Avani Udgaonkar

Thesis title: Mythological Interventions: The Monstrous Feminine in Contemporary Women's (Re)Writings

Biography

Background

I completed my undergraduate degree in English Literature from Sophia College, University of Mumbai (B.A.), and went on to do my Masters (MSc) in Literature and Modernity from the University of Edinburgh. I worked briefly as a research editor at a think tank in New Delhi before returning to the University of Edinburgh to complete my doctoral studies in contemporary mythopoesis and monstrosity.

Qualifications

Assistant Professor Qualification, English Literature, National Eligibility Test, University Grants Commission India, 2019

Responsibilities & affiliations

I was a Reader for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction (2021–2023)

I am an Assistant Editor at FORUM, the University of Edinburgh's postgraduate journal for the arts and humanities (2023–)

I coordinated the Posthuman, Nonhuman, and Monster Studies Reading Group at the School for Literatures, Languages and Cultures (2021-2023)

Undergraduate teaching

Courses Taught:  

  • Literary Studies 1A: Poetry and Drama, 2022, 2023
  • Literary Studies 1B: Prose, 2022, 2023
  • Literary Studies 2B: English Literature in the World, post 1789, 2023

Current research interests

My research focuses on the development and reimagination of three models of femininity and monstrosity—the witch, the mother and the maiden/wife—through the contemporary genre of woman-authored mythology rewritings. My thesis is a cross-cultural study of Greek, Old Norse, and Hindu mythology rewritings to investigate how these texts utilise the narrative and affective processes of feminist mythopoesis to upend and deconstruct traditional models of the monstrous feminine on a global scale. By utilising different mythologies to examine each of these figures, this thesis underscores both, the shared and global scale of these revisionist tendencies, as well as the importance of accounting for cultural politics and nuance when discussing the feminist potential of the genre.

Past research interests

In the past, I have worked on fairy tales and their rewritings, contemporary performance poetry, trauma studies, and the fragmentation of the body.

Papers delivered

“Seductive, Mad, Monstrous?: Circe and Medea in Contemporary Revisionism”: Mythologium, International Society for Mythology (ISM) Annual Conference, 2024

“Swords and/or Seduction: The Intertwining of Sex and Violence in Goddesses of War”: International Association for Comparative Mythology (IACM) Annual Conference, 2023

“Beware the Witch in the Wood: Revisiting the Punishment of the Monstrous Feminine in Myths”: London Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies conference on Myth Archetypes and Symbols, 2023

“Must Mother Know Best?: Disrupting Cultural Expectations of Mothering by Retelling Myths”: London Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies conference on Discourses on Motherhood, 2023

“The Beautiful and Damned: Re-engaging with the Monstrous Feminine in Madeline Miller’s Circe”: Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) Annual Conference, 2023

“Women Rewriting: Using Affect to Re-signify Monstrosity”: Popular Culture Association (PCA) National Conference, 2022

“Affect as an Agent of Cultural Resignification in Myth Retellings”: American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Meeting, 2022

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