Prof. Dr. Vijay Mishra

Vijay C. Mishra is the invited TAS Visiting Professor for the winter term 2008-9. He is co-teaching two graduate seminars and delivers four public lectures.
Vijay C. Mishra is Professor of English Literature at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. He holds doctorates from the ANU and Oxford. Among his publications are: Dark Side of the Dream:Australian Literature and the Postcolonial Mind (1991), The Gothic Sublime (1994), Devotional Poetics and the Indian Sublime (1998), Bollywood Cinema: Temples of Desire (2002) and The Literature of the Indian Diaspora; Theorizing the Diasporic Imaginary (2007). He is currently working on an Australia Research Council funded project entitled ‘Salman Rushdie Annotated.’ He plays the Indian harmonium, is a Beatles fan, and reads Sanskrit.

Public Lectures: 
'A Flavour of Mortality': Lies in Literature
06. November 2008, 10 Uhr c.t., Geb. C5.3 Raum 120

'Rushdie-Wushdie: Salman Rushdie’s Hobson-Jobson'
13. November 2008, 10 Uhr c.t., Geb. C5.3 Raum 120

'Spectres of Sentimentality: The Bollywood' 
13. November 2008, 14 Uhr c.t., Geb. C5.3 Raum 120

'The Religious Sublime'
 20. November 2008, 10 Uhr c.t., Geb. C5.3 Raum 120

CV:
BA (Wellington), BA (Macquarie), MA (Sydney), PhD (ANU), DPhil (Oxford)

Research:

• 18th Century English literature;
• literary history and theory;
• Australian and postcolonial literature;
• Indian literature and film;
• diasporas;
• narrative fiction and film.

Selected Publications:
Major Books:
Dark Side of the Dream: Australian Literature and the Postcolonial Mind. Sydney: George Allen and Unwin, 1991. [with Bob Hodge]. Sections anthologized in Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin eds. Postcolonial Studies Anthology (London: Routledge, 1997), Gregory Castle ed. Postcolonial Discourses An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001). 

The Gothic Sublime. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994. [SUNY Series on the Sublime ]. Foundation  Volume.

Devotional Poetics and the Indian Sublime. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998.

Bollywood Cinema: Temples of Desire. New York and London: Routledge, 2002.

The Literature of the Indian Diaspora: Theorizing the Diasporic Imaginary. London and New York: Routledge, 2007.  

Minor  Books/Monographs
Waves, An Anthology of Verse for Schools. Auckland: Heinemann, 1975.  2nd revised edition, 1978.

A Companion to WAVES. Auckland: Heinemann, 1976.

Rama's Banishment:  A Centenary Tribute to the Fiji Indians 1879-1979, edited with an Introduction and Epilogue. London and Auckland: Heinemann, 1979.

The Diasporic Imaginary and the Indian Diaspora [Asian Studies Institute  Occasional Lecture 2]. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington Asian Studies Institute, 2005. ISBN 0-473-10651-5

Bollywood Cinema: A Critical Genealogy [Asian Studies Institute Working Paper 20]. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington Asian Studies Institute, 2006. ISBN  10-0-473-11621-9.

Chapters in Books
"Indo-Fijian Fiction and the Girmit Ideology." In C. Tiffin ed. South Pacific Images. Brisbane:  U.Q.P., 1978:.53–67.  Reprinted in Subramani ed. The Indo-Fijian Experience. Brisbane:  U.Q.P., 1979: 171–183 and again in Paul Sharrad ed. Readings in Pacific Literature.Wollongong: New Literatures Research Centre, 1993:  91–101.

"The Girmit Ideology Re-examined." In Satendra Nandan ed. Language and Literature [ACLALS 1980 Proceedings] University of the South Pacific, 1983: 240–253.

"The Burning Bride:  Suffering in Union." In Kapil N. Tiwari ed. Suffering:  Indian Perspectives. Delhi:  Motilal Banarsidass, 1986: 237–261.

"Two Truths are Told:  Tagore's Kabir." In W.H. McLeod and K. Schomer eds. The Sants:  Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India. Berkeley:  Berkeley Religious Studies Series;  Delhi:  Motilal Banarsidass, 1987: 167–180.

"The Texts of 'Mother India'." In Helen Tiffin and Stephen Slemon eds. After Europe:  Critical Theory and Post-Colonial Writing. Sydney: Dangaroo Press, 1989: 119–137.

