Lecture courses and seminars:

2017: From the Magi of Words to the Poetics of Empathy: Rhetorical Narrative Theory

2014: Fictional Minds and Imaginary Worlds

2012, 2011 & 2007: Towards the New Form: The Post-War Modernism

2011: Woman Writers and Modernism: Styles of Mimesis and Metamorphoses of the Everyday (Together with Prof. Pirjo Lyytikäinen and Dr., Docent Riikka Rossi)

2011: Speech and Dialogue in Fiction (Organizer of a lecture series, together with Dr. Aino Koivisto)

2010: Introduction to Literary Studies, Basic Course
(in 2008 Together with Dr. Päivi Koivisto)

Conference presentations

2016, 23 – 26 August: “Literary Existentialism and Negative Emotions.” A symposium Stories of Hope and Fear: Mapping Emotions and Affects in Life, Arts, and Literature, Palmse Manor, Estonia, speaker.

2016, 13 – 15 June: “Testing the Limits of Narrative Empathy: The Case of Unreliable Narration in Pentti Holappa’s ‘Boman.’” An international conference Cognitive Futures in the Humanities, Helsinki, speaker.

2016, 18 – 20 May: “Breaking the Ice, Freezing the Laughter: Authorial Empathy, Reader Response, and the Kafkaesque Poetics of Guilt and Shame.” Writing Emotions: Literature as Practice (19th to 21st Century), Graz, speaker.

2016, 28 – 30 April: “Travelling Patterns, Hermeneutical Plots, and Epistemic Paths: Affective Strategies of Storytelling in Franz Kafka’s ‘Before the Law’ and Lasse Heikkilä’s ‘Lost.’” SASS 2016 conference: Circulations, New Orleans, speaker.

2016, 11 February: “Breaking the Frozen Sea Inside Us: Allegory, Affect, and Kafka’s Play on Narrative Empathy in ‘The Metamorphosis.’” The Ohio State University, Columbus, guest talk.

2014, 4 December: “Fictional Dialogue and the Construction of Interaction in Rosa Liksom’s Narrative Prose.” A Seminar on Fictional Dialogue, Helsinki, speaker.

2013, 23‒25 October: “Re-Conceptualizing Consciousness. Fictional Minds after the Cognitive Turn.” The final conference of the European PhDnet “Literary and Cultural Studies.” Re-framing Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies: Concept Formation, Explication and Theory, Giessen, speaker.

2013, 12‒14 September: “The Richness of the Human Mind and the Complexity of Layered Consciousnesses. On the Value of Literature.” An international conference Values in Literature and the Value of Literature, Helsinki, speaker.

2012, 29 October: ”Cognition, Experiential Narrative and the Presentation of Hypothetical Thought. The Meeting of Linguists and Literary Scholars. Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, Lammi, speaker.

2012, 25‒26 August: “Talking Heads. Tellability in Fictional Oral Narratives and Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Hänen olivat linnut.” Helsinki Poetic Conference, Helsinki, speaker.

2011, 25‒27 October: “Habit and the Ethics of Everyday Life in Virginia Woolf and Marja-Liisa Vartio.” An international conference The Ethics and Politics of Representation, Bergamo, speaker.

2011, 12 May: “Forking Paths. The Fragmentary Life Plots in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Prose Fiction”. The second Marja-Liisa Vartio -seminar, Helsinki, speaker.

2010, 10‒11 December: “Mental Landscapes and National Identity. The Motif of the Devil in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Short Story ‘Suomalainen maisema.’” An international colloque Paysages en dialogue: espaces and temporalités entre Centres et Périphéries européennes, Paris, speaker.

2009, 30 April ‒ 2 May: “The View is Like an Etching. Pictorial Framing and Textual Boundaries in Marja-Liisa Vartio's Fiction.” The 99th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, Madison, Wisconsin, speaker.

2009, 5‒6 March: “The Poetics of Emptiness.” The Literary 1950s in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Fiction. The Meeting of the Network on the Study of the 1950s, Jyväskylä, speaker.

2008, 1‒2 February: “Dialogue in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s novel Hänen olivat linnut.” The Meeting of the Finnish Network on Narrative Studies: A Broken Narrative, Jyväskylä, speaker.

2007, 30 March: “How to Frame Description? On the Boundaries of Description in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s novel Se on sitten kevät”. Marja-Liisa Vartio -seminar, Helsinki, speaker.

