Karin Kukkonen

I am the convenor of the research and education initiative, Literature, Cognition and Emotions (LCE). LCE is an interdisciplinary hub that brings together literary studies, linguistics, psychology and neurosciences in a new conversation about literature.
In 2019, I was awarded the first University of Oslo's Young Researchers Prize.
Academic interests
Narratology; Poetics; Eighteenth-Century Literature; Seventeenth-Century Literature; Comics and Graphic Novels; Cognitive Literary Study
Ongoing research
Reading Habits During the COVID-19 Pandemic (LCE) (pdf)
Creativity and Contingency (LCE) (pdf)
Earlier Projects
Probability Designs: Literature and Predictive Processing (pdf)
How the Novel Found its Feet: Embodiment in Eighteenth-Century Fiction
A Prehistory of Cognitive Poetics: Neoclassicism and the Novel
For more on my research and publications, see my profiles on Academia.edu, ResearchGate and Google Scholar.
Courses taught
LIT1302 Vestens litteratur 1700-1900
LIT4340A/LIT4340B Litterært tekststudium I: Mimesis
LIT4310A/LIT4310B Litteraturteoretisk studium I: Cognitive Literary Study
LIT2340 Sjangerstudium: The Makings of a Genre: The Eighteenth-Century Novel
LIT2300 Litteraturtheoretisk emne: The Theory and History of Reading
Publications
Kukkonen, Karin. (2020). "The Speed of Plot: Narrative Acceleration and Deceleration" Orbis Litterarum 75(2): 73-85. Read the article here.
Kukkonen, Karin. (2020). Probability Designs: Literature and Predictive Processing. Oxford University Press.
Kukkonen, Karin. (2019). 4E Cognition and Eighteenth-Century Fiction: How the Novel Found its Feet. Oxford University Press.
Kukkonen, Karin (2017). A Prehistory of Cognitive Poetics. Neoclassicism and the Novel. Oxford University Press.
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Birke, Dorothee; von Contzen, Eva & Kukkonen, Karin (2022). Chrononarratology: Modelling Historical Change for Narratology . Narrative. ISSN 1063-3685. 30(1), p. 26–46.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2021). Zukunft als Vergangenheit: Über Zangenbewegungen im zeitgenössischen Erzählen. Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte (ZIG). ISSN 1863-8937. 15(3), p. 131–137.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2021). Reading, Fast and Slow. Poetics Today. ISSN 0333-5372. 42(2), p. 173–191. doi: 10.1215/03335372-8883192. Full text in Research Archive
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Pianzola, Federico; Riva, Giuseppe; Kukkonen, Karin & Mantovani, Fabrizia (2021). Presence, flow, and narrative absorption: an interdisciplinary theoretical exploration with a new spatiotemporal integrated model based on predictive processing. Open Research Europe. ISSN 2732-5121. doi: 10.12688/openreseurope.13193.2. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2020). The Self and Subjectivity: Why the Enlightenment is Relevant for Posthumanism. In Thomsen, Mads Rosendahl & Wamberg, Jacob (Ed.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Posthumanism. Bloomsbury Academic. ISSN 9781350090477. p. 25–34.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2020). Kognitiv litteraturforskning: Att se sig själv tänka. In Cullhed, Sigrid Schottenius; Hedberg, Andreas & Svedjedal, Johan (Ed.), Litteraturvetenskap II. Studentlitteratur AB. ISSN 9789144136257. p. 247–264.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2020). Does Cognition Translate? Predictions, Plot and World Literature. Poetics Today. ISSN 0333-5372. 41(2), p. 243–260. doi: 10.1215/03335372-8172556. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2020). The Speed of Plot: Narrative Acceleration and Deceleration. Orbis Litterarum. ISSN 0105-7510. 75(2), p. 73–85. doi: 10.1111/oli.12251. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Reading by Proxy: A Visit to the Literary Archive. Cogent Arts & Humanities. ISSN 2331-1983. 6(1). doi: 10.1080/23311983.2019.1687271. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Handlung und Handlungslogik -- Frühe Neuzeit. In Contzen, Eva von & Tilg, Stefan (Ed.), Handbuch Historische Narratologie. Verlag J. B. Metzler. ISSN 978-3-476-04713-7. p. 262–271. doi: 10.1007/978-3-476-04714-4_24.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2019). The Literary Designer Environments of Eighteenth-Century Jesuit Poetics. In Anderson, Miranda; Rousseau, George & Wheeler, Michael (Ed.), Distributed Cognition in Enlightenment and Romantic Culture. Edinburgh University Press. ISSN 978-1-4744-4228-2. p. 187–203. doi: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474442282.003.0011.
