Torben Jelsbak
Associate Professor
Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics
Emil Holms Kanal 2, 2300 København S, Building: 22.4.60
My current research concerns the interrelationship and exchange between the 20th century modernist avant-gardes and contemporary media and popular culture. Drawing on theories, concepts and methods from modern cultural studies, sociology and media theory I examine how the dialogue between high and low is established in a number of Danish litterary works and other cultural products from the period. The aim of the project is to offer a new and more varied insight into the correlation between artistic innovation and popular culture in present day society.
In collaboration with Jens Bjerring-Hansen and Monica Wenusch I am concurrently working to finish a collective book publication entitled "Die skandinavische Moderne" which unites a series of case studies dedicated to the sociology and the media contexts of the modern break-through in the Scandinavian literatures in the late 19th century.
Furthermore, I am currently involved in a number of international research projects and collective publications on the 20th century artistic and literary avant-gardes in Europe, including the book project "Peripheral Expressionisms" and the trans-european research network "Avant-Garde Migrations".
Fields of interest
Literary history and media history, sociology of literature, discourse analysis, literary stylistics, cultural studies, popular culture.
Primary fields of research
Scandinavian Modernity, European Avant-Garde art and culture around World War I (Futurism, Expressionism, Dadaism), Nordic Cultural Radicalism from Georg Brandes to Klaus Rifbjerg.
Teaching
Courses forming part of the study programme in Danish:
- Literary history (2. term)
- Modern literature and literary theory (3. term)
- The selective subject "Texts, books and bits"
- MA courses on Modern Danish literature in interaction with culture and media history
Supervision
I offer supervision on Danish and Nordic literary history from antiquity up until today and I welcome interdiciplinarity – including projects and theses formulated in the border zone between literature, cultural studies, sociology and media history.
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