Per Bäckström

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per.backstrom@lnu.se

Affiliated professor in comparative literature

Research

Biography
Per Bäckström is affiliated professor in comparative literature, Linnaeus University, since 2019. He was a full professor of Comparative Literature, Karlstad University 2010–2019. He chaired the membership commission of the European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies (EAM) 2007–2011. Major publications: Aska, Tomhet & Eld. Outsiderproblematiken hos Bruno K. Öijer (Ellerström 2003), Le Grotesque dans l’œuvre d’Henri Michaux. Qui cache son fou, meurt sans voix (l’Harmattan 2007); Vårt brokigas ochellericke! Om experimentell poesi (On experimental poetry, Ellerström 2010); Decentring the Avant-Garde (Rodopi 2014); and
Allt kan bli aktiverat och skapande liv. Öyvind Fahlströms processuella estetik (The processual aesthetics of Öyvind Fahlström, Ellerström 2023). At present, Per Bäckström is working on Henri Michaux and The Anti-Aesthetics of Rock.

Research interests

poetry, lyrical performance, performance, performativity, processuality, avant-garde, neo-avant-garde, language grotesque, intermediality, Bruno K. Öijer, Henri Michaux, Öyvind Fahlström

Current research projects

Henri Michaux – dictionary entries.
The Anti-Aesthetics of Rock (monograph).

Finished research projects

In my doctoral thesis Aska, Tomhet & Eld. Outsiderproblematiken hos Bruno K. Öijer (Ash, Emptiness & Fire: The Outsider in Bruno K. Öijer), Ellerström 2003, I discuss Öijer’s roots in an avantgardistic performance tradition, and introduce the notion “lyrical performance” to describe the distinctive characteristics of his works. In the following book, Enhet i mångfalden. Henri Michaux och det groteska (Unity in Plenitude: Henri Michaux and the Grotesque), Ellerström 2005, I analyse the grotesque in Michaux’s oeuvre, med special attention to his “language grotesque”, a concept I introduce to describe Michaux’s and the Swedish poet Gunnar Ekelöf’s experimental poetry. This book was revised and translated into French: Le Grotesque dans l’œuvre d’Henri Michaux. Qui cache son fou, meurt sans voix, l’Harmattan 2007. Experimental poetry is also the focus of my third Swedish book: Vårt brokigas ochellericke! Om experimentell poesi (On Experimental Poetry), Ellerström 2010, where I try to find a suitable method to analyse this kind of poetry. I have co-edited four anthologies: Sense and Senses in Aesthetics, NSU Press, 2003, together with Troels Degn Johansson; Samspill mellom kunstartene. Modernisme i nordisk lyrikk 4 (Interplay between the Arts. Modernism in Nordic Poetry 4), Helsingfors universitet, 2010, together with Unni Langås; Norsk avantgarde, Novus forlag, 2010, together with Bodil Børset; and Decentring the Avant-Garde, Rodopi, Avantgarde Critical Studies, 2014, together with Benedikt Hjartarson.

Collaboration

Member of the advisory board for Centre for Avant-Garde Studies, University of Iceland, from 2013.
Member of the reference group for GEXcel International Collegium for Advanced Transdisciplinary Gender Studies (Centre of Gender Excellence, Linköping, Örebro and Karlstad University), 2013–2019.
Initiated the founding of Nationella rådet för samverkan av forskarutbildningen i litteraturvetenskap (The National Council for Collaboration on the Ph.D. Education in Comparative Literature, NRFL) 2011, with responsibility for national Ph.D. courses, and Ph.D.-education issues for Comparative literature in Sweden.
Member of the editorial committee and peer-reviewer for Arena Romanistica, University of Bergen, since 2008.

Participation in international research networks

European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies (EAM). Took part in the founding of EAM in 2004, and was ”chair of the membership commission” 2007–2011.
Nordisk Avantgarde Netværk (Nordic Avant-Garde Network). Participates as coordinator for Norway. Financed by NorFA/NordForsk 2005–2009.
International Society for Intermedial Studies (ISIS). Participates since 2011.
Nordisk lyrisk modernism (Nordic Lyrical Modernism) – Nordic research network established 2002.
Nordisk Bachtin Dialog (Nordic Bakhtin Dialogue) – Nordic research network established 1999.
The Future of Comparative Literature and the Nordic Perspective – Nordic research network.
Nordisk Sommar-Universitet (Nordic Summer University, NSU), participates since 1998 – Nordic research network. Financed by The Nordic Council of Ministers.
Nordiskt Sällskap för Metriska Studier (Nordic Association for Metrical Studies, NordMetrik) – Nordic research network.
International Association of Scandinavian Studies (IASS) – international research network. Participates since 2000.
Nordisk Förening för Litteraturforskning (NORLIT) – international research network. Participates since 2007.