Other academic activities:

2017: Member in the organizing committee, European Network for Comparative Literary Studies (ENCLS) biannual congress 2017: Fear and Safety, Helsinki. 23-26 August 2017.

2016: Session chair in the session “Gesture and Intersubjectivity.” An international conference Cognitive Futures in the Humanities, Helsinki. 15 June 2016.

2012: Member in the organizing committee, Helsinki Poetic Conference, Helsinki. 25‒26 August 2012.

2012: Organizer in the third Marja-Liisa Vartio -seminar: The Stories of the 1950’s, University of Helsinki. 24 May 2012.

2011: Organizer in the second Marja-Liisa Vartio -seminar, University of Helsinki. 12 May 2011.

2015, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Alfred Kordelin Foundation Grant

2014, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Grant

2009, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Kone Foundation Grant

2009, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Chancellor’s Travel Grant, University of Helsinki

2008, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Finnish Cultural Foundation Grant, Etelä-Savo Fund

2007, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Master’s Thesis Award, Department of Finnish Language and Literature, University of Helsinki

ETIS KLASSIFIKAATOR: 2. Ühiskonnateadused ja kultuur; 2.6. Filoloogia ja lingvistika; CERCS KLASSIFIKAATOR: H390 Üldine ja võrdlev kirjandusteadus, kirjanduskriitika, kirjandusteooria ; TÄPSUSTUS: Narrative Studies

ETIS KLASSIFIKAATOR: 2. Ühiskonnateadused ja kultuur; 2.6. Filoloogia ja lingvistika; CERCS KLASSIFIKAATOR: H580 Skandinaavia keeled ja kirjandus; TÄPSUSTUS: Finnish Literature

Projects in progress

2015‒ … The Literary in Life: Exploring the Boundaries between Literature and the Everyday, Finnish Academy Consortium project, University of Helsinki, University of Tampere, University of Jyväskylä

2015– … Literature and Emotions: Creating Emotion Effects and Affecting Readers
Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki

2013‒ … Network on Cognitive Linguistics and Literary Studies,
Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki

Completed projects

2011‒2013: Research Project Genres of Literary Worldmaking, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki

2009‒2012: Network on the Study of the 1950s, University of Jyväskylä

2008‒2013: Dialogue Research Project, Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, University of Helsinki

Lecture courses and seminars:

2017: From the Magi of Words to the Poetics of Empathy: Rhetorical Narrative Theory

2014: Fictional Minds and Imaginary Worlds

2012, 2011 & 2007: Towards the New Form: The Post-War Modernism

2011: Woman Writers and Modernism: Styles of Mimesis and Metamorphoses of the Everyday (Together with Prof. Pirjo Lyytikäinen and Dr., Docent Riikka Rossi)

2011: Speech and Dialogue in Fiction (Organizer of a lecture series, together with Dr. Aino Koivisto)

2010: Introduction to Literary Studies, Basic Course
(in 2008 Together with Dr. Päivi Koivisto)

Conference presentations

2016, 23 – 26 August: “Literary Existentialism and Negative Emotions.” A symposium Stories of Hope and Fear: Mapping Emotions and Affects in Life, Arts, and Literature, Palmse Manor, Estonia, speaker.

2016, 13 – 15 June: “Testing the Limits of Narrative Empathy: The Case of Unreliable Narration in Pentti Holappa’s ‘Boman.’” An international conference Cognitive Futures in the Humanities, Helsinki, speaker.

2016, 18 – 20 May: “Breaking the Ice, Freezing the Laughter: Authorial Empathy, Reader Response, and the Kafkaesque Poetics of Guilt and Shame.” Writing Emotions: Literature as Practice (19th to 21st Century), Graz, speaker.

2016, 28 – 30 April: “Travelling Patterns, Hermeneutical Plots, and Epistemic Paths: Affective Strategies of Storytelling in Franz Kafka’s ‘Before the Law’ and Lasse Heikkilä’s ‘Lost.’” SASS 2016 conference: Circulations, New Orleans, speaker.

2016, 11 February: “Breaking the Frozen Sea Inside Us: Allegory, Affect, and Kafka’s Play on Narrative Empathy in ‘The Metamorphosis.’” The Ohio State University, Columbus, guest talk.