"Making Revolutionary Act Now." [With Imre Salusinszky and Alan Roughley] In Robert D. Denham ed.  Northrop Frye: A World in a Grain of Sand .New York: Peter Lang, 199:  249–257.

"The Great India Epic and Peter Brook." In David Williams ed. Peter Brookand the Mahabharata. London: Routledge, 1991:195–205.

"Kabir and the Bhakti Tradition.” In G.M. Bailey and I. Kesarcodi-Watson eds.  Bhakti Studies.Delhi:  Sterling Publishers, 1992:182 – 235.

"Kabir's Devotionalism." (A translation with extensive notes of P.N. Tiwari's "Kabir ka sadhna") In  Bhakti Studies: 159–181.

 "The Girmit Ideology Revisited." In  S. Nelson ed.  Reworlding: Essays on the Literature of the Indian Diaspora. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1992: 1–12.

"What is Post(-)colonialism?"[with Bob Hodge] In John Frow and Meaghan Morris (eds.) Australian Cultural Studies. A Reader. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1993:30–46. Reprinted in Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman eds. Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory. London:  Harvester/Wheatsheaf; New York: Columbia University Press, 1993: 276–290.

"Criticism[Pacific Writing]" In Eugene Benson and L.W. Conolly eds. The Routledge Encyclopaedia of Post-colonial Literatures in English. London: Routledge 1994: I: 309–311.

"Defining the Self." In Wimal Dissanayake ed. Narratives of Agency. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996: 117–150.

"New Lamps for Old: Diasporic Theory." In M. Mukherjee and H. Trivedi eds. Interrogating Post-colonialism. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1996: 67–85.

“Mourning Becomes Diaspora.” In Jacqueline Lo et al eds. Impossible Selves: CulturalReadings of Identity. Melbourne: Scholarly Publishing, 1999: 46–71.

‘From Vijay Mishra, “Postcolonial Differend: Diasporic Narratives of  Salman Rushdie.”’ In Peter Childs ed.  Post-Colonial Theory and English Literature. A Reader. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999: 429–438.

“Multiculturalism (1997).” In Kate McGowan ed.  The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Studies. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000: 344 –373.

“Diasporas and the Art of Impossible Mourning.” In Makarand Paranjape ed. In Diaspora: Theories, Histories, Texts. Delhi: Indialog Publications, 2001: 24–51.

“The Feudal Postcolonial: The Fiji Crisis.” In Makarand Paranjape ed. In Diaspora:  Theories, Histories, Texts. Delhi; Indialog Publications, 2001: 319–340.

“Race, Speight and the Crisis in  Fiji.” In Brij Lal and Michael Pretes eds. Coup. Reflections onthe Political Crisis in Fiji: Canberra: Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, 2001: 60–64.

“Multiculturalism (1998).” In Kate McGowan ed. The Year’s Work in Critical and CulturalTheory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001: 227–245.

“Crimes and Punishments.” In Gregory Castle ed. Postcolonial Discourses. An Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001: 331–356. Reprinted from Dark Side of the Dream (with Bob Hodge) 1991.

“Multiculturalism (1999).” In Kate McGowan ed. The Year’s Work in Critical and CulturalTheory.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001: 196 – 215.

“Multiculturalism (2000).” In Kate McGowan ed. The Year’s Work in Critical and CulturalTheory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002: 226–258.

“Postcolonial Differend: Diasporic Narratives of Salman Rushdie.” In Harold Bloom ed. Salman Rushdie [Bloom’s Modern Critical Views]. Broomall PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 2003: 63–98.  Reprinted in Wendy Faith and Pamela McCallum eds. Linked Histories:Postcolonial Studies in a Globalized World. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2006: 111-144.

“Multiculturalism (2001).” In  Martin McQuillan ed. The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.: 179–202.

"Multiculturalism (2002).” In Martin McQuillan ed. The Year’s Work in Critical and CulturalTheory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004: 180–198.

“Postmodern Racism.” In Derek Robbins ed. J-F Lyotard [SAGE Masters in Modern Social Thought Series] London: Sage Publications, 2004. 3 Vols.

“Multiculturalism (2003)”. In Martin McQuillan ed. The Year’s Work in Critical and CulturalTheory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005: 182–204.

"Traumatic Memory, Mourning  V S Naipaul.” In Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn and Vera Alexander eds.  Peripheral Centres, Central Peripheries: Indiaand its Diaspora(s).  Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2006: 129–155.

“Multiculturalism (2004).” In Andrew Hadfied, Peter Boxall, Lindsay Smith and Céline Surprenant eds. The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006: 292–310.

