I received my
PhD from the University of Helsinki in 2016. I pursued my doctoral candidate research
both in Helsinki and as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California,
Berkeley. My doctoral dissertation examined shock value in contemporary American
literature, focusing specifically on the emotional responses elicited by
readers in regard to offensive or repelling works of fiction. Since then, I have
edited two collections of scholarly articles on popular fiction with Professor
Peter Swirski. Before coming to Turku, I served as a lecturer of comparative literature
at the University of Helsinki.

My research focuses on the rhetorical and narrative
strategies that stories use to influence our emotions and attitudes. How do
stories aim to trigger emotional responses in their audiences – and how do
stories influence our attitudes and feelings toward the real world? For example,
I examined how a suspense novel that is widely admired by Neo-Nazis has
inspired terrorist attacks that have been meticulously modelled after the
fictional terrorist attacks in the novel. The better we understand the
affective mechanisms that stories use to influence us, the better we are
equipped to resist their potentially manipulative aims. My current research
focuses on the role of emotions in popular fiction and culture from the
eighteenth century to today.

As a university teacher, I strongly believe that
teaching and research do not represent opposing goals – rather, teaching
strengthens and supports research. Teaching challenges people to formulate their
thoughts in a way that their students can then grasp them. In addition to my general
courses, I enjoy teaching courses that are related to my research topics, which
range from classical Aristotelian rhetoric to the history of popular fiction,
the problem of evil in literature, and beyond. Outside academia, I work as a
rhetoric coach, and I host workshops on how businesses and organisations can utilise
storytelling and post-classical rhetoric to help achieve their communication
goals.