Zakir Paul

19-21st century French literature, comparative modernisms, narrative and the novel, critical theory, aesthetics, and translation studies.

Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature

Ph.D., Princeton University; M.A., Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III; B.A., Northwestern University.

Zakir Paul's articles and reviews have appeared in MLN, Romanic Review, Germanic Review, L'Esprit Créateur, Athenäum, Critical Inquiry, and JML. He has edited a special issue of SubStance on recent approaches to reading Maurice Blanchot. He has also translated Blanchot's Political Writings, 1953-1993 (Fordham UP, 2010), as well as Jacques Rancière's Aisthesis: Scenes from the Aesthetic Regime of Art (Verso, 2013). His first book, Disarming Intelligence (forthcoming with Princeton University Press), examines the role and limits lent to “intelligence” by French writers and thinkers, especially Proust, Valéry, and Bergson.

Before joining NYU, he taught courses in French, Comparative Literature and the Humanities at UW-Madison, the University of Chicago,  SAIC, and in France. His research has been supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Fondation des Treilles.