Academic conferment ceremonies have long incorporated works of art, particularly plays and poems. They also appear in literature, most notably autobiographies, but in the case discussed below they provide the backdrop for crime fiction. Maria Koskikallio’s novel Elämän ja kuoleman kevät (2017) is set during a spring conferment ceremony at the Faculty of Philosophy in Helsinki. Although the year is unspecified, the events occur in recent times, roughly corresponding to the 2000s. The conferment ceremony is approached from an outsider’s perspective, as the protagonist is a police sergeant unfamiliar with the tradition and consistently somewhat puzzled by the proceedings. As the story unfolds, the sergeant and his partner become increasingly involved in the conferment events. Meanwhile, Koskikallio richly details the ceremonies and festivities that occur during conferment week, from Thursday to Sunday.
The title of the book appears to allude to a specific conferment symbol, namely spring, representing youth and new beginnings. Death, in contrast, is dark and fatal, and as the murders take place amidst celebrations that honour precisely youth and new achievements – that is, the future – the narrative acquires a distinctly noir atmosphere.
In Koskikallio’s novel, suspicion and scrutiny gradually fall on the conferment committee members, including a few highly stereotypical characters. Readers with experience on such committees may recognise themselves in these portrayals. Koskikallio also attempts to give her protagonist, sergeant Juho Kangas, some background, but he is largely eclipsed by the conferment events and those surrounding him. He remains nonetheless a sympathetic character, and his moments of self-reflection are moving. However, my attention was drawn more to the depiction of the conferment festivities, which made it difficult to fully engage with the protagonist’s development. Although the novel’s crimes are gruesome and in many ways implausible, the vivid depiction of the festivities keeps the reader captivated.
I found myself thinking that Koskikallio herself must have served on a conferment committee, given the careful attention paid to its actions and organisational details. I decided to contact her to ask a few questions about her book. Koskikallio confirmed that she has indeed participated in conferment ceremonies: for the first time in the 1990 doctoral conferment and since 2003 in all conferment ceremonies. She explained the concept behind her book:
“The idea centred on the dynamics between the protagonists. My primary aim was to explore a sense of hidden loss. I chose a conferment ceremony as the setting because it is an environment I know and one I felt deserved to be depicted.”
"Neljä akateemista kevätpäivää ja yötä, yliopiston filosofisen tiedekunnan promootio. Kaupungin täyttävät mustiin ja valkoisiin pukeutuneet juhlijat, kuohuviini kuplii yhdessä nuorison ilon kanssa. Yksi juhlapukuinen ruumis löytyy melkeinpä ennen kuin juhlat ehtivät alkaakaan. Ylikonstaapeli Juho Kangas alkaa selvittää tapausta ja ajautuu yhdessä työparinsa Aleksi Stoltin kanssa yhä syvemmälle juhlan pyörteisiin. Samalla hän törmää omaan menneisyyteensä ja joutuu miettimään, mikä elämässä on oikeasti tärkeää." - The blurb
When I asked Koskikallio if she planned to write anything else, she replied:
“I haven’t finished anything else. I have a half-completed sequel to this novel, which is also set on campus.”
Koskikallio’s novel stands as a wonderful record of the intricate details involved in organising and conducting an academic conferment ceremony in the 21st century. While another type of book, such as a love story, might have been possible, the choice of a crime novel allows the conferment tradition to reach a broader audience in an unconventional way. With its rich depiction of the ceremony, the book is unquestionably a future classic in the field of conferment literature.
Eva Ahl-Waris, PhD
P.S. Interested in the book? You can order it via Suomalainen Kirjakauppa or Amazon.
This article was originally published in ‘Levätään laakereilla’, the official blog of the Conferment Jubilee in 2023 where brief entries on the conferment tradition, its history and current status were published. The blog was edited by Eva Ahl-Waris, PhD.