Published books

Aska, Tomhet & Eld. Outsiderproblematiken hos Bruno K. Öijer (Ash, Emptiness & Fire. The Outsider in Bruno K. Öijer), (thesis) Lund: Ellerström, 2003.
Sense and Senses in Aesthetics, Per Bäckström & Troels Degn Johansson (eds.), Gothenburg: NSU Press, 2003.
Enhet i mångfalden. Henri Michaux och det groteska (Unity in the Plenitude. Henri Michaux and the Grotesque), Lund: Ellerströms förlag, 2005.
Centre-Periphery. The Avant-Garde and the Other, Per Bäckström (ed.), Nordlit. Arbeidstidsskrift for litteratur, Faculty of arts, Universitety of Tromsø, no. 21 2007.
Le Grotesque dans l’œuvre d’Henri Michaux. Qui cache son fou, meurt sans voix, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2007.
Vårt brokigas ochellericke! Om experimentell poesi (Our Gaudy Andornot!. On Experimental Poetry), Lund: Ellerströms förlag, 2010.
Samspill mellom kunstartene. Modernisme i nordisk lyrikk 4 (Interplay between the Arts. Modernism in Nordic Poetry), Hadle Oftedal Andersen, Per Bäckström & Unni Langås (eds.), Helsinki: University o fHelsinki, 2010.
Norsk avantgarde (Norwegian Avant-Garde), Per Bäckström & Bodil Børset (eds.), Oslo: Novus , 2011.
Decentring the Avant-Garde, Per Bäckström (red.), Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, Avantgarde Critical Studies, 2014.

Keywords

 avant-garde, neo-avant-garde, intermediality, performance, processuality, Öyvind Fahlström, Henri Michaux, Bruno K. Öijer

ORCID: 0000-0002-2400-4124
ResearcherID: B-7121-2012

My research groups

Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS) The Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS) is an interdisciplinary research centre that takes a…

Publications

Article in journal (Refereed)

Bäckström, P. (2020). Authenticity and Verfremdung : Öyvind Fahlström’s performance Kisses Sweeter than Wine (1966). Sens public. (2020/03/23). 1-23.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2019). Fahlström stannade i Stockholm : ”HÄTILA RAGULPR PÅ FÅTSKLIABEN” och diktarkonferensen i Sigtuna 1953. Edda. Nordisk tidsskrift for litteraturforskning. 106 (1). 39-53.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2017). Kisses Sweeter than Wine. Öyvind Fahlström and Billy Klüver : The Swedish Neo-Avant-Garde in New York. Artl@s Bulletin. 6 (2). 139-152.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2017). “The Trumpet in the Bottom” : Öyvind Fahlström and the Uncanny : “Trumpeten i stjärten” : Öyvind Fahlström och det kusliga. Edda. Nordisk tidsskrift for litteraturforskning. 104 (2). 176-198.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2015). The Intermedial Cluster : Åke Hodell’s Lågsniff. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae Film and Media Studies. 10 (1). 47-60.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2011). (forgive us,o life!the sin of Death : A Critical Reading of Michael Riffaterre's Semiotics of Poetry. Textual Practice. 25 (5). 913-939.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2011). Öyvind Fahlströms konkreta poesi : Materialitet och performance. Aiolos. (42). 75-82.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2009). Stockholm : Hauptstadt der skandinavischen Avantgarde-Bewegung der 1960er Jahre. DESHIMA, revue d'histoire globale des pays du Nord. (1). 131-144.
Status: Published

Conference paper (Refereed)

Bäckström, P. (2010). Att framföra dikten : Det nordiska neoavantgardets tvärestetiska performance. Nordisk drama. Fornyelser og transgressioner. Foredrag fra den 27. studiekonference i International Association for Scandinavian Studies : Nordic drama. Renewal and transgression.. 219-226.
Bäckström, P. (2010). "L'Art, expression de la Société, est précurseur et révélateur" : The Heterogeneity of the Notion of "Avant-Garde". Codex and Code : Aestethcis, Language and Politics in an Age of Digital Media, NORLIT 2009, Stockholm, August 6–9, 2009. 61-79.

Book (Refereed)

Bäckström, P. (2010). Vårt brokigas ochellericke! : Om experimentell poesi. Lund, Ellerström.

