Foto: Lena Malm

Academic Biography and Curriculum Vitae

(Last Revised April 2012)

Research Interests in Brief

Torsten Pettersson is Chair Professor of Literature as well as a writer of poetry and fiction. He has authored sixteen books and seventy articles and (co-)edited six books. His research interests comprise world views in literature; the relation between literature and secularization; twentieth-century poetry and fiction in Sweden and Finland; the history of the English novel; the Western tradition of opera; and theoretical questions such as the epistemological status of literary interpretation and the cultural and epistemic position of literature.

This research has frequently interfaced with aesthetics, philosophy, theology, and musicology. Oeuvres studied include those of Eyvind Johnson, Hjalmar Gullberg, Ola Hansson, Edith Södergran, Gunnar Björling, and Elmer Diktonius; Joseph Conrad and Charles Dickens; Adalbert Stifter, Rainer Maria Rilke and Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi.

More recently, Torsten Pettersson has embarked on empirical studies of readers’ reactions to literary texts. He directs a project sponsored by The Swedish Research Council by 4,8 million SKR (530,000 EUR) 2011–2014 where, together with Skans Kersti Nilsson (Borås) and Maria Wennerström Wohrne (Uppsala), he wishes to illuminate the strategies for reading literature which are displayed by 18–25-year old Swedes immersed in the various narrative strategies of an advanced internet culture.

Torsten Pettersson's academic work is detailed and described below, and his poetry and fiction merely listed. For an account in Swedish of the latter, see this page.

 

The detailed presentation is structured as follows:

Academic Biography in Narrative Form

Curriculum Vitae

I. Personal and Academic History

Degrees
Appointments
Distinctions
Administration, Projects, Conference Organization: Selection
Supervision of Published Doctoral Dissertations

II. Publications (in descending chronological order)

A. Books Authored

Scholarship
Poetry
Fiction

B. Books Edited
C. Articles in Journals and Anthologies
D. Review Articles
E. Reviews
F. Articles in Newspapers and Popular Journals: Selection

 

Academic Biography in Narrative Form

I was born in Turku/Åbo, Finland, on 9 July 1955 but spent most of my early years in Helsinki/Helsingfors and in Tampere/Tammerfors. After graduation from school in 1974, I studied Literature (Swedish and Comparative), English, German, and Education at Åbo Akademi University, the Swedish-speaking university of Finland. Having completed my B.A. and M.A. degrees in 1975 and 1976, I took an additional M.A. degree in theoretical Linguistics at the University of Reading, England, in the following year. This was good training for a budding scholar in literary criticism and theory, the field to which I then returned for my licentiate and doctoral degrees at Åbo Akademi University.

Having graduated in 1982, I spent the next five years mainly as a researcher with some teaching assignments, but since 1988 I have been a full-time professor. My first appointment in “Literature” was at the University of Oulu for the whole of 1988. It was followed by appointments (Associate, then Chair Professor) at the University of Helsinki in “Comparative Literature and Aesthetics” 1989–93. This entailed lectures, seminars, and supervision of M.A. theses and doctoral dissertations on a wide variety of subjects ranging from literary theory to literature in English, German, French, Finnish, and Swedish. I was also head of departments which in addition to literature included Film Studies in Oulu, and Theatre Studies and Aesthetics in Helsinki. All these activities were carried out in Finnish, whereas my research is mostly written in English or in Swedish.

I was then appointed Chair Professor of Literature (“Litteraturvetenskap”) at Uppsala University, where I started working in January 1994. The emphasis has been on teaching and supervising doctoral students, but I have also taught courses for undergraduates and M.A. students and supervised the research of M.A. students.

In the last decade, I have also worked increasingly with other academic disciplines. From 1997 to 2000 I headed, together with a professor of theology, a large and very rewarding inter-Scandinavian project that brought together some twenty literary scholars and theologians studying literature (half of them doctoral students who were thereby given new impulses for their development). I am a founding member of Engelska parkens tolkningsforum (Forum for Interpretation at the English Park Campus) and, since its inception, a member of the advisory board of SALT: Advanced Studies in Arts, Languages, and Theology. Since the spring term of 2006, these two networks within Uppsala University have promoted international and interdisciplinary approaches and contacts by arranging guest lectures, seminars, and symposia.

As for the orientation of my research, my dissertation, Consciousness and Time (A1 in the list of publications below), focussed on the philosophy and narrative technique of Joseph Conrad. I was concerned to elicit his world view from all his writings, including essays and letters, and to show that his innovative narrative technique reflected his philosophical convictions: in a secularized world, pattern and purpose are constructs of the human mind, the workings of which are displayed in Conrad’s fiction by subjective point of view and chronological dislocations reflecting the narrator’s mental operations.

Such a study of authors’ world views, as displayed in their oeuvres, has two advantages: it provides a comprehensive perspective on a large corpus, and it connects literature with important philosophical, psychological, and social concerns. In addition to methods of literary study, I have applied approaches drawn from the history of ideas and from phenomenology, attempting to respect the demands of the material more than the fiats of any given methodology (cf. C42 and C48).

Further examples of this approach include various studies of English, German, and Scandinavian literature. To concentrate on the latter, in Att söka sanningen: En grundprincip i Eyvind Johnsons författarskap (In Quest of Truth: A Basic Principle in the Oeuvre of Eyvind Johnson, A2), I studied a fundamental epistemological orientation recurring throughout the novels of Eyvind Johnson: despite his frequent and well-known emphasis on the subjectivity of the individual, he nevertheless believed in a shared world with properties that are independent of the observer’s conception of them. The basic pattern in Johnson’s work is thus: truth exists – it needs to be explored – because of various obstacles, it is difficult to attain – to overcome the obstacles, strategies may be developed – with the aid of these strategies, truth can be attained and formulated to a certain extent. The obstacles vary from one type of work to the other: autobiographical novels such as the tetralogy Romanen om Olof (The Novel about Olof) need to deal with mnemonic unreliability and psychic defences against traumatic experiences; the Krilon trilogy, with censorship and political obfuscation; the historical novels, with insufficient documentation and the disparity of historical horizons. Corresponding strategies will include the use of alter egos to overcome psychic resistance; the use of allegory to circumvent obtuseness and censorship; and a point of view-technique which attempts to collate different historical perspectives, as well as an appeal to human universals which are thought to guarantee a measure of empathy and comprehension across time.

In my studies of Hjalmar Gullberg’s poetic oeuvre (C41, C45, C46), I argue that beneath the eclectic multiplicity of his motifs – bringing together elements of Christianity, Graeco-Roman antiquity, and Hinduism – a coherent representation of a structure of consciousness can be discerned. It is characterized by a distinct differentiation between the self, the world, and God, as well as an effort to overcome that differentiation and achieve greater unity between those elements. This takes the form of three operations: obliteration of the self, of the world, and of God, respectively. I also demonstrate that the customary report of God’s death in Gullberg’s later poetry is exaggerated, even though God’s gradual retreat from the human sphere can be observed.