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Jajdelska, Elspeth; Anderson, Miranda; Butler, Christopher; Fabb, Nigel; Finnigan, Elizabeth & Garwood, Ian [Show all 11 contributors for this article] (2019). Picture this: A review of research relating to narrative processing by moving image versus language. Frontiers in Psychology. ISSN 1664-1078. 10:1161, p. 1–15. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01161. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Exploring Inner Perceptions: Interoception, Literature and Mindfulness. Journal of Consciousness Studies. ISSN 1355-8250. 26(11-12), p. 107–132. Full text in Research Archive
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Vogrincic Cepic, Ana & Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Practices and Technologies Across Two Reading Revolutions: Reading the Eighteenth Century into the Twenty-First. International Journal of the Book. ISSN 1447-9516. 17(1), p. 27–37. doi: 10.18848/1447-9516/CGP/v17i01/27-37.
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Fabry, Regina & Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Reconsidering the Mind-Wandering Reader: Predictive Processing, Probability Designs and Enculturation. Frontiers in Psychology. ISSN 1664-1078. 9. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02648. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2018). Frances Greville's "A Prayer for Indifference: The Limits of Sentiment. English Literature: Theories, Interpretations, Contexts. ISSN 2385-1635. 1(5). doi: 10.30687/EL/2420-823X/2018/05/008. Show summary
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Alber, Jan; Caracciolo, Marco; Iversen, Stefan; Kukkonen, Karin & Nielsen, Henrik Skov (2018). Introduction: Unnatural and Cognitive Perspectives on Narrative (A Theory Crossover). Poetics Today. ISSN 0333-5372. 39(3), p. 429–445. doi: 10.1215/03335372-7032676. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2018). Genre Fiction in the Graphic Novel: The Case of Science Fiction. In Baetens, Jan M.; Frey, Hugo & Tabachnik, Stephen (Ed.), The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel. Cambridge University Press. ISSN 9781316759981. p. 476–491. doi: 10.1017/9781316759981.029. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2018). The Fully Extended Mind. In Dinnen, Zara & Warhol, Robyn (Ed.), The Edinburgh Companion for Contemporary Narrative Theory. Edinburgh University Press. ISSN 9781474424745. p. 56–66. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin & Nielsen, Henrik Skov (2018). Fictionality: Cognition and exceptionality. Poetics Today. ISSN 0333-5372. 39(3), p. 473–494. doi: 10.1215/03335372-7032704. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2018). A moving target – cognitive narratology and feminism . Textual Practice. ISSN 0950-236X. 32(6), p. 973–989. doi: 10.1080/0950236X.2018.1486543. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2018). The curse of realism: Cognitive narratology and the historical dimension. Partial Answers. ISSN 1565-3668. 16(2), p. 291–302. doi: 10.1353/pan.2018.0020. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). Adventures in Duck-rabbitry: Multistable elements of graphic narrative. Narrative. ISSN 1063-3685. 25(3), p. 342–358. doi: 10.1353/nar.2017.0018. Full text in Research Archive
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Caracciolo, Marco; Guédon, Cécile; Kukkonen, Karin & Müller, Sabine (2017). The Promise of an Embodied Narratology: Integrating Cognition, Representation and Interpretation. In Hansen, Per Krogh; Pier, John; Roussin, Philippe & Schmid, Wolf (Ed.), Emerging Vectors of Narratology. Walter de Gruyter (De Gruyter). ISSN 978-3-11-055518-9. p. 435–459. doi: 10.1515/9783110555158-021. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). Problems of Tellability in German Eighteenth-Century Criticism and Novel-Writing. In Steinby, Liisa & Mäkikalli, Aino (Ed.), Narrative Concepts in the Study of Eighteenth-Century Literature. Amsterdam University Press. ISSN 9789089648747. p. 177–198. doi: 10.2307/j.ctt1wn0r6q.10. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). Fantastic Cognition. In Burke, Michael & Troscianko, Emily (Ed.), Cognitive Literary Science: Dialogues between Literature and Cognition. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780190496869. p. 151–167. doi: 10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780190496869.003.0009. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2016). Bayesian Bodies: The Predictive Dimension of Embodied Cognition and Culture. In Garratt, Peter (Eds.), The Cognitive Humanities: Embodied Mind in Literature and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 978-1-137-59328-3. p. 153–167. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-59329-0_9.