PhD Project
My doctoral project examines the role, function, and status of the author today, at the intersection of literary theory and the contemporary literary public sphere, with particular emphasis on artificial intelligence, digital self-presentation, and changing forms of cultural capital. I am especially interested in how authenticity and “realness” are staged and perceived – both within and beyond the text.
Since the “death of the author” was proclaimed in literary theory, the author has proved remarkably resilient in literary reality. At the same time, the author’s role is undergoing change across cultural, technological, and economic fields, challenging established understandings of what authorship is. The project therefore aims to develop a conceptual framework that captures how the author figure actually operates today – within and outside literary works, across physical and digital arenas – and to explore whether today’s mediatization, celebrity culture, and technological developments call for new ways of thinking about the author.
The project combines perspectives from literary studies, media studies, and marketing theory to provide an interdisciplinary approach to the author as a textual, cultural, and mediated figure.
Supervisor: Janicke S. Kaasa (main supervisor)
Research interests
Literary theory
Authorship studies
Autofiction and autotheory
Contemporary literature
Law and literature
Background
2010–2013: BA in Comparative Literature, University of Bergen
2011–2012: Exchange studies in Art History, Freie Universität Berlin
2015–2017: MA in German Literature, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2019–2025: Managing Director, Kulturakademiet Berlin
2022–2025: Lecturer in History of Ideas, Kulturakademiet Berlin