In Gåtans namn: Tankens och känslans mönster hos nio finlandssvenska modernister (The Name of the Enigma: Patterns of Thought and Feeling in Nine Modernist Poets of Swedish Finland, A4), the world view analysis is applied to the oeuvres of the Fenno-Swedish pioneers of lyrical modernism in Scandinavia. It illuminates both canonical authors and less well-known or wholly neglected writers, who in many cases receive their first extended scholarly consideration in this book. They are each studied individually and, as far as possible, without preconceptions, but three kinds of patterns emerge: a deliberate juxtaposition of disparate attitudes (Edith Södergran, Elmer Diktonius, L. A. Salava); a struggle to overcome the loneliness and isolation of the individual (R. R. Eklund, the young Rabbe Enckell, Kerstin Söderholm); and an oscillaton between an immanent and a transcendental world (Barbro Mörne, Nicken Malmström, Gunnar Björling). Thus a new breadth of analysis and a novel grouping of authors have been achieved in this first comprehensive study of one of the most important movements in Scandinavian literature.

I have also been concerned to explain the extraordinary fact that the breakthrough of literary modernism as an extensive movement in Scandinavia was first achieved by the Fenno-Swedish minority. Reference points for such an explanation are the exhilarating new departure of Finland’s independence in 1917 (introduction to Gåtans namn) coupled with the minority’s multicultural identity which seems to be a stimulating factor for modernism throughout Europe (F9, C51 and forthcoming).

Another case where an overarching analysis of world views unearths a pattern in a whole group of writers is the article on the Fenno-Swedish dagdrivare or flâneurs (C6). This may then be connected with socio-political concerns such as the pressure of russification in Finland in the early 1900s. The analysis may also be applied to the world view of a thinker who is not an author of imaginative literature, such as Carl Linnaeus (F21, C67).

A further link with wider areas of culture and society is the fact that world views are related to what I have called “our double heritage” consisting of Christian culture and the aspect of modernization which may in shorthand be termed “secularization”. In a chapter (C44) in Modernitetens ansikten (The Faces of Modernity, B4), I have outlined the larger process of modernization, which in that book was studied within the large inter-Scandinavian project mentioned above. Of the various studies detailing the interaction between literature/opera/film and secularization, the most recent is an extensive article on the poetry of Hugo von Hofmannsthal (C71).

There is also a present-day dimension in this since literature can be of great value for readers working on their sense of self and coping with existential questions in a society formed by our double heritage. Literary studies can support that process – hence my suggestion for interaction between those studies and existential psychotherapy (C59 and C64, as well as the forthcoming anthology “Literature as Knowledge of Life” which I am editing with Kersti Nilsson).

A second main line of inquiry in my work has been literary and cultural theory, starting with the theory of interpretation. This orientation was first spurred by my work on Conrad, during which I had reason to marvel at the extraordinary variety of available interpretations of that extensively studied author: how can such widely divergent accounts be offered of a single object such as a novel? Are they merely speculative; if not, are they combinable; if not, what kind of an entity is a literary work if it allows disparate, even logically incompatible, yet well-founded views to be taken of it? This epistemological inquiry brought me into contact with aesthetics and philosophy and was first pursued in Literary Interpretation (A3). In that book I discovered the focus of literary interpretation on “implications” rather than “verbal meaning”. I later developed my conception in an article (C47) on the literary work as a pliable entity where I presented “pluralistic realism” as a stance preferable to both constructivism and monolithic realism. Related to this epistemological inquiry are my studies of the concept of interpretation in society at large (C49), and of principles and premises for research in the humanities (C23, C31, C35), collected in Dolda principer (Hidden Principles, A5). An ongoing concern is the promotion of what I call “synergetic criticism”, an orientation which attempts to take in the literary work as a whole rather than reduce it to one aspect suitable to a given school of methodology.

Other areas of inquiry in Dolda principer are literary realism, the documentary novel, the appeal of the historical novel, and readers’ strategies for dealing with aberrant representations of reality. A related exploration of the morality of literature is offered in articles on the novel form and on the detective novel (C56 and C61). The cultural position of literature in relation to the Bible and to other forms of fiction is explored in C53 and C60.

I have also taken an interest in interart relations. Dolda principer includes a study of non-figurative elements in visual art, literature, and music (reprinted as C62). It was preceded and succeeded by work on opera as one of the established forms of the Gesamtkunstwerk: the articles on Wagner (C29 and C30), on Puccini (C66), and on religious themes in nineteenth-century opera (C55 and C57), as well as the book Operavärldar från Monteverdi till Gershwin (Opera Worlds from Monteverdi to Gershwin, B6). The latter is an extensive volume which I initiated and brought to completion by prompting nineteen Swedish scholars in addition to myself to contribute articles on major Western operas. Their starting points were musicology, theatre studies, literary studies, and gender studies, but many of the articles, like the volume as a whole, are interdisciplinary in themselves.
At present I am working on a book which charts varying cultural negotiations of our double heritage of Christianity and secularization. It makes use of the unique ability of literature, opera, and film (for the latter, cf. F20) to illuminate, in ways that other sources do not, crucial realignments of identities, behaviour, ideas, and values. As part of this orientation, I am particularly interested in the period c. 1880–1914, during which Scandinavia experienced a decisive breakthrough of modernity (cf. the article on Ola Hansson, C63, and on Swedish literature in the 1890s, C65).

More recently, I have embarked on a different kind of interdisciplinary approach, empirical studies of “ordinary” readers’ reactions to literary texts. This is a field frequently neglected by literary critics who feel that lay readers cannot contribute much to a sophisticated understanding of literary texts. That may be true in some ways, but the study of their literary strategies is, firstly, of great interest in its own right. It reveals how literature functions in what is after all its main cultural habitat, the ongoing reading activities of those who are not professionally involved in the literary scene. Secondly, if we wish to defend literature as a (uniquely?) valuable cultural phenomenon competing with film, television and the internet, a factual understanding of readers’ attitudes and behaviour must replace the projections of professional readers’ preferences that have in recent years frequently been offered as literature’s raison d’être. Thirdly, professional readers may in fact learn something from lay readers – not, it is true, analyses in professional terms, but attention paid to important emotional and sensual aspects of literature typically slighted by the discourse of literary studies.

To pursue these aims, I am since January 2011 directing a project sponsored by The Swedish Research Council by 4,8 million SKR (530,000 EUR) and including the research of Skans Kersti Nilsson (Borås) and Maria Wennerström Wohrne (Uppsala). The project focuses on the strategies for reading literature which are displayed by 18–25-year old Swedes immersed in the various narrative modes of an advanced internet culture.
 

 

Curriculum Vitae

I. Personal and Academic History

Born July 9, 1955 , in Åbo [Turku], Finland.

 

Degrees

Candidate of the Humanities (English; Literature; German; Education), Åbo Akademi University, 1975.

Master of Arts (English; Literature; German; Education), Åbo Akademi University, 1976.

Master of Arts in Linguistics, University of Reading, 1977.

Licentiate of Philosophy (English; Literature), Åbo Akademi University, 1980.

Doctor of Philosophy, Åbo Akademi University, 1982.

