For more than a decade now, I have studied the literature of the city I inhabit.
For a full list of publications, see: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/urbannarratives/publications/
HELSINKI’S SHORELINE AND ISLANDS
Two articles on experiences of Helsinki’s shoreline and islands in Finnish literature. The shoreline is approached as a liminal space (drawing also on Margaret Doody’s approach to liminality) in the first; and the Helsinki archipelago is read through the prism of Foucault’s heterotopia in the second (written together with Sarianna Kankkunen)
Ameel, Lieven 2018: “Mahdollisuuksien maisema: Helsingin rantaviiva liminaalitilana.” In Rosenholm, Arja; Meretoja, Hanna; Lehtimäki, Markku (eds.): Vesitilat kirjallisuudessa. Helsinki: SKS, 73-92.
Ameel, Lieven & Kankkunen, Sarianna 2017: “Saaristo kaupungissa. Helsingin saaret kirjallisuudessa.”(“Achipelago in the City. Helsinki’s islands in literature.”) In Laakso, Maria; Lahtinen, Toni & Sagulin, Merja (eds.): Lintukodon rannoilta. Saarikertomukset suomalaisessa kirjallisuudessa (“Island Narratives in Finnish Literature”). Helsinki: SKS, 357-374.
A CITY AWAKENS
An article which examines literary Helsinki at the turn of the twentieth century – and how this period lays the foundations for much of the rich literature on Helsinki that would follow.
Ameel, Lieven 2017: ”A City Awakens: Literary Helsinki at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.” In Sondrup, Steven P.; Sandberg, Mark; DuBois, Thomas A. & Ringgaard, Dan (eds.): Nordic Literature: A Comparative History. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 220-233.
HELSINKI IN EARLY-TWENTIETH CENTURY LITERATURE
My most recent, and most comprehensive publication is “Helsinki in Early Twentieth-Century Literature: Urban Experiences in Finnish Prose Fiction 1890–1940”, published by the Finnish Literature Society. It is still the only monograph that examines Helsinki in Finnish-written literature. The book is published open-access, and can be read here.
“Helsinki in Early Twentieth-Century Literature” is an abridged, peer-reviewed version of my doctoral dissertation (University of Helsinki / JLU Giessen 2013) “Moved by the City. Experiences of Helsinki in Finnish Prose 1889-1941”. The full text of my dissertation can be found here.
MITÄ SINÄ TÄSSÄ KÄVELET (WHY ARE YOU WALKING HERE?)
This article on the gendered gaze in Helsinki’s public space around the turn of the twentieth century appeared in the volume Kirjallisuuden naiset:
AMEEL, LIEVEN 2013: “‘Mitä sinä tässä kävelet?’ Naisiin kohdistettu katse Helsingin julkisissa tiloissa 1900-luvun vaihteen kirjallisuudessa.” In Rossi, Riikka & Isomaa, Saija (eds.): Kirjallisuuden naiset. Naisten esityksiä 1840-luvulta 2000-luvulle. Helsinki: SKS. PDF
CRIPPLED CITY
An article on Joel Lehtonen’s imaginary location Krokelby appeared in Language, Space and Power:
AMEEL, LIEVEN 2012: “Crippled City. Joel Lehtonen’s Krokelby as a Radical Inversion of Finnish National Romantic Landscapes.” In Vuolteenaho, Jani; Ameel, Lieven; Newby, Andrew & Scott, Maggie (eds.): Language, Space and Power: Urban Entanglements. Helsinki: eCollegium, 159–174.
Read the article here.
ON THE THRESHOLD. THE BROTHEL AND THE LITERARY SALON AS HETEROTOPIA IN FINNISH URBAN NOVELS
This article on heterotopia in Finnish city literature appeared in the volume Turning Points:
Ameel, Lieven 2012: “On the Threshold. The Brothel and the Literary Salon as Heterotopia in Finnish Urban novels.” In Nünning, Ansgar & Sicks Kai (eds): Turning Points. Concepts and Narratives of Change in Literature and Other Media. Berlin: De Gruyter, 125–144.
Read the full text here.
THE ROAD TO HELSINKI
This article on arrival in the city was published in Genre and Interpretation
Ameel, Lieven 2010: “The Road to Helsinki. The Young Provincial and the Confrontation with the City in Juhani Aho’s Towards Helsinki (1889) and Finnish Literature at the Turn of the 20th Century.” In Lyytikäinen, Pirjo; Klapuri, Tintti and Maijala, Minna (eds.): Genre and Interpretation. Helsinki: Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies & The Finnish Graduate School of Literary Studies, 140–155.
Read the full text The Road to Helsinki.
WALKING THE STREETS OF HELSINKI
This chapter on the flâneur in early twentieth-century Finnish literature was published in In the Vanguard of Cultural Transfer:
Ameel, Lieven 2010: “Walking the Streets of Helsinki. Traces of the Flâneur in Early Finnish Prose Literature.” In Broomans, Petra and Ronne, Marta: In the Vanguard of Cultural Transfer. Cultural Transmitters and Authors in Peripheral Literary Fields. Barkhuis: Groningen, 119–134.
