Ulrika Lif

Background

She’s been teaching comparative literature in the Department of Humanities since 2005. Her bachelor (2005) and master (2006) essays focus on perspectives of shame and human dignity in Lars Ahlin’s novels Kanelbiten and Min död är min. Doctoral student at Åbo academy since 2011.

Area of interest

The works of Lars Ahlin
Fiction and creative writing in health and social care

Current research

The working title of her doctoral thesis is Att dö in i sin bild. Moderskomplex, mask och sofiamystik hos Lars Ahlin. In many of Ahlin’s works, the recurrent motifs, such as a negative mother complex and a transforming experience rooted in the Christian mystical tradition, shapes the thematic pattern. In dialogue with the previous research in his writings, and relating to chosen parts of some of his other works along with Dostojevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, the study focuses on the mentioned above aspects in Lars Ahlin’s novel Bark och löv and two of his plays in a primarily Jungian and Bachtinian context.

Teaching and tutoring

She mainly works with creative writing and literature for children and youth. In cooperation with the Department of Social Sciences, the course Comparative literature (BA), Fiction and Social work, 7.5 credits.

Other information

Manuscripts for short films: Vacuum, 2005, and Kulörta lyktor, 2008 (co-author). She has earlier worked in healthcare.