 

 

Appointments

Junior Research Fellow, Academy of Finland, 1978–82.

Acting Professor of Literature, Åbo Akademi University, 1985.

Research Fellow, Academy of Finland, 1985–87.

Associate Professor and Acting Professor of Literature, University of Oulu, 1988.

Docent in the Department of English, Åbo Akademi University, 1988–.

Associate Professor and Acting Professor of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, University of Helsinki 1989–92.

Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, University of Helsinki, 1992–93.

Chair Professor of Literature, Uppsala University, 1993–.

 

 

Distinctions

Declared qualified and placed second on the nomination list for the professorship in Literature at Åbo Akademi University, 1985.

Elected member of Suomen Tiedeakatemia [The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters], 1992–.

Elected member of Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala [The Royal Society for the Humanities at Uppsala], 1994–.

Awarded the Schück Prize for studies in literary history by Svenska Akademien [The Swedish Academy], 2000.

Elected external member of Societas Scientiarum Fennica [The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters], 2006–.

Awarded the Paul Werner Lybeck Prize for Jag ser en stjärna. Ett diktat porträtt av Carl von Linné [I See a Star. A Portrait in Poems of Carl Linnaeus] by Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland [The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland], 2008.

Awarded a prize by the publisher Söderströms in their novel competition, 2008.

 

 

Administration, Projects, Conference Organization: Selection

Head of the Department of Literature, University of Oulu, 1988.

Member of the Faculty Board of the Faculty of the Humanities, University of Oulu, 1988.

Head of the Department of Comparative Literature, Theatre Studies and Aesthetics, University of Helsinki 1990–92 and 1993.

Member of the Faculty Board of the Historical-Linguistic Section [= Faculty of the Humanities], University of Helsinki 1990–92 and 1993.

Editor of Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Historia litterarum 1994–

Member of the Editorial Board of Samlaren 1994–

Member of the Editorial Board of Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 1996–

Member of the Faculty Board of the Historical-Philosophical Faculty, Uppsala University 1996–99.

Member of the Committee for the Aesthetic Disciplines at the Swedish Research Council, 1999–2001.

Director (with Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm) of Scandinavian Authors’ Philosophies of Life Seen as Aspects of Modernity, an inter-Scandinavian project with some 10 scholars and some 10 salaried doctoral students, as well as 3 symposia in Uppsala, Turku, and Oslo, 1997–2000.

Organizer of Konstarternas förening. Tvärvetenskapligt symposium om opera [The Marriage of the Arts. An Interdisciplinary Symposium on Opera] at Uppsala University, 4–6 March, 2004.

Organizer (with Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm and Gunilla Gren-Eklund) of The Challenge of Pluralism – the Power of Interpretation, an interdisciplinary international conference at Uppsala University, October 22–24, 2004 at the invitation of The International Society for Religion, Literature and Culture. Some 100 participants from some 20 countries.

Organizer of Fenomenologi Nu [Phenomenology Now], a symposium of literary criticism at Uppsala University, February 19, 2005.

Organizer (with Hedvig Brander Jonsson, Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm, and Kari Syreeni / Henrik Williams) of Engelska Parkens tolkningsforum [Forum for Interpretation at the English Park Campus], an interdisciplinary network which offers 5–7 lectures and symposia annually, 2006–.

Vice-Chair of Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala [The Royal Society for the Humanities at Uppsala] and Chair of its Philosophical-Historical Section, 2006–07.

Chair of Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala [The Royal Society for the Humanities at Uppsala] and of its Philosophical-Historical Section, 2007–08.

Organizer of Populära fiktioner. Livsvärldar i litteratur, serietidningar, TV-serier och film [Popular Fictions. Life Worlds in Literature, Cartoons, Television Series and Film], an interdisciplinary symposium at Uppsala University, January 22, 2007.

Organizer of The Cultural Mechanisms of Secularization, an interdisciplinary symposium at Uppsala University, 14–15 May, 2007.

Member of Expert Panel at The Research Council of Norway for the assessment of applications within the research programme Cultural Evaluation, Spring Term 2008

Organizer (with Kersti Nilsson) of Litteratur som livskunskap. Tvärvetenskapliga perspektiv på identitetsbyggande läsning [Literature as Knowledge of Life. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Reading Aimed at Building Personal Identity], an interdisciplinary symposium at The University College of Borås, 23–24 September 2008.

Organizer of Faktum och tolkning i humaniora och naturvetenskaper [Fact and Interpretation in the Humanities and the Natural Sciences], an interdisciplinary symposium at Uppsala University, 29 September, 2008.

Director of Reading Fiction – Understanding Reality. The Function of Literature in the Personal Development and Value Formation of Young Adults, a project sponsored by The Swedish Research Council 2011–14.

 

 

Supervision of Published Doctoral Dissertations

As Principal Advisor

Gerard Krebs, Die Natur im Werk Robert Walsers. Eine Untersuchung mit Vergleichen zur Literatur und Kunst der Jahrhundertwende und der Romantik [Nature in the Oeuvre of Robert Walser: A Study Accompanied by Comparisons with the Literature and Art of the Turn of the Century 1900 and of Romanticism]. Helsinki: Suomalainen tiedeakatemia, 1991.

Eeva Lehtovuori, Les voies de Narcisse ou Le problème du miroir chez Michel Tournier [The Paths of Narcissus, or the Problem of the Mirror in Michel Tournier]. Helsinki: Suomen tiedeakatemia, 1995.

Barbro Gustafsson Rosenqvist, ”Att skapa en ny värld”. Samhällssyn, kvinnosyn och djuppsykologi hos Karin Boye [”Creating a New World: The View of Society, the View of Women and Psychoanalysis in Karin Boye]. Stockholm: Carlssons, 1999.

Boel Hackman, Jag kan sjunga hur jag vill. Tankevärld och konstsyn i Edith Södergrans diktning [I Can Sing Any Way I Like: The Structure of Ideas and the View of Art in the Poetry of Edith Södergran]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 2000.

Maria Wennerström Wohrne, Att översätta världen. Kommunikation och subversivt ärende i Henri Michaux' Voyage en Grande Garabagne [Translating the World: Communication and Subversive Intent in Henri Michaux’s Voyage en Grande Garabagne]. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2003.

Magnus Ullén, The Half-Vanished Structure: Hawthorne's Allegorical Dialectics. Bern and New York: Peter Lang, 2004.

Jenny Björklund, Hoppets lyrik. Tre diktare och en ny bild av fyrtiotalismen. Ella Hillbäck, Rut Hillarp, Ann Margret Dahlquist-Ljungberg [The Poetry of Hope: Three Poets and a New View of Swedish Literature in the 1940s: Ella Hillbäck, Rut Hillarp, Ann Margret Dahlquist-Ljungberg]. Stockholm and Stehag: Symposion, 2004. Awarded a prize by the Swedish Academy in 2004.

Mattias Pirholt, Ett språk, ett spår. En studie i Birgitta Trotzigs författarskap [A Language, a Trace: A Study in the Oeuvre of Birgitta Trotzig]. Stockholm and Stehag: Symposion, 2005. Awarded a prize by the Swedish Academy in 2005.

