A professor of English and Creative Writing at Ashoka University, Majumdar is the author of four novels: Silverfish (2007), The Firebird (2015), The Scent of God (2019), and The Middle Finger (2022).
He obtained his PhD at Rutgers University in 2005 under Derek Attridge with his doctoral dissertation Subaltern Modernisms : The Poetics and Politics of Banality in Transnational Fictions.
[1][2] Majumdar's research interests cover topics including literature of modern and contemporary world, modernism, colonial and postcolonial studies, the novel and narrative theory, critical university studies, the history of criticism, fiction and non-fiction writing.
[4] Majumdar's early works of fiction were published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta including two short story collections: Infinitum Archipelago (1994) and Happy Birthday to You (1996); and two novellas: Hello Goodbye (1996) and Diminuendo (1997).
[citation needed] Majumdar's novels are written in evocative and lyrical style, and mainly deal with the themes and subjects like religion, memory, sexuality, education, and history.
It tells the story of a small boy, Ori, who grows up in a once-affluent family now trying to maintain its social status in a conservative north Calcutta neighborhood.
[11] Sheila Hattangdi reviewed The Firebird in the American Book Review and praised the characterisation and the presentation of scenes, writing: "he [Majumdar] has the remarkable ability to get into the skin of his characters while remaining somewhat detached, and he asks the reader to assume an active position in confronting the society that the characters come face to face with, so much so that the voice of the narrative becomes something far greater than the sum of its parts".
It narrates a love story between two teenage boys (Anirvan/Yogi and Kajol) in an all-boys' boarding school run by Hindu monastic order.
According to her the novel offers a way to understand why dismissing religion as backward has not prevented it from intruding on and usurping our secular existence.
Each sentence is a poem in itself, and some especially glimmer with insight.” [19] Trailblazer policymaker, and an officer of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta calls The Middle Finger "a white brilliance" in The Hindu.
The answer, of course, is yes; because, as one of the characters realises, “There are different ways one can exist in the world.” [20][21] Senior Deputy Editor of Frontline Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay says "Saikat Majumdar has emerged as one of the most powerful and important voices of his generation in Indian literature in English.
Through his beautiful and often dark writings, Majumdar has not only explored the complexities of human relationships in their different socio-political milieus but has also gently questioned universally accepted social norms, traditions, and behaviour."
Majumdar's first critical work Prose of the World: Modernism and the Banality of Empire [2] was published in 2013 by Columbia University Press.
In the book, the author argues that the innovative narrative energy of modernism was driven by the quotidian and shaped especially by its engagement with a uniquely colonial experience of banality.
[23][24][25][26] His book College: Pathways of Possibility (2018) is an exploration into the Indian education system through conversations, reminiscences, research references, and critical analysis.