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2016). Samuel Richardson Among the Ancients and Moderns. In Bullard, Paddy & Tadié, Alexis (Ed.), Ancients and Moderns in Europe: Comparative Perspectives. Oxford Studies in the Enlightenment. ISSN 978-0-7294-1177-6. p. 229–242.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2016). When Social Minds Get into Trouble. Orbis Litterarum. ISSN 0105-7510. 71(4), p. 307–327. doi: 10.1111/oli.12102. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2015). "A Prayer for Indifference": Die Grenzen der Gefühlskultur. Das Achtzehnte Jahrhundert. ISSN 0722-740X. 39(2), p. 186–196. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2014). Quixotic Reasoning: Counterfactuals, Causation and Literary Storyworlds. Paragraph. ISSN 0264-8334. 37(1), p. 47–61. doi: 10.3366/para.2014.0109. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2014). Bayesian Narrative: Probability, Plot and the Shape of the Fictional World. Anglia. Zeitschrift für englische Philologie. ISSN 0340-5222. 123(4), p. 720–739. doi: 10.1515/ang-2014-0075. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2014). Presence and Prediction: The Embodied Reader's Cascades of Cognition. Style. ISSN 0039-4238. 48(3), p. 367–384. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin (2013). Space, Time and Causality in Graphic Narratives: An Embodied Approach. In Stein, Daniel & Thon, Jan-Noël (Ed.), From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory and History of Graphic Narrative. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9783110282023. p. 49–66. doi: 10.1515/9783110427660-003.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2013). Flouting Figures: Uncooperative Narration in the Fiction of Eliza Haywood. Language and Literature. ISSN 0963-9470. 22(3), p. 205–218. doi: 10.1177/0963947013489238.
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Caracciolo, Marco & Kukkonen, Karin (2021). With Bodies: Narrative Theory and Embodied Cognition. Ohio State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8142-1480-0. 226 p.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2020). Probability Designs: Literature and Predictive Processing. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190050955. 225 p.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2019). 4E Cognition and Eighteenth-Century Fiction: How the Novel Found its Feet. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190913045. 264 p.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). A Prehistory of Cognitive Poetics: Neoclassicism and the Novel. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190634766. 263 p.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2013). Studying Comics and Graphic Novels. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-49992-4. 190 p.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2013). Contemporary Comics Storytelling. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803246379. 248 p.
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Kukkonen, Karin; Caracciolo, Marco & Beltrami, Marzia (2022). Online book presentation of "Spatial Plots: Virtuality and the Embodied Mind in Baricco, Camilleri and Calvino". [Internet]. Zoom.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2021). Distracted Readers: Narratology and its Neglects (keynote).
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Kukkonen, Karin (2021). Review of Aleksandr Puškin: Russlands store dikter by Erik Egeberg. Scando-Slavica. ISSN 0080-6765. 67(2), p. 294–296.
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Kukkonen, Karin & Auestad, Reiko Abe (2021). Noveller i Øst og Vest! Foredrag og samtale om japansk og vestlig novelletradisjon .
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Kukkonen, Karin (2021). Memory and Mind-Wandering in the Attention Economy: Some Cases from Scandinavian Literature (Keynote).
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Guth, Stephan & Kukkonen, Karin (2021). The Literature of the Middle East. [Internet]. LCE Podcast. Show summary
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Kukkonen, Karin & Buer, Liz (2021). Interview: Litteratur gir støtte og trøst. [Business/trade/industry journal]. Psykisk Helse.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2021). Review of Improbability, Chance and the Nineteenth-Century Realist Novel by Adam Grener. Review19.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2020). Review of Tommy Sandberg, The Difference Approach to Narrative Fiction- A Recurring Critique of Narratology and its Implications for the Study of Novels and Short Stories. Samlaren: tidsskrift för forskning om svensk och annan nordisk litteratur. ISSN 0348-6133. 141, p. 204–208.
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Kukkonen, Karin & Langford, Malcolm (2020). Å tro på en fortelling: Litteratur, lover og sannsynlighet. [Internet]. HumSam Biblioteket.
