Presentation
The topic of my thesis is the evolution of the Russian anti-utopian/dystopian novel after the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union. I try to outline principal shifts in the genre poetics as a result of the decline of the idea of state-centred social projects during the 1980s and 1990s, in the West as well as in the East. Primarily based on three novels by Tat’iana Tolstaia, Vladimir Sorokin, and Viktor Pelevin, I also analyse how the anti-utopian genre is used as a device to comment on the Russian society in transition.
Other research interests include: the aesthetic implications of virtualization when the border between text/literature, film and video game is being diffused in the computer as medium; totalitarian discourses; narratology.
Prior to my postgraduate studies, I taught Russian at Umeå University and participated in a research project on intercultural rhetoric at the Department of Nordic Languages, Umeå University. From 1998 through 2000, I taught Swedish at the Novgorod State University (Russia).
In addition to my research work and teaching, I also enjoy sports, photography, translating, listening to music, and playing the guitar. I play guitar in Ryska bandet, a tribute to Viktor Tsoi and Kino.
Education
• M.A. in Russian, Uppsala University, 1999.
• M.A. in Political Science, Umeå University, 1999.
Publications
Scholarly publications:
»In Pursuit of Neo: The Matrix in Contemporary Russian Novels», Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. LII, 2010:3–4, pp. 249–271.
»Myth – History – Utopia: Vladimir Sorokin's Ledianaia Trilogiia and
Daniil Andreev's Roza Mira», in: Boris Lanin & Tetsuo Mochizuki (eds.), Sorokiniada: Eurasia Talks about Sorokin, Sapporo: Slavic Research Center, 2010, pp. 13–18.
»Den totalitära myten: Vladimir Sorokins Trilogija», in: Ingunn Lunde & Susanna Witt (eds), Terminal Øst: Totalitære og posttotalitære diskurser, Oslo: Spartacus, 2008, pp. 75–87.
"Om skönlitteratur som topos i rysk retorik", Rhetorica Scandinavica, 25/2003, pp. 45–58.
Translation:
Andrej Tarkovskij: »Om Apokalypsen», Andrej Tarkovskij & Christo Burman: Apokalypsen som vision, Umeå: Atrium, 2010, pp. 17–26.
Other publications:
»Ia vozvrashchaius´ domoi», Chelo, 1/2001, pp. 121–123.