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Approaches to Literature
Literature is a complex phenomenon that can be analysed and studied from a multitude of perspectives. Approaches to Literature presents a wide range of scholarly approaches that take different views on what literature is and how it should be examined.
The volume is divided into four sections. They present approaches that take as their starting point (1) the author, (2) the text, (3) the reader, and (4) the world. The fourth section ranges from social, historical, and cultural approaches to ecocriticism, posthumanism, and such interdisciplinary approaches as cultural memory studies and contextualist narrative studies.
The volume is written in an accessible style for educators and students of literature. It discusses approaches to literature by taking into account both their historicity and the ways in which many approaches developed in the past are still present in how literature is examined today.
The contributors represent a wide variety of literary studies and other disciplines.
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Hunger and Cold. Journeys to a Horrible North
This book examines a range of Arctic histories as narrative forms of telling and retelling. Most of the material – texts, images and a film – builds on the Romantic concept of the Arctic sublime. The methodological framework is that of artistic research.
The concept of polarlore and themes such as a failed journey and bad food are explored from Fridtjof Nansen’s works from the 1890s and Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s books and statements from the 1920s. These are read in parallel with texts such as the travelogue of the Sami expedition member Samuel Balto and the diary of the Inuit seamstress Ada Blackjack, an original counterpoint to the male narratives of the North. Other topics include the new Arctic sublime of the 1930s as depicted in the film S.O.S. Eisberg by Arnold Fanck and in contemporary Soviet narratives of the rescue of the comrades from the sunken steamship Chelyuskin. Hunger and Cold juxtaposes new findings with critical discourses of arcticality and arcticism.
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Arctic Hysteria and Other Strange Northern Emotions: Case Studies in Finnish Literature opens a new perspective on the thriving area of research on the imagined North by studying emotions in the light of case studies in Finnish literature. The volume addresses the cultural history of Arctic hysteria and maps other strange emotions depicted and evoked in literature of the Finnish North. The volume comprises seven case studies which range from the works of internationally renowned authors, such as Rosa Liksom, Emmi Itäranta and Tove Jansson, to the affectively controversial and provocative writings of Timo K. Mukka, Marko Tapio and Pentti Linkola. Drawing from the study of the imagined North and theories and tools in the study of literature and emotions, the analyses show how such moods as melancholia, ecstasy or a peculiar sense of November are generated in texts and how literary emotions entangle with the Northern environment they depict. By focusing on the imagined North in Finnish modernism and contemporary literature, the authors offer original views on experiences of late modernity merging with the changing Northern environment in the age of the Anthropocene.
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Finnish Children’s Film
Children’s films have been an integral part of the Finnish film industry throughout the 2000s. Several films are produced annually, attracting vast audiences among both children and adults. Despite the significant role of children’s films in Finnish film culture as a whole, only little research has been conducted on the subject so far.
This collection of articles provides a fascinating overview on the past and present of Finnish children’s film and its complex role in today’s Finnish film culture. The contributors approach children’s film from a cross-disciplinary viewpoint, including perspectives from Film Studies, History, Childhood Studies and Educational Sciences. The book explores children’s film as a professional choice for Finnish filmmakers and as an international business card, while also assessing the pedagogical possibilities of strengthening multiliteracy. Lastly, through analyses and close-readings of different Finnish children’s films, the articles discuss themes such as girlhood, child-animal-relationships, imagery of death, and resistance to neoliberalism, and do so in novel ways.
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Exploring Pathways to Private Archives. A Multidisciplinary Approach to Historical, Cultural, and Literary Research
This anthology showcases a methodologically diverse range of archival research across literary studies, cultural history, folklore and memory studies, and historiography. It illuminates contemporary perspectives and challenges associated with archive usage. The chapters collectively advance the interdisciplinary dialogue on the utilization of private archival materials in literature and cultural traditions, underscoring the pivotal role these resources—whether ancient, recent, or emerging—play in research, and tackling the ethical dimensions of archival research.
The volume illustrates the breadth of questions that can and should be posed in archival research. It also delves into the element of surprise often encountered in the research process. Furthermore, the book discusses how the description and organization of materials, the availability of metadata, and the physical or digital nature of the archives shape scholarly investigations.
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Flexible Genders – Changing Meanings
Gender is now understood as something versatile and changing. It is seen as part of identity and as a means of expressing oneself, but it is also a product of social and cultural structures. The Kalevala Society Foundation’s Yearbook 103 Joustavat sukupuolet – muuttuvat merkitykset (Flexible Genders – Changing Meanings) explores the cultural contradictions, processes of change and persistence of gender and sexuality. The authors of the articles use their research materials to critically assess why and in what ways old ideas about gender are maintained and new ones are constructed – on the other hand, the same materials open up perspectives on what makes it possible to act and be differently. The authors come from the fields of folklore research, ethnology, and comparative literature.
