Nidesh Lawtoo
Professor Modern/Contemporary European Literature and Culture
- Name
- Prof.dr. N. Lawtoo
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2644
- n.lawtoo@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-0083-3208
Nidesh Lawtoo is Professor of Modern and Contemporary European Literature and Culture at Leiden University.
Trained in comparative literature, continental philosophy, and film/media studies, I held positions at the University of Lausanne, Johns Hopkins University, and KU Leuven, where I led an ERC-funded project titled Homo Mimeticus: Theory and Criticism (2017-2022). My interdisciplinary work reframes the ancient concept of “mimesis” beyond realism by exploring the modern/contemporary avatars of imitation, including identification, influence, mimicry, contagion, simulation, mirror neurons, plasticity, among others. Areas of interest include philosophy and literature, European modernism, subject formation, Nietzsche and his legacy, science fiction film, political theory, poststructuralism, posthumanism, and environmental studies. The general goal of my research is to open up the new transdisciplinary field of “mimetic studies” to account for the metamorphoses of homo mimeticus in the present and future.
For the general audience I have started dialogues on imitation with key figures in literary studies (J. Hillis Miller), philosophy (Jean-Luc Nancy), political theory (William Connolly) feminist philosophy (Adriana Cavarero), among others, available on the HOM Videos Channel.
Academic publications include numerous articles and chapters, edited specials issues and volumes as well as four monographs that set philosophical, literary, and political foundations for mimeticus studies, including, most recently, Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation (Leuven UP 2022, Open Access). I am currently PI of a project on contemporary feminist philosophy titled Gendered Mimesis and I’m finalizing a diptych on the contagious and cathartic effects of (new) media violence, from Greek tragedy to video games.
Ancillary activities:
Part-time Research Professor at the Institute of Philosophy (HIW), KU Leuven, and PI of the Gendered Mimesis project
Key Publications
- Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2022)
- The Mimetic Condition, ed. N. Lawtoo, CounterText 8.1 (2022)
- Posthuman Mimesis ed. N. Lawtoo, Journal of Posthumanism 2.2 (2022, Open Access)
- (New) Fascism: Contagion, Community, Myth (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2019; Italian trans. Mimesis ed.)
- Poetics and Politics: with Lacoue-Labarthe, ed. N. Lawtoo, MLN
- Conrad’s Shadow: Catastrophe, Mimesis, Theory (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2016; Adam Gillon Award)
- The Phantom of the Ego: Modernism and the Mimetic Unconscious (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2013).
- Violence and the Oedipal Unconscious (Michigan University Press 2023)
Scholarships, Grants, Awards
- 2020-ongoing C1 (Internal Funding) KU Leuven. Project title: Gendered Mimesis: Rethinking the Feminist Subject
- 2016-2022 ERC (European Research Council), Starting Grant. Project Title: Homo Mimeticus: Theory and Criticism
- 2018 Adam Gillon Book Award for best book in Conrad Studies, Joseph Conrad Society of America
- 2013-2016 SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) Fellowship for Advanced Postdoc Mobility, Johns Hopkins University.
- 2009 Bruce Harkness Young Conrad Scholars Award, Joseph Conrad Society of America.
- 2007-2008 Visiting Fellowship to Pembroke College, University of Cambridge.
- 2006-2007 Chester William Fritz Scholarship, University of Washington.
- 2004-2005 Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship University of Washington.
- 2002 Prix de Faculté, Université de Lausanne.
Professor Modern/Contemporary European Literature and Culture
- Faculty of Humanities
- Centre for the Arts in Society
- Literatuurwetenschap
- Lawtoo N. (2023), The angel as host: J. Hillis Miller's last flight , Symplokē 30(1-2): 223-251.
- Lawtoo N. (2023), The insurrection moment: intoxication, conspiracy, assault, Theory & Event 26(1): 5-35.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Homo mimeticus: a new theory of imitation. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Jean-Luc Nancy: Tal vez la democracia sea una mímesis sin modelo = Jean-Luc Nancy: perhaps democracy is a mimesis without a model, Revista de Occidente (493): 99-126.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Phd-thesis promotor: Hadikoesoemo, N.; Figurations of the Mime. Between Imitation and Production in Derrida, Lacoue-Labarthe and Irigaray. Leuven, (KU Leuven). [other].
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Posthumanism and mimesis: an introduction, Journal of Posthumanism 2(2): 87-100.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Posthuman mimesis I: concepts for the mimetic turn, Journal of Posthumanism 2(2): 101-114.