Sigrid Ekblad, Författaren. En studie i litteraturvetenskaplig argumentation med analyser av August Strindbergs I havsbandet som exempel [The Author: A Study in the Argumentative Practices of Literary Criticism Exemplified by Analyses of August Strindberg’s By the Open Sea]. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2006.

Ann-Sofie Lönngren, Att röra en värld. En queerteoretisk analys av erotiska trianglar i sex verk av August Strindberg [Moving a World: A Queer-Theoretical Analysis of Erotic Triangles in Six Works by August Strindberg]. [Lund:] ellerströms, 2007.

Styrbjörn Järnegard, ”En konstnärs rätta namn det är hans verk.” Orienten, pilgrimen och den svenska poesin i Verner von Heidenstams Vallfart och vandringsår [”The True Name of an Artist is His Work.” The Orient, the Pilgrim and Swedish Poetry in Verner von Heidenstam’s Pilgrimage and Wanderings]. Skellefteå: Norma, 2009.

Axel Lindén, Förnimmelser. En fenomenologisk analys av Herman Bangs författarskap [Perceptions: A Phenomenological Analysis of the Oeuvre of Herman Bang]. [Lund:] ellerströms, 2009.
 

 

As Associate Advisor

Michael Gustavsson, Textens väsen. En kritik av essentialistiska förutsättningar i modern litteraturteori. Exemplen Cleanth Brooks, Roman Jakobson, Paul de Man [The Nature of the Text: A Critique of Essentialist Presuppositions in Modern Literary Theory: The Examples of Cleanth Brooks, Roman Jakobson, Paul de Man]. Uppsala: Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, 1996.

Dorothea Hygrell, Att översätta komik. En undersökning av funktionsförändringar i tyska översättningar av svensk skönlitteratur [Translating Humour: A Study of Functional Changes in German Translations of Swedish Fiction]. Uppsala: Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, 1997.

Patrik Mehrens, Mellan ordet och döden. Rum, tid och representation i Lars Noréns 70-talslyrik [Between Language and Death: Space, Time and Representation in the Poetry of Lars Norén from the 1970s]. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 1999.

Gunvor Stolt, Att bryta egen väg. Jeanna Oterdahl i föredrag och författarskap [Clearing One’s Own Path: Jeanna Oterdahl in Her Lectures and Her Fiction]. Uppsala: Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, 2002.

Sara Danius, The Senses of Modernism: Technology, Perception, and Aesthetics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002

Stefan Helgesson, Writing in Crisis: Ethics and History in Gordimer, Ndebele and Coetzee. Pietermaritzburg: University of Kwazulu-Natal Press, 2004.

AnnSofi Andersdotter, Det mörka våldet. Spåren av en subjektprocess i Kerstin Ekmans författarskap [The Dark Violence: The Traces of a Subject Process in the Oeuvre of Kerstin Ekman]. Stockholm and Stehag: Symposion, 2005.

 

II. Publications (in descending chronological order)

A. Books Authored

Scholarship

A5. Dolda principer. Kultur- och litteraturteoretiska studier [Hidden Principles: Studies in Cultural and Literary Theory]. Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2002.

A4. Gåtans namn. Tankens och känslans mönster hos nio finlandssvenska modernister [The Name of the Enigma: Patterns of Thought and Feeling in Nine Modernist Poets of Swedish Finland]. Stockholm: Atlantis and Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland, 2001.

A3. Literary Interpretation: Current Models and a New Departure. Åbo [Turku]: Åbo Academy Press, 1988.

A2. Att söka sanningen. En grundprincip i Eyvind Johnsons författarskap [In Quest of Truth: A Basic Principle in the Oeuvre of Eyvind Johnson]. Meddelanden från Stiftelsens för Åbo Akademi forskningsinstitut nr 114. Åbo [Turku]: Åbo Akademi, 1986.

A1. Consciousness and Time: A Study in the Philosophy and Narrative Technique of Joseph Conrad. Diss. Acta Academiae Aboensis, ser. A, vol. 61 nr 1. Åbo [Turku]: Åbo Akademi, 1982.

 

Poetry

Seendets rike. Dikter [The Realm of Seeing. Poems]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 2009.

Jag ser en stjärna. Ett diktat porträtt av Carl von Linné [I See a Star: A Portrait in Poems of Carl Linnaeus]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms and Uppsala: Edition Edda, 2007.

Mörkret. Det börjar. Glansen. Den varar [The Darkness. It Begins. The Sheen. It Remains]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms and Uppsala: Edition Edda, 2005.

Det mesta som finns är osynligt. En dikt för invigningen av Engelska parken. Humanistiskt centrum vid Uppsala universitet [Most of What Exists is Invisible: A Poem for the Inauguration of the English Park Campus: Centre for the Humanities at Uppsala University]. Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, 2004.

Varje dag [Every Day]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 2002.

Det finns inget annat [There Is Nothing Else]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 1999.

Livets namn är alltid [The Name of Life Is Always]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 1994.

Solen är en tunnel [The Sun Is a Tunnel]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 1989.

Ser du dem inte? [Don’t You See Them?]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 1987.

Besvärjelse [Incantation]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 1985.

 

Fiction

Göm mig i ditt hjärta. Brottsroman [Hide Me in Your Heart. Crime Novel]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 2010.

Göm mig i ditt hjärta translated as:
B. Il burattinaio. Rome: Newton Compton, 2011.
Skryj mě ve svém srdci. Prague: Argo, 2012.

Ge mig dina ögon. Brottsroman [Give Me Your Eyes: Crime Novel]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 2008.

Ge mig dina ögon translated as:
Donne-moi tes yeux. Paris: Éditions de Télémaque, 2010.
A. L’alfabetista. Romanzo. Rome: Newton Compton, 2010.
Dame tus ojos. Barcelona: Grijalbo, 2011.
Dej mi své oči. Prague: Argo, 2011.
Alfabetist. Zagreb: Lumen, 2011.

Vargskallen och andra berättelser [The Wolf’s Skull and Other Stories]. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Söderströms, 1991.

For an account in Swedish of Torsten Pettersson's poetry and fiction, see this page.

 

B. Books Edited

B7. Litteratur som livskunskap – tvärvetenskapliga perspektiv på personlighetsutvecklande läsning [Literature as Knowledge of Life – Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Reading as a Development of Personality] (with Skans Kersti Nilsson). Borås: Högskolan i Borås, 2009.

B6. Operavärldar från Monteverdi till Gershwin. Tjugo uppsatser redigerade av Torsten Pettersson [Opera Worlds from Monteverdi to Gershwin: Twenty Essays Edited by Torsten Pettersson]. Stockholm: Atlantis, 2006.

B5. Att fånga världen i ord. Litteratur och livsåskådning. Teoretiska perspektiv [Capturing the World in Words: Literature and Philosophy of Life: Theoretical Perspectives] (with Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm). Skellefteå: Norma, 2003.

B4. Modernitetens ansikten. Livsåskådningar i nordisk 1900-talslitteratur [Faces of Modernity: World Views in Twentieth-Century Nordic Literature] (with Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm). Nora: Nya Doxa, 2001.

