Academic interests
My research focuses primarily on 19th-century and modernist literature, with a particular interest in the interplay between literature, the visual arts, and the media. I am interested in aesthetic theory, literary theory, the philosophy of nature, media philosophy, and the history of science.
I am currently working on a project on landscapes and depictions of landscapes in literature and art. While my interest in this topic is broad and has an interdisciplinary scope, my research focuses on 19th-century French literature and art. I examine how differing conceptions of nature interact with one another, and how this is expressed in literature and art.
Previously, I have worked on the portrait as a genre, focusing on the role of portrait photographs in modernist literature (Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, Virginia Woolf). I have examined a specific motif: literary characters looking at portrait photographs and engaging with them emotionally. Being interested in the medial history of the human face, I have sought to show that portrait photography brought about a new era of mediated faces.
I have also worked extensively on Charles Baudelaire, the flâneur, and 19th-century media (newspapers, photographs, pre-cinematic devices, toys). In this project, my aim was to demonstrate Baudelaire’s creative engagement with the media of his day and discuss the relationship between literature and media at the onset of modernity. As a continuation of this work, I have taken an interest in visual culture, the figure of the wanderer in literature, and the poetics of idleness.
New articles:
“European Modernism: Uncertain Pictures, Fragile Appearances” In Photography and Literary Studies, edited by Christina Fouirnaies and Christos Hadjiyiannis. Cambridge University Press, 2027.
“Rilke’s Dismantling of the Face: Crisis, Affect and Blackout in The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.” In Modernist Emotions, edited by Caroline Pollentier and Juliana Lopoukhine. Clemson: Clemson University Press, 2027.
“Landskapsmaleriet vekker vår bevissthet om en annen tidsskala enn den menneskelige”. Morgenbladet 10. Juli, 2026
Courses taught
- LIT3000 Litterære naturstudier (v26)
- LIT4340 Lediggangens poetikk: livet, tiden og moderniteten (h2021)
- LIT4310 Litteratur, bilder, medier (v2019)
- EST2000 Ansikter, portretter, fotografier (v2019)
- LIT4310 Litteraturen og livet: Giorgio Agambens litteraturfilosofi (v2017)
- LIT3000 Vandrere, flanører, diktere (v2016)
Background
2020: Professor of Comparative Literature, UiO
2015: Associate Professor, Comparative Literature, University of Oslo
2017-2025: Co-editor of Norsk litteraturvitenskapelig tidsskrift [Norwegian Journal of Literary Studies] (with Peter Svare Valeur, UiB and Knut Ove Eliassen, NTNU).
- Since 2017: Co-leader of the research group "Temporal Experiments: Literary, Aesthetic and Social Modes of Thinking and Living Time" (with Bruce Barnhart).