“Voices from the Diaspora.” In Brij V. Lal (gen. editor) The Encyclopedia of the IndianDiaspora. Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Paris: Editions Didier Millet, 2006: 120–139.

“Cool Britannia.” In as above: 344.

“Salman Rushdie and Bollywood Cinema.” In Abdulrazak Gurnah ed. The CambridgeCompanion to Salman Rushdie. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007: 11-28.

“Multiculturalism (2005)” In Andrew Hadfied, Peter Boxall, Lindsay Smith and Céline Surprenant eds. The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007: 146–164.

“Bollywood.” In Wolfgang Donbach ed. The International Encyclopaedia of Communication. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008. Forthcoming.

“Re-mapping Bollywood Cinema.” In James Donald and Michael Renov eds. The SAGE Handbook of Film Studies. London: Sage Publications, 2008. Forthcoming.

Journal Articles
"The Literary Reputation of Charles Harpur, 1868-1900." Southerly 4 (December, 1976): 432–441.

"Early Literary Responses to Charles Harpur." Westerly 4 (December, 1977): 88–93.

"Medieval Hindi Devotional Poetry." Journal of Studies in Mysticism 1.1 (Autumn, 1977): 1–39.

"Mythic Fabulation:  V.S. Naipaul.” New Literature Review 4 (1978): 59–65.

"Charles Harpur:  The Years of Controversy, 1853–1858." Australian Literary Studies 8.4  (October, 1978): 446–456.

"Two Truths are Told:  Tagore's Kabir." South Asia [New Series] 1.2 (September, 1978): 80–90.

"White's Poetics:  Patrick White through Mikhail Bakhtin." Span 18 (April, 1984): 54–75.

"Indo-Fijian Fiction:  Towards an Interpretation." World Literature Written in English  16.2 (November, 1977), 395–408.

"Another Stubborn Structure:  the Gita as a Literary Text." The Journal of Studies in the Bhagavad-Gita II (1982), 89–105.

"The Ramacaritamanas of Tulsidasa:  The Rewriting of a Sanskrit Epic." Indian Literature 21.3 (May-June, 1978): 89–108.

"The Dialectic of Maya and Principles of Narrative Structure in Indian Literature." ACLALS Bulletin [Fifth Series], 2 (January, 1979): 47–60.

"Rama's Banishment:  A Theoretical Footnote to Indo-Fijian Writing." World Literature Written in English 19.2  (Autumn, 1980): 242–256.

"Sufis, Nath-yogis and Indian Literary Texts:  Some Lines of Congruence." Religious Traditions 6.1 (1985): 42–65.

"Towards a Theoretical Critique of Bombay Cinema." Screen, 26.3-4  (May-August, 1985): 133–146.

"Text, Textuality and Interpretation:  An Interview with Michael Riffaterre." Southern Review 18.1 (March, 1985): 109–119.

"Critical Practice and Literary Theory:  An Interview with Geoffrey Hartman." Southern Review 18.2 (July, 1985), 189–200.

"The Great Indian Epic and Peter Brook." Meanjin 47. 2 (Winter 1988): 343–352.

"David Shulman and the Laughter of South Indian Kings and Clowns." South Asia [New Series] 10.1 (June 1987): 83–88.

"Filmic Narrative:  Text and Transformation in Bombay Cinema." Continuum  2.1 (1988/89): 9–43.

"Aboriginal Representations in Australian Texts." Continuum 2.1 1 (1988/89): 165–88.

"The Actor as Parallel Text in Bombay Cinema." Quarterly Review of Film and Video, XI (1989): 49–67.  [with P. Jeffery and B. Shoesmith]

"The Centre Cannot Hold: Bailey, Indian Culture and the Sublime." South Asia, [New Series] 12.1 (June 1989),:103–114.

"Ni Sa Moce/Salaam Fiji." Meanjin 48.3 (Spring, 1989): 481–494.

"Little India." Meanjin 49.4 (Summer, 1990): 607-618.

"What is Post(-)colonialism?" (with Bob Bodge)  Textual Practice  5.3 (Winter, 1991): 399–414.

"Decentering History: Some Versions of Bombay Cinema." East-West Film Journal 6.1 (January 1992): 111 – 155.

"Satyajit Ray 1921 – 1982." Continuum  5.2 (1992):  385 – 389.

"Temples of Fire: The Incomparable Tagore." Span 34 & 35 (1992 -93):  97 – 108.

