SELMA workshop on historical imagination

Fri 17.11. 12 pm, Tempo room (Minerva, Sirkkala)

Workshop: Historical Imagination, Futurity and Narrative Form

Dr. Kaisa Kaakinen (Comparative Literature, University of Turku): “Historical Biographies and Relational Imagination in Contemporary Literature”

Dr. Natalya Bekhta (Comparative Literature, University of Helsinki): “Imagining Alternative Futures: Ghosts and Saviours in Post-Soviet Fiction”

Round-table discussion:

After their individual lectures, Kaisa Kaakinen and Natalya Bekhta will discuss current methodological challenges in the comparative analysis of literary form and cultural imaginaries. The following topics will be addressed in the discussion, in dialogue with the questions from the audience: how historical narration and memorial forms intersect in literary narratives with emerging ways to imagine the future, how we should take into account both local and global contexts of literary production and reception in the age of globalization, and how we should respond to challenges of scale and (semi-)periphery in comparative studies.

Picture: Design for a Constructivist stage setting by Alexandra Exter from Victoria and Albert Museum webpage