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Davanger, Svend; Kukkonen, Karin & Eifring, Halvor Bøyesen (2020). Tankestrømmens tidsalder - Hvordan hjernen finner hvile i litteratur, meditasjon og hverdagsliv.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2020). Coda: Literature, Language and Creativity. Cognitive Semantics. ISSN 2352-6408. 13(1). doi: 10.1515/cogsem-2020-2030.
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Fialho, Olivia & Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Reading Workshop Organizers.
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Kukkonen, Karin & Østby, Ylva (2019). Litterær tankevandring -- hvorfor det ikke er galskap å lese bøker. [Journal]. Kritikeren.
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Kukkonen, Karin; Kuzmičová, Anežka; Polvinen, Merja & Ledet Christiansen, Steen (2019). The place of the cognitive in literary studies. Cogent Arts & Humanities. ISSN 2331-1983. 6(1). doi: 10.1080/23311983.2019.1691841. Full text in Research Archive
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Kukkonen, Karin; Pullinger, Kate & Hayler, Matthew (2019). Digital Fiction: Samtale mellom Kate Pullinger, Matt Hayler og Karin Kukkonen.
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Festøy, Elin; Rustad, Hans Kristian Strandstuen & Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Litteraturscena: De nye fortellingene.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Hva er vi eksperter på? Litteraturforskning og tverrfaglighet.
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Kukkonen, Karin & Hustvedt, Siri (2019). Minner om fremtiden: Siri Hustvedt og Karin Kukkonen i samtale.
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Guth, Stephan; Pepe, Teresa & Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Book launch "Literary Visions of the Middle East" (compl./comm./ed. by S. Guth).
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Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Gebrochene Reihen: Narratologie, Erwartungshorizonte und Stoffgeschichte. Beiträge zur mediävistischen Erzählforschung. ISSN 2568-9967. doi: 10.25619/BmE2019234.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Cognition, Good and Bad (Review of Vera Tobin, Elements of Surprise). Cambridge quarterly. ISSN 0008-199X. 48(2), p. 167–171.
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Kukkonen, Karin & Vogel, Juliane (2019). Findekuenste in der Literatur: Vom Schatzhaus zum Mash-up.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2018). The Cognitive Work of Form.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2018). Review of Sean Silver, The Mind is a Collection. Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats. ISSN 0036-9640. 50(2), p. 173–175.
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Williams, Abigail & Kukkonen, Karin (2018). Books as a Social Medium. A Conversation on Reading.
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Kukkonen, Karin; Østby, Ylva & Eifring, Halvor Bøyesen (2018). Mind-Wandering, Meditasjon og Litteratur.
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Caracciolo, Marco & Kukkonen, Karin (2018). Hitting the Wall? The Rhetorical Approach and the Role of Reader Response (Response to Phelan). Style. ISSN 0039-4238. 52(1-2), p. 45–50. doi: 10.1353/sty.2018.0005.
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Malabou, Catherine; Jensen Rathe, Kaja & Kukkonen, Karin (2018). Malabou og den plastiske hjerne (Malabou and the Plastic Brain).
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Kukkonen, Karin (2018). Francois Ozon's "8 femmes" and Predictive Processing.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). Handlung / Plot. In Huber, Martin & Schmid, Wolf (Ed.), Grundthemen der Literaturwissenschaft: Erzählen. Walter de Gruyter (De Gruyter). ISSN 978-3-11-040118-9. p. 278–298.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). Richardson / Laclos: A Mash-up of the Eighteenth-Century Novel.
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Kukkonen, Karin; Cave, Terence & Cullhed, Eric (2017). Cognitive Poetics. A Conversation.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). An Argument from Design: Literature and Predictive Processing.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). The Self-Organising Plot.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2017). Reading Literary Narrative: Event and Experience.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2016). The Return of Astrea.
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Kukkonen, Karin & Østby, Ylva (2016). Literature and Cognition. A Conversation.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2016). Reading Revolutions.
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Schimanski, Johan Henrik; Körber, Lill-Ann; Kukkonen, Karin & Espiñeira, Keina (2016). Are Borders Fictions? A film showing and a conversation. Show summary
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Kukkonen, Karin (2016). Fictions of the Future.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2016). Probability Designs: Literature and Predictive Processing.
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Kukkonen, Karin (2016). Ambiguous Figures: Adventures in Duck-Rabbitry.