Helsingin yliopisto - Englantilainen filologia

Polvinen, Merja

PhD, Researcher, Postgraduate coordinator

Member of the Academy of Finland research project Styles of Mimesis (2008-2010).

Member of the planning group for postgraduate studies.

Abroad for the year 2009-2010

E-mail: merja.polvinen(at)helsinki.fi

Research interests

Contemporary literature and literary theory (with a focus on the ‘Two Cultures’ debate between literature and science), cognitive approaches to literature, theories of representation, speculative fiction.

Publications

Doctoral dissertation: Reading the Texture of Reality: Chaos Theory, Literature and the Humanist Perspective. English Department Studies 6. University of Helsinki, 2008.

‘Reseptejä tieteidenvälisyyteen’. Review of Tieteiden välissä? Johdatus monitieteisyyteen, tieteidenvälisyyteen ja poikkitieteellisyyteen (by Heikki Mikkeli and Jussi Pakkasvirta). Avain 4/2008: 96-97.

(with Sanna Nyqvist) ‘Lukemisen monikerroksinen nautinto.’ Afterword to the Finnish translation of A.S.Byatt’s Possession: A Romance. Helsinki: Teos, 2008. 697-709.

‘Narrated Authorial Identity: John Barth’s Iterated Opera’. Narrative and Identity: Theoretical Approaches and Critical Analyses. Ed. by Birgit Neumann, Ansgar Nünning and Bo Pettersson (with Simon Cooke, René Dietrich, Merja Polvinen and Alexandre Segão Costa). Giessen Contributions to the Study of Culture 1. Trier: WVT, 2008. 87-98.

‘Innovaatio Euroopassa – nyhjää tyhjästä?’ Interview of Monika Fludernik. Avain 2007 (3): 59-62.

‘Hal Duncan – kieli iholla (ja joskus poskessa).’ Tähtivaeltaja 2007 (3): 12-19.

‘Viimeinen vuoro.’ Translation into Finnish of Hal Duncan’s short story ‘The Last Shift.’ Tähtivaeltaja 2007 (3): 20-27

‘The Ends of Metaphor: Literary Analysis and Chaos Theory.’ Special Issue: Literature, Epistemology and Science, European Journal of English Studies 2007 (11.3): 273-284.

Cognition and Literary Interpretation in Practice. Ed. by Harri Veivo, Bo Pettersson and Merja Polvinen. Helsinki: Helsinki UP, 2005.

‘ Science Fiction II.’ Translation into Finnish of John Clute’s article ‘Science Fiction: The Sequel.’ Tähtivaeltaja 2005 (1): 44-46.

‘Habitable Worlds and Literary Voices: A.S. Byatt’s Possession as Self-Conscious Realism.’ Helsinki English Studies 2004 (3).

‘Merkittävät tekstilajit.’ Review of Merkkejä ja symboleja: Esseitä kirjallisuudesta ja sen tutkimuksesta (ed. by Markku Lehtimäki). Laji, tekijä, instituutio. Ed. by Tuomo Lahdelma et.al. Kirjallisuudentutkijain Seuran vuosikirja 56. Helsinki: SKS, 2004. 328-330.

‘Rounding off the Sense of the World.’ Review of The Raymond Tallis Reader (ed. by Michael Grant). Philosophy and Literature. 2003 (27/2): 480-484.

‘Reading the Texture of Reality: Interpretations of Chaos Theory in Literature and Literary Studies.’ New Formations: Complex Figures. 2003 (49): 48-60.

‘Stephen R. Donaldson.’ Ulkomaisia fantasiakirjailijoita. Helsinki: BTJ, 2003.

‘Chaos Theory and Literary Knowledge in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia .’ La conoscenza della letteratura. Ed. by Angela Locatelli. Bergamo: Bergamo UP, 2002. 135-158.

Licentiate thesis (May 2002, ECL):
Bridging the Abyss: Chaos and Creation in A.S. Byatt’s Possession and Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.

‘Kaaos ja kirjallisuus: metafora vai metodologinen harhapolku?’ Skeptikko 2002 (1): 4-10.