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Metamodernism. The Change in Literature and Culture in 21st Century Finland maps the state and transformation of contemporary Finnish literature and culture since the postmodern era. The work highlights, from different perspectives, how this change and the metamodernism it represents are manifested in contemporary Finnish literature and culture. The collection aims to offer a broad understanding of how metamodernism is seen and implemented in Finnish culture. Metamodernism outlines the framework theoretically, conceptualizing the new phase as a nascent metamodernity that is taking shape on a global scale in different societies and cultures, especially in the Western world. The book’s 15 chapters, although the majority focus on literature, explore a wide range of genres including rap poetry, experimental poetry and prose, speculative fiction and children’s literature.
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Magic, Past and Present
Magic, Past and Present brings together the latest interdisciplinary research by Finnish scholars on magic and witchcraft. The authors come from fields such as history, art, literature, religion, and culture. Geographically, the articles are set in Finland and its surrounding areas, and the time span is from the Middle Ages to the present day. The book’s chapters discuss magic and magic-users in a wide context, from medieval church paintings and their portrayed gender roles to the neoshamanism and paganism of the present day. They also address issues such as witchcraft accusations from the perspective of othering and groundbreaking figures like one of the first Finnish female magicians at the turn of the 21st century. The book is intended for scholars in various humanities fields, such as history, religious studies, folklore, and literature. A general audience will also find the book thought-provoking and informative.
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The Era of Cultural Television - Another History of Finnish Television in the 1970s and 1980s
The Era of Cultural Television offers a new interpretation of the Finnish television history of the 1970s and 1980s, which has previously been interpreted as a transitional period from the politicized 1970s to the liberalization of the late 1980s. The book suggests that Finnish television of this era was characterized by an ethos in which television was seen as a cultural resource for all, playing an important role in social planning and cultural citizenship.
While Finnish television has been studied mainly as a medium for entertainment and information, The Era of Cultural Television offers a new framework by approaching television from the perspective of cultural policy. At the same time, the book brings to the forefront programme types that, despite their importance, have been overlooked in previous research: television drama, international films and series, service programmes as well as educational programmes for children. The book challenges the convention of emphasizing the differences between public service and commercial television and shows that the commercial television company Mainos-TV (MTV) shared largely the same ethos as the public service Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio). The book highlights forgotten aspects of MTV’s history by describing how the company invested in art and history documentaries and developed new forms of addressing the challenges of modern life in its service programmes.
From the perspective of the current abundance of channels and streaming services, television of the 1970s and 1980s may seem scarce and limited. The Era of Cultural Television shows that scarcity is a retrospective interpretation that does not correspond to contemporary understanding of television. Television addressed an audience that was expected to be highly curious and inquisitive. Television viewers were catered for with a diverse selection of arts programmes, documentaries and educational programmes as well as entertainment. Television brought world cinema, contemporary drama, literature discussions and music education into homes. Current social issues were discussed in educational programmes as well as in drama and situation comedy. Through international programme cooperation, imported programmes and films, television broadened the world view of Finns and increased understanding of foreign languages, cultures and geography. Television programmes also dealt with controversial issues of history and brought out perspectives on the recent past that were not addressed in the history curriculum.
The Era of Cultural Television is based on extensive archival research. The work analyses both programmes, their press reception, and documents from television administration and production. The book is intended not only for readers interested in the history of television, but also for readers more broadly interested in Finnish culture and contemporary history. The book helps to understand how television has been a part of social planning, cultural policy and democratic development, and how television’s cultural programming supported the transition from agrarian Finland to postmodern urban Finland. The Era of Cultural Television is not a nostalgic look at the past. Rather, it invites us to think about what television means today, when the cultural programming of television has spread across different platforms, addressing small taste groups rather than a diverse national public.
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Guests on Stage – Finnish and Estonian Theatre and Dance Relations
This book is a collaborative project by a joint Finnish-Estonian research team that explores Finnish and Estonian theatre and dance from the 19th to the 21st century and the rich interactions between the scenes of both countries. The aesthetic interactions have commonly been mixed with political and ideological objectives.
The book contributes to the recent debate on transnationality by examining the activities of theatre makers and institutions, such as visits, tours, and drama translations. Although Estonia and Finland are geographically and linguistically close, their societies, theatre systems, and cultural influences have diverged. This situation has produced links, clashes, and cooperation characterized by a mixture of familiarity and strangeness. The transnational links have in many ways also raised questions of national identity.
Finland and Estonia are still countries with active theatre scenes whose cooperation continues to find new forms.
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