Karin Kukkonen: The Beach Read (2024–2028)
Many pack a book to read when they set out to their beach holidays and spend some time in the sand immersed in fictional worlds. The beach offers a particular ecology for reading, embedded in the annual occurrence of the summer holiday and its rituals and practices. There are also particular books promoted as “beach reads” by publishing houses and reviews, along with perhaps more personal choices of a book that marks a meaningful moment in readers' lives.
The project will approach the beach read from two perspectives: (1) imaginaries of the ecology of the beach and (2) the emotional signatures of the “beach read”. It thereby explores how the beach read opens new perspectives on the interface between literature, emotions and the environment. The beach read is a literary practice situated in a particular ecology that currently undergoes massive changes, due to the climate crisis but also changing patterns of holidaying, and it is profoundly entwined with the emotions that readers experience or hope to experience.
Stefka G. Eriksen: Gone with the wind
Winds and storms as natural and mental energies in Old Norse literature (24/25) The aim of this project is to investigate the representation and role of winds and storms in Old Norse literature and discuss their multilayered meaning as narratological and metaphorical tools highlighting the link between natural, mental and spiritual processes.