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This study examines experienced space in Maarit Verronen’s works of prose fiction. The study aligns itself with the contemporary approach often referred to as spatial literary studies, a movement connected to the spatial turn within the humanities. Theoretically, the study draws on multiple fields of spatial studies, from semiotics of space to critical theory and poststructuralism. By providing a categorization on different approaches within spatial literary studies, the study promotes literary studies that utilize spatial theory and explores how spatial concepts can be effectively used as tools for close reading.
Since the study aims to provide a longitudinal section of Verronen’s oeuvre, the selected material spans the author’s early works, from the 1990s to the late 2000s. The corpus involves six novels and two short stories. The analysis begins with the fantastic realms of Verronen’s early career, proceeds to consider wilderness and wild spaces, turns to visions of dystopic futures, and concludes in the narratives of homecoming and homesteading. The study shows that Verronen’s fantasy draws its allegorical potential from the juxtaposition of spatialized binary semantic oppositions. By analyzing Verronen’s dystopian novels, the study unravels the spatial nature of the genre and the critical potential it encompasses. Verronen’s narratives on wilderness are approached through the notion of spatial practices and in the context of alienation and postpastoralism. Finally, the analysis on the literary homes and the acts of homesteading in Verronen’s novels foregrounds the open, connected, and inclusive nature of the contemporary notion of home and new forms of attachment to place, both of which are under an active debate in spatial literary studies.
By bringing together spatial literary studies and Verronen’s works, this research adds to the study of Finnish literature and contemporary literature’s emphasis on space, spatiality, and environmental issues. Moreover, the study contributes to the knowledge on the genres of fantasy and dystopia, as well as to the study of classic literary tropes and their contemporary manifestations. As the study contextualizes Verronen’s works within Nordic and European literatures, it draws attention to the thematic and stylistic connections that link her writing to broader literary trends and traditions.
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How Do We Read? The Possibilities for Literary School Education
This collection of articles examines literature education in Finnish upper secondary schools. The authors of the articles are literary scholars who present current perspectives on the study of literature. The central argument is that literary education in upper secondary schools has been overly focused on textual analytical close reading, while experiential and reflective methods of dealing with literature may motivate young readers in new ways.
The book consists of three sections. The first section delves into the current state of upper secondary school literature education by examining curricula and comparing upper secondary school literature teaching to the diploma programme offered by the International Baccalaureate. The second section then examines how materiality, intersectionality, and gender-conscious reading can be incorporated into literary education. The third section highlights experiential approaches to literature. The articles discuss the starting points of experiential learning, bodily and reflexive close reading, the experience of reading ecological dystopian literature, and the potential of audiobooks in school education in light of what listening means to literary education.
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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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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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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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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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The Writer’s Poetics. Poetics as an Approach to an Author’s Body of Work is an introduction to the writer’s poetics as a distinctive research orientation, as well as a collection of case studies focusing on authors working in different eras and languages. While the 20th Century traditions of poetics have produced studies on the textual styles and techniques that characterize the writing of particular authors, the research orientation has not been explicitly defined and sufficiently theorized. The Writer’s Poetics frames the research orientation theoretically, and the 14 case studies making up the chapters demonstrate the diversity of viewpoints available within it. The contributors study authors ranging from 19th Century Finnish-Swedish female writers to 20th Century African-American novelists to postmodernist and contemporary authors of prose and lyric – and to the most successful Finnish rap artists of the 2010’s.
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