Chapter in book (Refereed)

Bäckström, P., Führer, H., Schirrmacher, B. (2022). The intermediality of performance. Intermedial Studies : An Introduction to Meaning Across Media. London, Routledge. 198-224.
Bäckström, P. (2019). ”Ég vil ekki stelpu eins og þig” : Abjektionstemat i den nordiska punkrockens kärlekslyrik. Nye posisjoner i samtidslyrikken / Nye posisjoner i poplyrikken. Bergen, Alvheim og Eide akademisk forlag. 67-88.
Bäckström, P. (2019). ”Og du dør så langsomt at du tror du lever” : Författarrollen hos Öyvind Fahlström, Dan Turèll och Bertrand Besigye. Nye posisjoner i poplyrikken / Nye posisjoner i samtidslyrikken. Bergen, Alvheim og Eide akademisk forlag. 11-32.
Bäckström, P., Hjartarson, B. (2014). Rethinking the Topography of the International Avant-Garde : Introduction. Decentring the Avant-Garde. Amsterdam/New York, Brill Rodopi. 7-32.
Bäckström, P. (2013). ”Et nytt møte” : Performance och performativitet i nordisk lyrik – från Jan Erik Vold till Dimmu Borgir. Modernisme i nordisk lyrikk 6 : Diktet utenfor diktsamlingen. Bergen, Alvheim og Eide akademisk forlag. 175-205.
Bäckström, P. (2013). Norveska. Mecler Leksikon Avangarde. Belgrad, Verlag J. B. Metzler. 1-3.
Bäckström, P. (2013). Svedska. Mecler Leksikon Avantgarde. Belgrad, Verlag J. B. Metzler. 1-5.
Bäckström, P. (2012). Words as things : Concrete Poetry in Scandinavia. Transferts, appropriations et fonctions de l'avant-garde dans l'Europe intermédiaire et du nord. Paris, L'Harmattan.
Bäckström, P. (2009). Schweden. Metzler Lexikon Avantgarde. Stuttgart, Verlag J. B. Metzler. 1-5.
Bäckström, P. (2009). Performing the Poem : The Cross-Aesthetic Art of the Nordic Neo-Avant-Garde. The Angel of History : Literature, History and Culture. Helsingfors, The Department of Finnish Language and Literature, University of Helsinki. 1-13.
Bäckström, P. (2009). Norwegen. Metzler Lexikon Avantgarde. Stuttgart, Verlag J. B. Metzler. 1-3.
Bäckström, P. (2008). The Poetics of Søren Ulrik Thomsen and Pia Tafdrup : A Comparative Study. Comparative Approaches to European and Nordic Modernisms. Helsingfors, Palmenia Helsinki University Press. 1-20.

Collection (editor) (Refereed)

Bäckström, P., Hjartarson, B. (2014). Decentring the Avant-Garde. Rodopi. 337.

Article, book review (Refereed)

Bäckström, P. (2014). [Review of] Anders Juhl Rasmussen, Arena-modernisme: En position i dansk litteratur. Edda. Nordisk tidsskrift for litteraturforskning. Oslo, Universitetsforlaget. 101 (1). 90-95.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2011). [Review of] Yvonne Blomberg, Att besvärja döden. Död- och återfödelsetematiken i Lars Noréns författarskap 1963–1999 : Gidlunds förlag. Möklinta 2011. Samlaren : tidskrift för svensk litteraturvetenskaplig forskning. Uppsala, Svenska Litteratursällskapet. 132. 261-269.
Status: Published

Conference proceedings (editor) (Refereed)

Bergman, K., Bäckström, P., Claesson, C., Dahlberg, L., Forslid, T., et al. (2010). NORLIT 2009, Codex and Code: Aestethcis, Language and Politics in an Age of Digital Media : Stockholm, August 6-9, 2009. Linköping, Linköping University Electronic Press. 484.

Article in journal (Other academic)

Bäckström, P. (2009). Crush the assholetters between the teeths : Språkgrotesk in Henri Michaux and Gunnar Ekelöf (Part 1). Action Yes. 1 (10). 1-10.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2008). Guru Papers : The Rise and Fall of a Swedish Little Magazine in the 1970s. Action Yes. 1 (8). 1-5.
Status: Published
Bäckström, P. (2008). One Earth, Four or Five Words : The Notion of ”Avant-Garde” Problematized. Action Yes. 1 (7). 1-17.
Status: Published

Conference paper (Other academic)

