Project staff

Professor Pekka Pesonen, Ph.D.

The project leader. Prof. Pesonen will supervise the project, its post-doctoral research and dissertations, and be responsible for co-ordinating the international network of scholars, and the project’s seminars and publications. His research interests, largely conducted as part of his official post as university professor, are:
a) St. Petersburg in Russian literature. A full-scale monograph on the subject in Finnish, which he has already worked on for several years. He has also given several series of lectures and over 20 academic and popular lectures on the subject in 2003.
b) Articles on the Petersburg Text of contemporary Russian literature and its background of ideas.
E-mail: pekka.pesonen[at]helsinki.fi
Website: www.helsinki.fi/~pjpesone/

Tomi Huttunen, Lic. Phil. (Petersburg Rock Text)

The project coordinator. Mr Huttunen is at present finishing his dissertation as Assistant of the Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures at the University of Helsinki. He will conduct in this post a post-doctoral study on the tradition of the Petersburg rock text and its literary roots. Material for the research is provided by song lyrics from the 1970s to the 1990s, ranging from Boris Grebenshchikov and Yuri Shevchuk to the most recent rock lyrics of St. Petersburg.
E-mail: tomi.huttunen[at]helsinki.fi
Website: www.helsinki.fi/~tphuttun/

Maija Könönen, Ph.D.
(Notes of a Madman as a Petersburg Genre in Russian Literature)

Having defended her dissertation on Joseph Brodsky’s Petersburg (see Publications) in 2003, Dr. Könönen will now focus on the thematics of madness in Russian literature, ranging from the 1800s to contemporary literature. She has given lectures on the subject in the academic year 2003–2004. The study focuses on works dealing with madness with a first-person narrative – a confessional genre, the origin of which is rooted in the Petersburg myth. Madness is conceived of as a conflict between the inner reality of the author/hero and the surrounding reality. The genre is treated as a conscious attempt to construct an identity for “the other” – the madman, taking into account the specifically Russian “holy fools”. The emphasis is on contemporary literature. See also Research plan.
E-mail: maija.kononen[at]helsinki.fi
Website: www.helsinki.fi/~makonone/

Hanna Ruutu, M.A. (Postmodernist Classicism)

Ms Ruutu is currently completing her dissertation in the Finnish Graduate School for Literary Studies. After her doctoral defence, planned for early 2005, she will conduct postdoctoral research on classical subtexts in the postmodernist poetry of St. Petersburg. With the time span of the examined material ranging from the 60s to present-day poetry, her work will focus on the Petersburg poets’ rewriting of classical material, some writers drawing still on modernism and others breaking the tradition.
See also Research plan.
E-mail: hanna.ruutu[at]helsinki.fi

Stanislav Savitski, Ph.D. (The Past Progressive:
Modernisation of St. Petersburg and Cultural Mythologies of Leningrad)

Dr. Savitski defended his dissertation on the St. Petersburgian andegraund in 2002 (See Publications) at the University of Helsinki. His postdoctoral research continues the same theme focusing on the mythologies of St. Petersburg / Leningrad, using both underground-texts and various subsequent memoirs. Dr. Savitski is an important link between the project’s Finland-based participants and the current St. Petersburg culture. In addition, he is also a prolific critic of literature, arts and music.
E-mail: stassavitski[at]yahoo.com

Postgraduate students:
Ulla Hakanen, M.A., University of Helsinki
Mari Raami, M.A., University of Helsinki

The PhD theses to be completed within the project examine contemporary St. Petersburg literature and its tradition. Literature is perceived in each study in its broader cultural and societal context. Contemporary literature is viewed especially in its relation to Soviet culture, the war-time period, the 60s and 70s and perestroika.
See also Research plans.
E-mail:
ulla.hakanen[at]helsinki.fi
mari.raami[at]helsinki.fi