2014, 4 December: “Fictional Dialogue and the Construction of Interaction in Rosa Liksom’s Narrative Prose.” A Seminar on Fictional Dialogue, Helsinki, speaker.

2013, 23‒25 October: “Re-Conceptualizing Consciousness. Fictional Minds after the Cognitive Turn.” The final conference of the European PhDnet “Literary and Cultural Studies.” Re-framing Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies: Concept Formation, Explication and Theory, Giessen, speaker.

2013, 12‒14 September: “The Richness of the Human Mind and the Complexity of Layered Consciousnesses. On the Value of Literature.” An international conference Values in Literature and the Value of Literature, Helsinki, speaker.

2012, 29 October: ”Cognition, Experiential Narrative and the Presentation of Hypothetical Thought. The Meeting of Linguists and Literary Scholars. Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, Lammi, speaker.

2012, 25‒26 August: “Talking Heads. Tellability in Fictional Oral Narratives and Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Hänen olivat linnut.” Helsinki Poetic Conference, Helsinki, speaker.

2011, 25‒27 October: “Habit and the Ethics of Everyday Life in Virginia Woolf and Marja-Liisa Vartio.” An international conference The Ethics and Politics of Representation, Bergamo, speaker.

2011, 12 May: “Forking Paths. The Fragmentary Life Plots in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Prose Fiction”. The second Marja-Liisa Vartio -seminar, Helsinki, speaker.

2010, 10‒11 December: “Mental Landscapes and National Identity. The Motif of the Devil in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Short Story ‘Suomalainen maisema.’” An international colloque Paysages en dialogue: espaces and temporalités entre Centres et Périphéries européennes, Paris, speaker.

2009, 30 April ‒ 2 May: “The View is Like an Etching. Pictorial Framing and Textual Boundaries in Marja-Liisa Vartio's Fiction.” The 99th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, Madison, Wisconsin, speaker.

2009, 5‒6 March: “The Poetics of Emptiness.” The Literary 1950s in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Fiction. The Meeting of the Network on the Study of the 1950s, Jyväskylä, speaker.

2008, 1‒2 February: “Dialogue in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s novel Hänen olivat linnut.” The Meeting of the Finnish Network on Narrative Studies: A Broken Narrative, Jyväskylä, speaker.

2007, 30 March: “How to Frame Description? On the Boundaries of Description in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s novel Se on sitten kevät”. Marja-Liisa Vartio -seminar, Helsinki, speaker.

Other academic activities:

2017: Member in the organizing committee, European Network for Comparative Literary Studies (ENCLS) biannual congress 2017: Fear and Safety, Helsinki. 23-26 August 2017.

2016: Session chair in the session “Gesture and Intersubjectivity.” An international conference Cognitive Futures in the Humanities, Helsinki. 15 June 2016.

2012: Member in the organizing committee, Helsinki Poetic Conference, Helsinki. 25‒26 August 2012.

2012: Organizer in the third Marja-Liisa Vartio -seminar: The Stories of the 1950’s, University of Helsinki. 24 May 2012.

2011: Organizer in the second Marja-Liisa Vartio -seminar, University of Helsinki. 12 May 2011.

Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Doctor's Degree, 2015, (sup) Prof. Ansgar Nünning; Prof. Jyrki Nummi, Worlds Within and Without. Presenting Fictional Minds in Marja-Liisa Vartio's Narrative Prose, Justus-Liebig Universität, Department of English, Thesis Co-tutelle.

2015, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Alfred Kordelin Foundation Grant

2014, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Grant

2009, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Kone Foundation Grant

2009, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Chancellor’s Travel Grant, University of Helsinki

2008, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Finnish Cultural Foundation Grant, Etelä-Savo Fund

2007, Elise Kaarina Nykänen, Master’s Thesis Award, Department of Finnish Language and Literature, University of Helsinki

ETIS CLASSIFICATION: 2. Culture and Society; 2.6. Philology and Linguistics; CERCS CLASSIFICATION: H390 General and comparative literature, literary criticism, literary theory ; SPECIFICATION: Narrative Studies

ETIS CLASSIFICATION: 2. Culture and Society; 2.6. Philology and Linguistics; CERCS CLASSIFICATION: H580 Scandinavian languages and literatures ; SPECIFICATION: Finnish Literature