Biography

Dr Niyati Sharma's research broadly examines the intersections between science and literature in nineteenth-century British and South Asian fiction. Niyati is currently preparing a monograph for publication, which examines the representation of race and psychology in Victorian popular fiction. The monograph explores how popular writers (Edward Bulwer Lytton, Marie Corelli amongst others) used the unconscious to think about ways to represent the 'other' and to conceptualize models of mentally relating with the racial 'other.' Drawing on a range of insights from Postcolonial theory, theories of cosmopolitanism, and commentaries on reading, the book advances our understanding of the philosophical conception of race, identity, and the mind available in the period. 

Previously, Niyati took her BA, MA (Lady Shri Ram College) and MPhil in English from Delhi University. In 2019, she completed her DPhil in English at the University of Oxford. Niyati has been the recipient of the Felix Scholarship and several research grants for her work on popular fiction in Britain and India. She has previously taught literature at Delhi University (Gargi College, 2012-2014) and courses in Philosophy at Ambedkar University (Visiting Assistant Professor, Fall 2019).

Niyati also has an enduring interest in the emergence, evolution, and reception of nineteenth-century literary forms and genres. In a 2023 journal article titled ‘Finding the “Ideal”: F. Marion Crawford’s Mystical Theology and Literary Form in Mr. Isaacs,’ published in Victorian Popular Fictions Journal, Niyati highlights nineteenth-century American writer F. Marion Crawford’s contribution to theological debates of the time and its impact on the literary form of romance.  

In her next project, Niyati proposes to examine forms of reading in colonial South Asia. She is particularly interested in exploring popular Hindi literature and its reception in the period. In an additional project, Niyati plans to study how scientific commentaries influenced literary form in the nineteenth century.