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Fabian Heffermehl

Phone +47 22 85 44 33
Username
Visiting address Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 Niels Treschows hus 0851 Oslo
Postal address Postboks 1003 Blindern 0315 Oslo

Project

Imprint and Tactility as Cultural Techniques in Russian Modernism

Summary: What you touch, touches you back. Writing and painting start in the tactile interaction between hand and surface. At the same time tactility is in the nature of violence and torture. The project investigates a shift in Russian modernism from the predominating
nexus between image and eye, to the skin. On basis of the skin’s capacity for perception, suffering, imprint and imagination, I intend to identify tactile strategies in the memory of Stalin’s terror.

This is a collaborative project between University of Oslo and Humboldt University of Berlin, financed by Research Council of Norway and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

Academic interests

  • Art
  • Icons
  • Memory
  • Modernism
  • Body
  • Russia
  • Gulag literature

Background

Fabian Heffermehl is PhD from Uppsala University (2015). He finished his Master Degree at Humboldt University of Berlin and has working experience from Armenia and Azerbaijan. His field of studies include Russian literature and graphic art.

Teaching

Taktilität und Gewalt in der Russischen Moderne (Humboldt University)

Tags: Russia, Russian literature, Literary studies, Art theory, Art History, Religion, Modernism, Icons, ArtSci, Gulag, Bodies

Publications

  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2026). Faceless Modernism: Hand, Skin and Image in Shalamov’s Stories. Slavic Literatures. ISSN 2950-4244. doi: https:/www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950396526000554. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fredrik Fabian & Karlsohn, Irina (2021). Introduction, The Gulag in Writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Varlam Shalamov Memory, History, Testimony. Brill | Nijhoff. ISSN 9789004468481. p. 1–13. doi: 10.1163/9789004468481_002. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fredrik Fabian (2021). Tactility and Memory in Shalamov, The Gulag in Writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Varlam Shalamov Memory, History, Testimony. Brill | Nijhoff. ISSN 9789004468481. p. 119–141. doi: 10.1163/9789004468481_007. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2019). Kuss eines Zyklopen. Die umgekehrte Perspektive Florenskis zwischen Kultbild und Kunstbild. Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte. ISSN 0044-2992. 82(1). doi: 10.1515/ZKG-2019-0005. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2018). From Curved Space to Reverse Perspective: Interdisciplinary Tendencies in Russian Theory of Painting (Tarabukin reads Florenskii). Slavic and East European Journal. ISSN 0037-6752. 62(1), p. 93–117. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fredrik Fabian (2017). From Curved Space to Reverse Perspective: Interdisciplinary Tendencies in Russian Theory of Painting (Tarabukin reads Florenskii). Slavic and East European Journal. ISSN 0037-6752. 62(1), p. 93–117. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2016). The Icon and the Hand. Acheiropoiesis (nerukotvornost') as a Literary Technique in Shalamov's Glove. Journal of Icon Studies. ISSN 2473-7747. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2016). The Digital Icon and the Phenomenology of Surveillance. In Suslov, Mikhail (Eds.), Digital Orthodoxy in the Post-Soviet World. Ibidem-Verlag. ISSN 9783838208718. p. 83–110. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2015). Проблема нерукотворности и мнемотехники ГУЛАГа. Wiener Slawistischer Almanach, Sonderband. ISSN 0256-5234. 76. Full text in Research Archive

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  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2026). Tegn Aldri Øyne. Bonnier. ISBN 9788234729096. 287 p. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2026). The Blind Icon. Skin - Face - Eye in Russian Modernism. De Gruyter Brill. ISBN 9783689240318. 189 p. doi: https:/www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783689240318/html?srsltid=AfmBOoqtXvCCpGZj7vUt4j--3AUwJr7Ll8k1rBzBW5Xwhv1TMDcoQvhT#bibliographicData. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fredrik Fabian & Irina, Karlsohn (2021). The Gulag in Writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Varlam Shalamov Memory, History, Testimony. Brill | Nijhoff. ISBN 9789004468481. Full text in Research Archive

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  • Blackburn, Matthew & Heffermehl, Fabian (2024). Som søvngjengere inn i tredje verdenskrig. Full text in Research Archive
  • Blackburn, Matthew & Heffermehl, Fabian (2024). Ukraina – hva nå? Full text in Research Archive
  • Blackburn, Matthew & Heffermehl, Fabian (2024). Tallene går ikke opp for Nato i Ukraina. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2022). Norge trenger sine russiske venner. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.). ISSN 0804-3116. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2022). Er vi Putins nyttige idioter? Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fredrik Fabian (2021). The Post-Soviet Politics of Utopia: Language, Fiction and Fantasy in Modern Russia. Nordisk Østforum. ISSN 0801-7220. doi: 10.23865/noros.v35.3067. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2021). The Blind Icon. Varlam Shalamov and his Kolyma Stories. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2020). Neige et Cercles. Mémoires en jeu. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2019). The Tactile Face. Memory and Body in Shalamov. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2019). The Tactile Face. Drawing the Body from the Inside out. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2019). Kuss eines Zyklopen. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2018). Malevitsj' sorte kvadrat. Fast Grunn. ISSN 0014-8733. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2018). Abdrück und Berührung. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian & Bø, Victoria (2018). Vandring. For pilegrimer og andre livsreisende. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2018). Shalamov i Solzhenitsyn. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2017). Геноцид? С чем его едят?’ Тактильность, печать и архаизм в текстах В.Т. Шаламова и С.С. Аверинцева. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2017). Die Ikone in der Literatur des Gulags. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2017). From Face to Hand – Inside Perception in Hamsun and Shalamov. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2017). Проблема нерукотворности и мнемотехника ГУЛАГа. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2017). Икона и рука: Варлам Шаламов и его рассказ "Перчатка". Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2016). Von der Ikone zum Daktylogramm – Abdrück und Berührung als Kulturtechniken der russischen Moderne. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2016). Tarabukin Reads Florenskii – on the Connection between Mathematical and Pictorial Spaces in Russian Modernism. Full text in Research Archive
  • Heffermehl, Fabian (2016). Тело, слагаемое из вибрации человеческого «нутра». Full text in Research Archive

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Published Nov. 24, 2017 11:56 AM - Last modified June 16, 2026 10:32 AM