Mathura Umachandran *18

I am a graduate student on the Literature and Philology track. My dissertation focuses on the constellation of Theodor Adorno, Erich Auerbach and Hannah Arendt. My interest in these figures is their turning to and constructions of antiquity, in making critique of modernity.   This project has arisen from a broader interest in the place of antiquity in the German intellectual tradition, especially in the twentieth century. 

At Princeton, I am an active participant in the Postclassicisms network. Under its aegis have participated in graduate conferences held at Princeton and Cambridge University. I have also used the network to co-organize a three-day graduate conference on the work of Anne Carson, called ‘Decreations’, and presented a paper on Adorno and Benjamin’s in 2015 at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, in Brazil. I have also co-convened a classical reception reading group, within the department.  

I hold a B.A. in Lit. Hum. from Wadham College, Oxford, M.A. in Reception of the Classical world from University College, London and M.A. from Princeton.