- Hayles K.N. & Lawtoo N. (2022), Posthuman mimesis II - connections: a dialogue between Nidesh Lawtoo and Katherine Hayles, Journal of Posthumanism 2(2): 181-191.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Posthuman Mimesis: special issue Member of editorial staff Journal of Posthumanism 2(2).
- Nancy J.L. & Lawtoo N. (2022), The CounterText interview: Jean-Luc Nancy Mimesis: a Singular-Plural Concept, CounterText 8(1): 23-45.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), The Mimetic Condition: Theory and Concepts , CounterText 8(1): 1-22.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Caillois on mimicry, Effects 2022(3): 20-33.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Bataille et la communauté mimétique, Europe Revue Litteraire Mensuelle (1121): 99-119.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Review of: Alloa E. This obscure thing called transparency: politics and aesthetics of a contemporary metaphor, Tijdschrift voor Filosofie : 350-355.
- Lawtoo N. & Nancy J.L. (6 January 2022), Entrevista a Jean-Luc Nancy: Tal vez la democracia sea una mímesis sin modelo for Revista de occidente [interview].
- Lawtoo N. (2022), An interview with Nidesh Lawtoo, University of Leuven. Interviewed by Keohane K. for Irish Journal of Sociology [interview].
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Birth of homo mimeticus: Nietzsche, genealogy, communication, CounterText 8(1): 61-87.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Conrad on epidemics: from the shadow-line to Covid-19 (and back). In: Elze J. (Ed.) Realism: aesthetics, experiments, politics. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. 81-104.
- Lawtoo N. (2022), Viral Mimesis: the Patho(-) Logies of the Coronavirus, Paragrana 30(2): 155-168.
- Lawtoo N. (2021), The human chameleon: zelig, Nietzsche and the banality of evil, Film-Philosophy 25(3): 272-295.
- Lawtoo N. (2021), Black mirrors: reflecting (on) hypermimesis, Philosophy Today 65(3): 523-547.
- Lawtoo N. (2021), De kracht van mimesis: Nidesh Lawtoo’s perspectif op het werk van William Connolly. In: Alma H. & Suransky C. (Eds.) Verwevenheid: essays over een verbindend humanisme. Brussel: VUBPress. 149-168.
- Lawtoo N. (2021), Mimesis: Un Concept Singulier Pluriel, entretien avec Jean-Luc Nancy, l'esprit createur 61(2): 147-167.
- Lawtoo N. & Cavarero A. (2021), Mimetic inclinations: a dialogue with Adriana Cavarero. In: Benso S. & Roncalli E. (Eds.) Contemporary Italian women philosophers: stretching the art of thinking. Albany: SUNY. 183-199.
- Connolly W.E. & Lawtoo N. (2021), Planetary Conrad: William Connolly and Nidesh Lawtoo in dialogue for The Conradian: The Journal of the Joseph Conrad Society (UK) [interview].
- Lawtoo N. (2021), The case of Eichmann restaged: arendt, evil, and the complexity of mimesis, Political Research Quarterly 74(2): 479-490.
- Lawtoo N. (2020), The critic and the mime J. Hillis Miller in dialogue with Nidesh Lawtoo, The Minnesota Review (95): 93-119.
- Lawtoo N. (2020), The excess of mimesis: reframing the picture of Dorian Gray, Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas 18(2): 213-238.
- N. Lawtoo (2020), (Neo) Fascismo: Contagio, comunità, mito [(New) Fascism: Contagion, Comunity, Myth] (translation: Lawtoo N.). Milan: Mimesis Edizioni.
- Lawtoo N. (2020), Lawrence contra (new) fascism, College Literature 47(2): 287-317.
- Lawtoo N. (2020), "This Is No Simulation!" : Hypermimesis from being John Malkovich to Her, Quarterly Review of Film and Video 37(2): 116-144.
- Lawtoo N. (2019), The Shadow of the Symposium: Sameness and Difference Replayed, MLN 134(5): 898-909.
- Lawtoo N. (2019), (New) Fascism : Contagion, Community, Myth . East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
- Lawtoo N. (2019), The double meanings of violence: catharsis and mimesis. In: Lauwaert L., Smith L.K. & Sternad C. (Eds.) Violence and meaning. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 137-165.
- Lawtoo N. (2019), The powers of mimesis: simulation, encounters, comic fascism, Theory & Event 22(3): 722-746.
- Lawtoo N. (2019), Violence and the Mimetic Unconscious (Part Two) The Contagious Hypothesis: Plato, Affect, Mirror Neurons, Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 26: 123-159.
- Lawtoo N. (2018), An exemplary reader: J. Hillis Miller on criticism as performance Review of: Hillis Miller J. (2017) Reading Conrad, Conradiana 50(3): 227-242.
