1.4
Anand, Rachit. “Burrow Time: Allegorical Thought and the Apartheid Mind.” Cultural Critique, vol. 123, Spring, 2024, pp. 52-86, https://doi.org/10.1353/cul.2024.a919742
Edited Volume
Anand, Rachit and Fernanda Negrete, editors. “Psychoanalysis from Elsewhere,” Penumbr(a), A Journal of Psychoanalysis and Modernity, vol. 4, 2025.
Review Essays
Anand, Rachit. “Anteaesthetics: Black Aesthesis and the Critique of Form,” Rizvana Bradley (Review Essay).” Penumbr(a), A Journal of Psychoanalysis and Modernity, vol. 4, 2025.
Anand, Rachit. “Free Indirect by Timothy Bewes (Review Essay).” The Comparatist, vol. 48, 2024, pp. 350-58, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/com.2024.a940125.
Book Review
Anand, Rachit. “Modernism after Postcolonialism: Toward a Nonterritorial Comparative Literature by Mara de Gennaro (Book Review).” The Comparatist, vol. 46, 2022, pp. 312-314, https://doi.org/10.1353/com.2022.0020.