Book Launch: Confessions and Confidences

Welcome to the launch seminar of Confessions and Confidences. Academic and Cultural History Revisited in Letters and Other Documents of Life, edited by Leila Virtanen, Tiina Seppä and Jyrki Pöysä.

The anthology draws readers into the epistolary worlds of mainly 20th-century academic and cultural figures in the Baltic region, especially Finland. At the time of writing, many of these individuals, while pursuing vocations in folklore research, linguistics, ethnography and creative writing, suffered hardships and feelings of uncertainty, something to which their letters attest. The extensive citations of the letters allow readers a firsthand view of the content, style and register of their authors’ epistolary prose. However personal, these communications also reflect the zeitgeist of their times.

Program

Opening Words, Kirsi Keravuori, Finnish Literature Society

The Wet and the Dry: Some Background to the Anthology, Jyrki Pöysä

Reading Letters: What Ifs and Contingencies in a Folklorist’s Life and Work, Leila Virtanen

Stalking the Dead? Love, Death, and Documents of Life, Tiina Seppä

More Confessions and Confidences in Newly Found Rasmus Rask Materials, Leonid S. Chekin

Pertti Virtaranta’s Early Work as an Ethnographer, Elina Niiranen

Discussion and Closure

Refreshments for on-site participants.

The event is in English, free and open to everyone. 

Remote attendance via Zoom is also available. Registered attendees will receive the link by email: Registration form.  

For further information, please contact Tiina Seppä email [email protected].