B3. Tid och evighet. Nedslag i det gångna årtusendets europeiska litteratur [Time and Eternity: Aspects of the European Literature of the Last Millennium] (with Stefan Mählqvist). Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen vid Uppsala universitet, Meddelanden nr 7. Uppsala, 2000.

B2. Litteratur och verklighetsförståelse. Idémässiga aspekter av 1900-talets litteratur [Literature and the Understanding of Reality: Ideational Aspects of Twentieth-Century Literature] (with Anders Pettersson and Anders Tyrberg). Umeå: Umeå universitet, 1999.

B1. Åbo Akademi forskar. Pågående projekt 1983 [Research at Åbo Akademi University: Current Projects 1983]. Åbo [Turku]: Åbo Akademi, 1983.

 

C. Articles in Journals and Anthologies

More than 80 articles published in ten countries. They include:

C.79. ”The Case for Synergetic Criticism – the Example of Othello”. In: Why Literary Studies? Raisons D’être of a Discipline, ed. Stein Haugom Olsen and Anders Pettersson. Oslo: Novus Press, 2011.

C78. “’Jag är främmande i detta land’. Modernismens finlandssvenska genombrott i ett europeiskt perspektiv [”I Am a Stranger in This Country”: The Breakthrough of Modernism in Swedish Finland Situated in a European Perspective]”. In: På fria villkor: Edith Södergran-studier, ed. Arne Toftegaard Pedersen. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 2011.

C77. ”Att skapa likt ur olikt: hur finsk bunden poesi kan översättas till svenska [Creating Similarity from Diversity: How Finnish Poetry in Verse Can Be Translated into Swedish]”. Published online in: IASS 2010: Översättning – adaption, interpretation, transformation, ed. Claes-Göran Holmberg och Per Erik Ljung. Lund University: 2011. http://nile.lub.lu.se/ojs/index.php/IASS2010/article/view/5114

C76. ”Vinterkrigets dikter [Poetry from Finland’s Winter War 1939–40]”. Horisont 57:4 (2010).

C75. ”Kriminalromanens rika potential. Intervju med författaren Torsten Pettersson [The Rich Potential of the Crime Novel. An Interview of the Author Torsten Pettersson by Peter Björkman]”. Horisont 57:3 (2010).

C74. ”Längtan till ett osynligt land. Tolkningar av fem finska dikter [Longing for an Invisible Land. Translations of Five Finnish Poems”. In: Mening och mönster. Bilder av teologi och livsåskådningsforskning: Festskrift till Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm, ed. Thomas Ekstrand et.al. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Studies in Faiths and Ideologies, 25. Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2010.

C73. ”Minnesord [Chairman’s Obituaries on Deceased Member of the Society]”. Årsbok 2008 för Kungl. Humanistiska vetenskaps-samfundet i Uppsala = Annales Societatis litterarum humaniorum regiae Upsaliensis, ed. Conny Svensson. Uppsala, 2009.

C72. ”Att läsa för att utvecklas [Reading in Order to Develop]”. In: Litteratur som livskunskap – tvärvetenskapliga perspektiv på personlighetsutvecklande läsning, ed. Skans Kersti Nilsson and Torsten Pettersson. Borås: Högskolan i Borås, 2009.

C71. “Allt blott fragment utan mening? Semantiska oscillationer i tre dikter av Hugo von Hofmannsthal [All Is But Fragments Devoid of Meaning? Semantic Oscillations in Three Poems by Hugo von Hofmannsthal]”. Samlaren 129 (2008).

C70. ”Kumpi meistä nyt kuollut on? Uuno Kailaan runo ja sen kääntäminen [Which of Us Is Dead Now? On a Poem by Uuno Kailas and Its Translation into Swedish]”. Parnasso (Helsinki) 58:7 (2008).

C69. “Trängseln och den trånga porten. Litteraturhistoria för 2000-talet [The Throng and the Narrow Gate: Literary History for the 2000s]”. Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 37:2 (2008).

C 68. “Det dubbla perspektivet. Hofmannsthals sista stora dikt [The Dual Perspective: Hofmannsthal’s Last Major Poem]”. Medvandrare. Festskrift till Roger Holmström den 13 november 2008, ed. Michel Ekman, Julia Tidigs and Clas Zilliacus. Åbo [Turku]: Åbo Akademis förlag, 2008.

C67. ”Carl von Linnés livsåskådning. Ett historiskt och ett litterärt perspektiv [The World View of Carl Linnaeus: A Historical and a Literary Perspective]”. Sphinx. Societas Scientiarum Fennica Yearbook 2007–2008. Helsingfors [Helsinki], 2008.

C66. ”Religion och tragik i Tosca. 'Varför återgäldar du mig så?' [Religion and Tragedy in Puccini’s Tosca: 'Why Do You Repay Me Thus?']”. Tosca i Uppsala 13 och 14 juni 2008, ed. Lars Burman. Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2008.

C65. ”Gränsen mellan kanon och apokryf. En ny syn på den svenska nittiotalismen [The Boundary between Canon and Apocrypha: A New Perspective on Swedish Literature of the 1890s]”. Gränser i nordisk litteratur / Borders in Nordic Literature. IASS XXVI 2006, ed. Clas Zilliacus.

C64. ”Drömmar om verkligheten – skönlitteraturens potential för existentiell psykoterapi [Dreams of Reality – the Potential of Literature for Existential Psychotherapy]”. Bara detta liv. Texter i existentiell psykologi och psykoterapi, ed. Dan Stiwne. Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, 2008.

C63. ”De uppvällande krafterna. Ola Hansson i fenomenologisk och narratologisk belysning [The Surging Forces: Ola Hansson in the Light of Phenomenology and Narratology]”. Tolkningens scen. Festskrift till Roland Lysell. Stockholm: Aiolos, 2008.

C62. ”Att tolka det tomma. Om figurativt inriktade tolkningar av det nonfigurativa i bildkonst, litteratur och musik [Interpreting Emptiness: On Figuratively Orientated Interpretations of Nonfigurative Elements in Visual Art, Literature, and Music]”. Konstverk och konstverkan, ed. Göran Rossholm and Göran Sonesson. Stockholm/Stehag: Brutus Östlings Bokförlag Symposion, 2007.

C61. ”Vem blir jag när jag läser? En essä om identifikation och moral i detektivromanen [Who Do I Turn into When I Am Reading? An Essay on Identification and Morality in the Detective Novel].” Norsk Litteraturvitenskapelig Tidsskrift 10:2 (2007).

C60. ”Lånade drömmar – fiktion och verklighet. Den första Fredrik Cygnaeus-föreläsningen vid Helsingfors universitet [Borrowed Dreams – Fiction and Reality: The First Fredrik Cygnaeus Lecture at the University of Helsinki]”. Historiska och litteraturhistoriska studier 82 (2007).

C59. “På väg mot en tillämpad litteraturvetenskap. Exemplet psykoterapi [Towards Applied Literary Criticism: The Example of Psychotherapy]”. Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 35:3-4 (2006).

