The new academic year at the department starts with three introductory lectures on Monday 2 September:
The introduction is an important occasion where you will get a lot of essential information concerning your studies. So do come along!
Welcome to the November PREMIS seminar where author Guy Gunaratne will be speaking with the title
You are warmly welcome to join us for the last PREMIS session of this spring on 8 May, 16-18 in Panorama, Arken, when doctoral student Aino Haataja will be sharing about her research on the Anglo-Irish author Maria Edgeworth (Jane Austen’s rival!) and the concept of worldliness in her writing, as well as in the writing of some of her contemporaries. In a second part of the seminar, Aino will present an analysis of worldliness and sociability in Edgeworth’s work Ormond (1817), set in the context of research on Romantic-period sociability and a Habermasian public sphere more generally. A poster for the event can be viewed here.
NB. For the purpose of fuelling conversation in the seminar, Aino is kindly asking you to read chapters 14 and 15 of Ormond online (The Literature Network), if schedules allow: http://www.online-literature.com/maria-edgeworth/ormond/14/.
You are most welcome to attend the second last PREMIS seminar of the year on Wednesday 10 April (16-18 in Panorama, Arken) when Sven-Johan Spånberg, Professor Emeritus of English at Umeå University, will come and give a lecture on Walt Whitman (1819-1892), in particular his personal background as well as issues related to the political context of his works and the many editions of his Leaves of Grass. Promises to be an excellent introduction to the author for anyone interested! Please see the poster for the event here.
You’re very welcome to join the next PREMIS seminar on Wednesday 3 April, 16-18 in Panorama, Arken! Pia Ahlbäck from the Comparative Literature department will come and give a talk with the title “Competing Temporalities. Chrononormativity in 21st Century
Finland-Swedish Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Culture”. She will share about a project funded by the Swedish Literature Society in Finland, “Competing Temporalities”. The project emphasizes the need to re-think time and temporality in the present historical
context of climate change, and in her talk, Pia will introduce some of its key concepts and materials. You can view the poster for the event here.
You are all very welcome to attend the PREMIS seminar on 20 March 16-18 in Panorama, Arken, when Lydia Kokkola will share about a project on the culture of Arctic youth and its relation to their regional identity. Read the abstract and bio here!
FM Petter Skult from English Language and Literature, Åbo Akademi University, will defend his doctoral thesis on Saturday, 27th April, at 13 in Auditorium Armfelt, Arken (Fabriksgatan 2 / Tehtaankatu 2).
The thesis is entitled: The End of the World as We Know It: Theoretical Perspectives on Apocalyptic Science Fiction.
The opponent is Professor Adam C. Roberts (Royal Holloway, University of London). Custos is Professor Anthony Johnson.
Apart from the lectio praecursoria in Swedish, the defence will take place in English.
The thesis is available at http://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/168350
The second PREMIS seminar of the year will take place Wednesday 6 March 15-17 in Panorama, Arken. Then we will hear a lecture titled ‘Hermeneutic and Fictional Spaces’ from Professor Benoit Doyon-Gosselin (l’Université de Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada), followed by discussion. The talk will be about his work on Canadian literature and particularly the approach he has created for examining fictional spaces such as the house. You are very welcome to join us!
Please note that the seminar is held at an exceptional time, starting already at three. It is done in collaboration with French Language and Literature at ÅAU and The Embassy of Canada to Finland, Helsinki. Here is a poster for the event.
Welcome to the first PREMIS session of the year! On 27 February, we have Kevin Doyle speaking. He is a playwright who is currently Invited Artist at the KONE foundation Saari Residence. He will come and share some of his thoughts on US politics, on his travels in the US and abroad, and on his work in dramaturgy. We are meeting 16-18 in Helikon, Arken. Please see the poster for the event here.