- Lawtoo N. (2018), Bataille and the homology of heterology, Theory, Culture & Society 35(4-5): 41-68.
- Lawtoo N. (2018), Conrad in the anthropocene: steps to an ecology of catastrophe. In: Schneider-Rebozo L., McCarthy J.M. & Peters J.G. (Eds.) Conrad and nature: essays. New York: Routledge.
- Anonymous (2018), Il Fantasma dell'io: La massa e l'inconscio mimetico [The Phantom of the Ego: Modernism and the Mimetic Unconscious] (translation: Lawtoo N.). Milan: Mimesis Edizioni.
- Lawtoo N. (2018), The critic as mime: Wilde’s theoretical performance, symplokē 26(1-2): 307-328.
- Lawtoo N. (2018), Violence and the Mimetic Unconscious (Part One) The Cathartic Hypothesis: Aristotle, Freud, Girard, Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 25: 159-191.
- Lawtoo N. (2017), Poetics and politics (with Lacoue-Labarthe): introduction, MLN 132(5): 1133-1139.
- Lawtoo N. (2017), The Plasticity of Mimesis, MLN 132(5): 1201-1224.
- Lawtoo N. (2017), The power of myth (reloaded): from Nazism to new Fascism, l'Esprit cráteur 57(4): 64-82.
- Lawtoo & N. (2017), The swarming of mimesis. A review of William Connolly, facing the planetary : entangled humanism and the politics of swarming Review of: Connolly W. (2017) Facing the Planetary: Entangled Humanism and the Politics of Swarming, Postmodern Culture 28(1): .
- Lawtoo N. (2017), Adriana Cavarero: introduction, Joseph Conrad Today 42(2): 11-12.
- Lawtoo N. (2016), Conrad's neuroplasticity, Modernism/modernity 23(4): 771-788.
- Lawtoo N. (2016), Conrad's mimetic turn, Conradiana 48(2-3): 129-142.
- Gogwilt C., Harrington E.B. & Lawtoo N. (2016), Member of editorial staff Conradiana 48(2-3): 111-115.
- Lawtoo N. (2016), Conrad's Shadow : Catastrophe, Mimesis, Theory . East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
- Lawtoo N. (2016), The dispossession of character Review of: Omri M. (2014) Out of character: modernism, vitalism, psychic life, Novel: a forum on fiction 49(2): 403-407.
- Lawtoo N. (2015), Avatar simulation in 3Ts: techne, trance, transformation, Science Fiction Studies 42(1): 132-150.
- Lawtoo N. (2015), Dueling to the end/ending "The Duel": Girard avec Conrad, Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 22: 153-184.
- Lawtoo N. (2014), Fear of the dark: surrealist shadows in The Nigger of the “Narcissus”, MFS Modern Fiction Studies 60(2): 227-250.
- Lawtoo N. (2013), Review of: Watts C. (2012) Conrad's Heart of Darkness: a critical and contextual discussion, Conradiana 45(3): 83-88.
- Lawtoo N. (2013), A picture of Africa: frenzy, counternarrative, mimesis, MFS Modern Fiction Studies 59(1): 26-52.
- Lawtoo N. (2013), The Phantom of the Ego: Modernism and the Mimetic Unconscious. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
- Lawtoo N. (2012), A picture of Europe: possession trance in heart of darkness, Novel: a forum on fiction 45(3): 409-432.
- Lawtoo N. (Ed.) (2012), Conrad's Heart of Darkness and contemporary thought: revisiting the horror with Lacoue-Labarthe. London: Bloomsbury.
- Lawtoo N. (2011), Bataille and the birth of the subject : out of the laughter of the socius, Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities 16(2): 73-88.
- Lawtoo N. (2010), The horror of mimesis: "Enthusiastic Outbreak[s]" in Heart of Darkness, Conradiana 42(1-2): 45-74.
- Lawtoo N. (2006), Dissonant voices in Richard Rodriguez's 'Hunger of Memory' and Luce Irigaray's 'This Sex Which is Not One', Texas Studies in Language and Literature 48(3): 220-249.
- Lawtoo N. (2006), Death of the subject, birth of dialogue: Bakhtin and his French reception, Lingua Romana 5(1): 1-18.
- Lawtoo N. (2005), Bataille and the suspension of being, Lingua Romana 4(1): 1-19.
- Lawtoo N. (2005), Desires trespassing identities in Nella Larsen's passing, Utah Foreign Language Review 14: 61-68.
- Lawtoo N. (2004), Rewriting identities in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper' : a reader response approach, Utah Foreign Language Review 13: 51-61.
No relevant ancillary activities