C58. “Inledning [Introduction]”. In: Operavärldar från Monteverdi till Gershwin. Tjugo uppsatser redigerade av Torsten Pettersson [Opera Worlds from Monteverdi to Gershwin: Twenty Essays Edited by Torsten Pettersson]. Stockholm: Atlantis, 2006.

C57. “Storslaget meningsskapande. Religiös tematik i 1800-talsoperan [Grandiose Creation of Meaning: Religious Themes in Nineteenth-Century Opera]”. In: Operavärldar från Monteverdi till Gershwin. Tjugo uppsatser redigerade av Torsten Pettersson [Opera Worlds from Monteverdi to Gershwin: Twenty Essays Edited by Torsten Pettersson]. Stockholm: Atlantis, 2006.

C56. “Is the Novel an Immoral Art Form? A Dialogue”. In: Perspectives on Aesthetics, Art and Culture: Essays in Honour of Lars-Olof Åhlberg, ed. Claes Entzenberg and Simo Säätelä. Stockholm: Thales, 2005.

C55. “Himlens nåd och vrede. 1800-talsoperans brott mot sekularonormativiteten [The Grace and the Wrath of Heaven: Departures from Secularonormativity in Nineteenth-Century Opera]”. Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 34:3 (2005).

C54. “Components of Literariness: Readings of Capote’s In Cold Blood”. In: From Text to Literature: New Analytic and Pragmatic Approaches, ed. Stein Haugom Olsen and Anders Pettersson. Houndsmill, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

C53. “Bibelns relation till verkligheten. En principiell jämförelse med sakprosan och skönlitteraturen [The Relation of the Bible to Reality: A Theoretical Comparison with Documentary Prose and Fictional Literature]”. In: Litteraturen og det Hellige: Urtekst – Intertekst – Kontekst, ed. Ole Davidsen. Acta Jutlandica LXXX:1, Teologisk serie 21. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2005.

C52. “Poesi som upptäckt och paradigmbrott [Poetry as Discovery and Paradigm Infraction]”. In: Svenskan i Finland 8, ed. Kristina Nikula et.al. Nordistica Tamperensia A5. Tammerfors [Tampere]: Tammerfors universitet, 2005.

C51. ”Why Did Some Authors Become Modernists? Early High Modernism and Multipolar Identities”. In: European and Nordic Modernisms, ed. Mats Jansson et.al. Norwich: Norvik Press, 2004.

C50. ”Vredens dag som är varje dag. Sven-David Sandströms och Tobias Berggrens Requiem [The Day of Wrath Which Is Every Day: The Requiem of Sven-David Sandström and Tobias Berggren]”. Artes 30:2 (2004).

C49. ”What is an Interpretation?”. In: Types of Interpretation in the Aesthetic Disciplines, ed. Staffan Carlshamre and Anders Pettersson. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003.

C48. ”Livsåskådningar i skönlitteraturen – författarcentrering eller textcentrering? [World Views in Literature – a Focus on the Author or on the Text?]”. In: Att fånga världen i ord. Litteratur och livsåskådning. Teoretiska perspektiv, ed.Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm and Torsten Pettersson. Skellefteå: Norma, 2003.

C47. ”The Literary Work as a Pliable Entity: Combining Realism and Pluralism”. In: Is There a Single Right Interpretation?, ed. Michael Krausz. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002.

C46. ”Vägen till Eleusis i en dikt av Hjalmar Gullberg [The Road to Eleusis in a Poem by Hjalmar Gullberg]”. In: Poetiska världar. 33 studier tillägnade Bengt Landgren, ed. Håkan Möller et.al. Eslöv: Symposion, 2002.

C45. ”’Snart i hans stormvind sjunger jag’. Jaget, världen och Gud i Hjalmar Gullbergs diktning [‘Soon I Will Sing in His Storm’: The Self, the World and God in the Poetry of Hjalmar Gullberg]”. In: Speglingar. Svensk 1900-talslitteratur i möte med biblisk tradition, ed. Stefan Klint and Kari Syreeni. Skellefteå: Norma, 2001.

C44. ”Vad är modernitet? En kortfattad positionsbestämning [What is Modernity? A Succinct Definition of Positions]”. In: Modernitetens ansikten. Livsåskådningar i nordisk 1900-talslitteratur, ed. Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm and Torsten Pettersson. Nora: Nya Doxa, 2001.

C43. ”T. S. Eliots semantiska mystik [The Semantic Mysticism of T. S. Eliot]”. In: Tid och evighet. Nedslag i det gångna årtusendets europeiska litteratur, ed. Stefan Mählqvist and Torsten Pettersson. Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen vid Uppsala universitet, Meddelanden nr 7. Uppsala, 2000.

C42. ”Livsåskådningar i nordisk litteratur. En aspekt av moderniseringen [World Views in Nordic Literature: An Aspect of Modernization]”. In: Det unika Norden, ed. Krister Ståhlberg. København [Copenhagen]: Nordisk ministerråd, 2000.

C41. ”Evigheters tålamod. Jaget, världen och Gud i Hjalmar Gullbergs diktning [The Patience of Eternities: The Self, the World and God in the Poetry of Hjalmar Gullberg]”. Samlaren 121 (2000).

C40. ”Internalization and Death: A Reinterpretation of Rilke’s Duineser Elegien”. Modern Language Review 94 (1999).

C39. ”Vad är modernitet? En kortfattad positionsbestämning [What is Modernity: A Succinct Definition of Positions]”. In: Norden och Europa. Språk, kultur, identitet, ed. Krister Ståhlberg. København [Copenhagen]: Nordisk ministerråd, 1999.

C38. ”Litteratur som perspektiv på verkligheten. En introduktion till temat och till antologin [Literature as a Perspective on Reality: An Introduction to the Theme and to the Anthology]” (with Anders Pettersson and Anders Tyrberg). In: Litteratur och verklighetsförståelse. Idémässiga aspekter av 1900-talets litteratur, ed. Anders Pettersson, Torsten Pettersson and Anders Tyrberg. Umeå: Umeå universitet, 1999.

C37. “Kampen mot avsmak och leda. Läsarstrategier inför apart verklighetsförståelse [The Struggle against Boredom and Revulsion: Interpretative Strategies in the Face of Aberrant World Views]”. In: Litteratur och verklighetsförståelse. Idémässiga aspekter av 1900-talets litteratur, ed. Anders Pettersson, Torsten Pettersson and Anders Tyrberg. Umeå: Umeå universitet, 1999.

C36. ”Mahdottoman genren sitkeä elinvoima eli historiallisen romaanin funktiot [The Persistent Survival of an Impossible Genre, or the Functions of the Historical Novel]”. Parnasso 49 (1999).

C35. ”Principer och premisser i humanistisk forskning [Principles and Premises of Research within the Humanities]”. Tvärsnitt 18:3 (1996).

C34.”Salavas modernistiska fenotyp [The Modernist Phenotype of the Poet L. A. Salava]”. In: Festskrift till Johan Wrede 18.10.1995. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 1995.