"After Naipaul : An Indian Journey." Span 34 & 35 (1992 – 93): 211 –225.

"Diasporas, Migrancy, Borders." Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences  2.1(1995): 147–164.

"Postcolonial Differend: Diasporic Narratives of  Salman Rushdie." Ariel, 26. 3 (July 1995): 7–45.

"Postmodern Racism." Meanjin 55. 2 (Winter 1996): 346–357.

"The Diasporic Imaginary: Theorizing the Indian Diaspora." Textual Practice 10. 3 (1996): 421–447.

"(B)ordering Naipaul: Indenture History and Diasporic Poetics." Diaspora: Journal of Transnational Studies  5. 2 (1996): 187–236.

“ The Feudal Postcolonial: The Fiji Crisis.” Meanjin 59.3 (2000): 146–165.

“Lives in Halves: A Homage to Vidiadhar Naipaul.” Meanjin  61.1 (2002): 123–126.

“Vidiadhar and I: A Homage.” Evam: Forum on Indian Representations 1. 1&2 (2002): 248–255.

“What was Multiculturalism?” PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies. 2.2 (2005), 47pp.

“What was Postcolonialism?” [with Bob Hodge] New Literary History 36. 3 (Summer 2005):  375–402.

“The Influence of Kalidasa on Shakespeare: The Story of a Lie.” Double Dialogues 9 (April 2008). Electronic journal on line.

Other Articles, Reviews and Essays
"In Search of Kabir: A Review Essay." Journal of Studies in Mysticism  1.2 (Spring, 1978): 159–161.

"Negotiating an Autobiography:  Patrick White's Flaws in the Glass." Span 14 (April, 1982): 25–32.

"Maithilisarana Gupta." (Review) Review Projector (India) (May-June, 1983): 11–13.

"The Quiet Coup." Arena 80 (September, 1987): 25–31.

"The Formulaic Text: The Poetry of Bruce Dawe." English in Australia 82 (December 1987): 37–46.

Review of Mudrooroo Narogin, Writing from the Fringe: A Study of Modern Aboriginal Literature (Melbourne: Hyland House), Westerly 3 (September 1990): 91–93 [with Bob Hodge.

Review of Ralph J. Crane,  Inventing India, Span  31 (1990): 93–98.

"Semiotics and History. Entering a No-go Zone with Patrick Wolfe." Meanjin 51.4 (Summer 1992): 877 – 883. [with Bob Hodge]

Anthropology and/or/as 'Cultural Studies'?  A Response to Trigger." Anthropological Forum 6.4 (1993): 614–618.  [with Bob Hodge]

Review of Kate Teltscher, India Inscribed,  Asian Studies  Review (Australia) 20.2 (November 1996): 206–209.

Review of Harish Trivedi, Colonial Transactions,  Ariel 29.1(1998): 165–170.

Introduction to Jane Chong, My Love Why Cry (translated by Dr Pan). Singapore: Singapore Association of Writers,  1998.

“Reading India” Review of Lawrence A. Babb & Susan S. Wadley eds. Media and theTransformation of Religion in South Asia and Saskia Kersenboom, Word, Sound, Image: The Life of a Tamil Text, Canadian Literature 157 (Summer 1998): 129–131.

“And Other Stories” Review of Griffin Ondaatje ed. The Monkey King and Other Stories, Yasmin Ladha, Lion’s Granddaughter and Other Stories, Shauna Singh Baldwin, English Lessons and Other Stories, Canadian Literature 158 (Autumn 1998): 167–170.

Review of Thomas R. Trautmann, Aryans and British India, Anthropological Forum 8. 1&2 (1998): 105–108.

Review Article: “Dismantling Postcolonialism: Review of Arun Mukherjee,  Postcolonialism: MyLiving.” The Toronto Review 17.3 (Summer 1999): 91–95.

Review of  Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak, A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, Textual Practice 14.2 (2000): 412–421.

"Unfixed Selves.” Review of Ian Rashid, Rienzi Crusz and Suwanda Sugunasiri CanadianLiterature 169 (Summer 2001): 169 – 172.

“Dilkusha.” In Brij Lal ed. Bittersweet: An Indo-Fijian Experience. Canberra: Pandanus Books, 2004: 141–162.

"No Boxed Gifts.”  Overland 181 (2005): 73–82.
 
Review of Francoise Lionnet and Mei-shuh-Shih Transnationalism,  Intersections Issue 13, August 2005.