C33. ”Edith Södergran. Patos och ironi [Edith Södergran: Pathos and Irony]”. In: Fem par: Finlandssvenska författare konfronteras, ed. Roger Holmström. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 1995.

C32. ”Lord Jim: The Prison-House of Consciousness”. In: Conrad in Scandinavia, ed. Jakob Lothe. Lublin: Marie Curie-Sklodowska University and New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

C31. ”Om kriterier för vetenskapligt värde [On Requirements for Scholarship in the Humanities]”. In: Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala. Årsbok 1995. Uppsala, 1995.

C30. ”Det dubbla skeendet i Wagner’s Ring [The Duality of the Action in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle]”. Samlaren 115 (1994).

C29. “Den tragiska ironin i Richard Wagners Ring [Tragic Irony in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle]”. Horisont 41:2-3 (1994).

C28. “Kampen om kontexten [The Battle over Context]”. Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 22 (1993).

C27. “’That Never-Ending Restlessness’: The Revulsion from Life in The Old Curiosity Shop”. Moderna språk 86 (1992).

C26. “’Impostors and Deceptions’: the Social Side of The Old Curiosity Shop”. Studia Neophilologica 64 (1992).

C25. “The Shared World: Reflections on Literary Realism”. In: Understanding the Arts: Contemporary Scandinavian Aesthetics, ed. Jeanette Emt and Göran Hermerén. Lund: Lund University Press and Bromley: Chartwell-Bratt, 1992.

C24. ”Att vara seende. En studie i R. R. Eklunds författarskap [To Be Perceptive: A Study of the Oeuvre of R. R. Eklund]”. Historiska och litteraturhistoriska studier 66 (1991).

C23. ”Perustuuko tieteellinen kritiikki paradoksiin? [Is Scholarly Critique Based on a Paradox?]”. Tiedepolitiikka – Tiede ja Sivistys 16:2 (1991).

C22. “Kirjallisuuskritiikin tila [The State of Literary Criticism]”. Parnasso 41:6 (1991).

C21. “Nio decennier finlandssvensk litteratur [Nine Decades of the Literature of Swedish Finland]”. Horisont 37:6 (1990).

C20. “Enough to Have Bodies? Two Incongruities in Oliver Twist”. Orbis litterarum 45 (1990).

C19. “Från det transcendenta mot det immanenta. En studie i Barbro Mörnes författarskap [From the Transcendent towards the Immanent: A Study in the Oeuvre of Barbro Mörne]”. Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 19:2 (1990).

C18. “Den svåra gemenskapen. En studie i Kerstin Söderholms författarskap [The Difficulty of Fellowship: A Study in the Oeuvre of Kerstin Söderholm]”. Horisont 37: 2-3 (1990).

C17. “Näkemisen taito. Unohdettu modernisti R. R. Eklund [The Art of Seeing: The Forgotten Modernist R. R. Eklund]”. Parnasso 40:4 (1990).

C16. “Yhteenkuuluvuden tuska. Kerstin Söderholm kaunokirjailijana [The Pain of Belonging Together: Kerstin Söderholm as a Writer of Imaginative Literature]”. Parnasso 40:5 (1990).

C15. ”Bakteerin pyrintö. L. A. Salavan runot [The Aspiration of a Germ: The Poems of L. A. Salava]”. Parnasso 40:6 (1990).

C14. ”Lidt om den litterære situation i Finland [Notes on the Literary Situation in Finland]”. In: Aktuel litteratur i Norden. København [Copenhagen]: Det Danske Kulturinstitut, 1990.

C13. ”De försummade finlandssvenska modernisterna [The Neglected Modernists of Swedish Finland]”. Svenska folkskolans kalender 104 (1990).

C12. ”’Eine Welt aus Sehen und Blindheit’: Consciousness and World in Stifter’s Abdias”. Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift, N.F. 40 (1990).

C11. “The Maturity of David Copperfield”. English Studies 70 (1989).

C10. “Mikael Lybeck. Traagikko ja tyyliniekka [Mikael Lybeck: Tragedian and Stylist]”. Kanava 1989, nr 4.

C9. “Ristiriitaiset tulkinnat kirjallisuudenteorian ongelmana [Incompatible Interpretations as a Problem for Literary Theory]”. In: Kirjallisuuden filosofiaa, ed. Arto Haapala et. al. Helsinki: Valtion painatuskeskus, 1989.

C8. “Deterministic Acceptance Versus Moral Outrage: A Problem of Literary Naturalism in Frank Norris’ The Octopus”. Orbis Litterarum 42 (1987).

C7. ”’Ettei hän ymmärtänyt mitään’ [‘That He Understood Nothing’]”. Parnasso 37:6 (1987).

C6. “Det svårgripbara livet. Ett förbisett tema i dagdrivarlitteraturen [The Elusive Life: A Neglected Theme in the Flaneur Literature of Swedish Finland]”. In: Från dagdrivare till feminister, ed. Sven Linnér. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 1986.

C5. ”’Att han ingenting förstod’. Psyket och yttervärlden i Tito Collianders romaner [‘That He Understood Nothing’: the Psyche and the External World in the Novels of Tito Colliander]”. In: Tio finlandssvenska författare, ed. Ben Hellman and Clas Zilliacus. Helsingfors [Helsinki]: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 1986.

C4. ”Att tolka är att domesticera? [Interpretation Equals Domestication?]” In: Beskrivning och värdering i dagskritisk verksamhet, ed. Göran Sörbom. Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, 1986.

C3. ”Incompatible Interpretations of Literature”. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 45 (1986).

C2. “Om att studera idéer i litteraturen [On the Study of Ideas in Literature]”. Finsk Tidskrift 211-12 (1982).

C1. ”Den historiska sanningen som problem och nödvändighet hos Eyvind Johnson. En diskussion kring Några steg mot tystnaden [Historical Truth as a Problem and a Necessity in Eyvind Johnson: A Discussion of Några steg mot tystnaden]”. In: Pegas och snöbollskrig. Litteraturvetenskapliga studier tillägnade Sven Linnér. Åbo: Åbo Akademi, 1979.

 

D. Review Articles

D7. ”Litteraturhistoria i paradigmskiftets tid [Literary History in Times of Paradigm Transition. On Verdenslitteratur. Den vestlige tradisjonen]”. Norsk Litteraturvitenskapelig Tidsskrift 10:2 (2007).

D6. “Edith Södergranin legendaarinen esikoisteos [Edith Södergran’s Legendary First Book]”. Parnasso 55 (2005).

D5. ”Expansion och selektion: Den finlandssvenska litteraturens 1900-tal” [Expansion and Selection: The Twentieth Century of the Literature of Swedish Finland]. Finsk Tidskrift 247-48 (2000).

D4. ”Kontext och kreativitet: Den finlandssvenska 1900-talslitteraturen [Context and Creativity: The Twentieth-Century Literature of Swedish Finland]”. Nordica 17 (2000).

D3. On Leif Dahlberg, Tre romantiska berättelser: Studier i Eyvind Johnsons Romantisk berättelse och Tidens gång, Lars Gustafssons Poeten Brumbergs sista dagar och död och Sven Delblancs Kastrater. Samlaren 120 (1999).

D2. On Bo G. Jansson, Självironi, självbespegling och självreflexion: Den metafiktiva tendensen i Eyvind Johnsons diktning. Samlaren 112 (1991).

D1. “Tre mogna lyriker: Solveig von Schoultz, Ole Torvalds och Peter Sandelin [Three Mature Poets: Solveig von Schoultz, Ole Torvalds and Peter Sandelin]”. Finsk Tidskrift 221-22 (1987).

 

E. Reviews

E8. Of Hanne-Lore Andersson, Doxa och debatt. Litteraturvetenskap runt sekelskiftet 2000 (2008). Edda. Nordisk tidsskrift for litteraturforskning 95:4 (2008).

E7. Of Historisierung und Funktionalisierung. Intermedialität in den skandinavischen Literaturen um 1900, ed. Stephan Michael Schröder and Vreni Hockenjos. Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 35:3-4 (2007).

E6, Of Hans Isaksson, Werner Aspenström (2004). Samlaren 125 (2004).

E5. Of Judith Ryan, Rilke, Tradition and Modernism (1999). Modern Language Review 96(2001).

E4. Of Rilke’s ’Duino Elegies’: Cambridge Readings, ed. Roger Paulin and Peter Hutchinson (1996). Modern Language Review 95 (2000).

E3. Of Elisabeth Jay, Faith and Doubt in Victorian Britain (1986). English Studies 69 (1988).

E2. Of Thomas Hardy Annual No. 5 (1987). English Studies 69 (1988).

E1. Of Hans Isaksson, Lars Gyllensten (1978) and Hans-Erik Johannesson, Studier i Lars Gyllenstens estetik (1978). Scandinavica 19 (1980).

 

F. Articles in Newspapers and Popular Journals: Selection

This is a small selection. Many reviews and some short articles have been omitted.

F32. ”Deckarboomen får bränsle av it-samhället [The Boom of Detective Novels Is Fomented by the Internet Society]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, April 24, 2011.

F31. “Deckare konfronterar moderniteten [Detective Novels Confront Modernity]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, April 23, 2011.

F30. ”Är detta förslag lagligt [Is This a Legal Proposal? Article on Administrative Reform at Uppsala University]”. Upsala Nya Tidning, October 11, 2010.

F29. ”Hur skall finlandssvensk litteratur skrivas? [How Should Swedish-Language Literature in Finland Be Written?]”. Ny Tid, September 22, 2010.

F28. ”Hör posthornet i fjärran! [Hear the Post Horn from Afar! On Gustav Mahler’s Symphonies]”. Upsala Nya Tidning, March 23, 2010.

F27 “Det stora pianoäventyret kan börja [om Beethovens pianosonater] [The Great Piano Adventure Poised to Start; on Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas]. Upsala Nya Tidning, January 27, 2010.

F26. “När glädjen stegras till extas [om Beethovens nionde symfoni] [When Joy Mounts to Ecstasy; on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony]. Upsala Nya Tidning, January 5, 2010.

F25. “Obamas skrämmande pessimism [Obama’s Frightening Pessimism]”. Ny Tid, nr 6 (February 6, 2009).

F24. “Fallet Liza Marklund en väckarklocka [The Case of Liza Marklund’s Documentary Novel a Wake-Up Call]”. Upsala Nya Tidning, January 29, 2009.

F23. “Att läsa för att utvecklas [To Read In Order To Develop]”. Borås Tidning October 12, 2008.

F22. “Poesin upptäcker världen bakom världen [Poetry Discovers the World Behind the World]”. Ny Tid, nr 1-3 (2008).

F21. ”Skapelsens ordning och balans [Om Carl von Linnés världsåskådning] [The Order and Balance of Creation. On the World View of Carl Linnaeus]”. Upsala Nya Tidning, December 30, 2007.

F20. “Mellan terrorism och religion [Between Terrorism and Religion; On Mel Gibson’s Film The Passion of the Christ]”. Upsala Nya Tidning, March 4, 2007.

F19. “Konsten att fånga medial växelverkan [The Art of Capturing the Interplay of the Media]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, October 27, 2006.

F18. “Kontraktsbrott. Läs porträttromanen på egen risk [Breach of Contract. Read Portrait Novels at Your Peril]”. Dagens Nyheter, September 30, 2006.

F17. “Kraus opera väckt ur sin törnrosasömn [Kraus’s Sleeping Beauty of an Opera Awakened]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, August 7, 2006.

F16. ”Vidga litteraturens gränser! Ämnets kris kan bli början till något nytt [Expand the Boundaries of Literature! The Crisis of the Discipline Can Become a New Departure]”. Dagens Nyheter, April 10, 2006.

F15. “Varför mår vi så dåligt? [Why Are We So Unhappy?]”. Svenska Dagbladet, November 26, 2005.

F14. ”Hansson hade även progressiva idéer [Hansson Also Had Progressive Ideas]”. Svenska Dagbladet, September 28, 2005.

F13. “Heidenstam vann kampen om nittiotalet [Heidenstam Won the Battle Over the 1890s]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, September 17, 2005.

F12. “Att älska allt som ett enda. Tito Colliander 100 år [To Love Everything as One Thing: Tito Colliander 100 Years]”. Hufvudstadsbladet, October 31, 2004.

F11. “Gibson bättre Jesustolkare än kritiker hävdar? [Gibson a Better Interpreter of Jesus than Critics Claim?]”. Upsala Nya Tidning, April 28, 2004.

F10. “Dödsmässa bekräftar vår mänsklighet [The Requiem Validates Our Humanity]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, January 28, 2004.

F9. “Modernismen en tillflykt för rotlösa finlandssvenskar [Modernism a Refuge for Deracinated Swedish-Speaking Finns]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, October 6, 2001.

F8. “Motsägelsefulla gudsbilder i Giuseppe Verdis operor [Contradictory Images of God in the Operas of Giuseppe Verdi]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, March 16, 2001.

F7. “Monteverdi i dag: Att hålla det förflutna levande [Monteverdi Today: Keeping the Past Alive]”. Upsala Nya Tidning, March 21, 2000.

F6. ”Svenska Akademien med och mot strömmen [The Swedish Academy Following and Stemming the Tide]”. Upsala Nya Tidning, October 28, 1999.

F5. ”Edith Södergran och Lekarnas lek [Edith Södergran and the Game of Games]”. Hufvudstadsbladet, April 4, 1992.

F4. “Att översätta Hölderlin [Translating Hölderlin]”. Hufvudstadsbladet, October 25, 1989.

F3. “Mikael Lybeck – tragik och stilistik [Mikael Lybeck – tragedy and style]”. Understreckare [feature article], Svenska Dagbladet, March 19, 1989.

F2. ”Alberto Moravias författarskap: Sex och våld som symbol och symtom”. Hufvudstadsbladet, July 30, 1980.

F1. “Det inre jaget och Lars Ahlin [The Inner Self and Lars Ahlin]”. Hufvudstadsbladet, July 22, 1980.