Bäckström, P. (2023). The Grotesque in three novels by Blaise Cendrars. .
Bäckström, P. (2017). Mediatized Authenticity : Öyvind Fahlström’s performance "Kisses Sweater than Wine" (1966). Authentic Artifice : 3rd International Conference, International Society for Intermedial Studies. Université de Montréal, May 18-20/22 2017 : Program. 19-20.
Bäckström, P. (2017). ”Jag vill inte ha en tjej som du” : Kärlekslyrik i nordisk punk. Poplyrik, Den nordiske poesis nærvær i hverdagen : Åbo, 28-29 september 2017.
Bäckström, P. (2015). Öyvind Fahlström : the Swedish neo-avantgarde’s driving force in New York. International Symposium Avant-Garde Migrations : Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, November 19 - 20, 2015.
Bäckström, P. (2015). Play, Performance and Media Flow in Öyvind Fahlström’s Radio Play "The holy Torsten Nilsson". Play / Perform / Participate. The 2015 international conference of the International Society of Intermedial Studies (ISIS). April 16, 2015 - April 18, 2015 : Conference Guide. 101-102.
Bäckström, P. (2015). The Inoperativeness of Art : Öyvind Fahlström’s Concrete Poetry. Experiments in Contemporary Poetry, Centre for Research in Contemporary Poetry (CERCOP), Aalborg 3–5 dec 2015.
Bäckström, P. (2015). From book to performance and back : Öyvind Fahlström’s "The Large and the Small" and "The holy Torsten Nilsson". NORLIT 2015, The book to come, University of Gothenburg, August 20-22, 2015 : Abstracts. 21-21.
Bäckström, P. (2014). "The Trumpet in the Bottom" : The Uncanny in Öyvind Fahlström’s Work. Gothic and Uncanny Explorations : Karlstads universitet, Karlstad, 10–12 september 2014. 10-11.
Bäckström, P. (2014). "All people are different, but everyone is of equal worth" : Three utopian manifestoes by Öyvind Fahlström (1928–76). Utopia : The Fourth Bi-Annual Conference of the European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies : University of Helsinki, Finland, 29 - 31 August 2014. 110-110.
Bäckström, P. (2011). ”tillinni jipiri riviri killiri birg mid riksmik” : Öyvind Fahlströms översättningsstrategier. Översättning - adaption, interpretation, transformation : IASS 2010 proceedings : föredrag vid den 28:e studiekonferensen i International Association of Scandinavian Studies (IASS) i Lund 3-7 augusti 2010.
Bäckström, P. (2008). Grrrrr blop spfnumpf! : Det nordiska 60-talsavantgardets gränsöverskridanden. Gränser i nordisk litteratur – Borders in Nordic literature : IASS XXVI 2006. 135-142.

Book (Other academic)

Bäckström, P. (2023). Allt kan bli aktiverat och skapande liv : Öyvind Fahlströms processuella estetik. Malmö, Ellerströms förlag.
Öijer, B.K., Bäckström, P. (2010). Det svarte puslespillet : dikt i utvalg. Tromsø, Margbok.

Chapter in book (Other academic)

Bäckström, P. (2011). Avantgardebegreppets heterogenitet. Norsk avantgarde. Oslo, Novus Forlag. 21-36.
Bäckström, P. (2011). ”blikket du fanger ikke meg” : Epost-intervju med Jan Erik Vold. Norsk avantgarde. Oslo, Novus Forlag. 543-567.
Bäckström, P. (2011). Norsk avantgarde : en innledning. Norsk avantgarde. Oslo, Novus Forlag. 9-20.
Bäckström, P., Langås, U. (2010). Samspill mellom kunstartene : Innledning. Modernisme i nordisk lyrikk 4 : Samspill mellom kunstarten. Helsingfors, Finska, finskugriska och nordiska institutionen, Helsingfors universitet.
Bäckström, P. (2009). Jag gjorde mina översättningar nästan ordagrant : Bob Dylan och Bruno K. Öijer. Modernisme i nordisk lyrikk 3 : Nordisk lyrikktrafikk. Helsingfors, Institutionen för nordiska språk och nordisk litteratur vid Helsingfors universitet. 142-171.
Bäckström, P. (2009). Valfrändskaper : Översättning och fellesnordiskt som kanonstrategier i Rondo, ta’ och Profil (1966–1968). Modernisme i nordisk lyrikk 3 : Nordisk lyrikktrafikk. Helsingfors, Institutionen för nordiska språk och nordisk litteratur vid Helsingfors universitet. 105-118.
Bäckström, P. (2008). ”Men också i poesin återstår allt att göra” : Diktens rum hos Öyvind Fahlström & Per Højholt. Modernisme i nordisk lyrikk 2 : Stedet. Helsingfors, Institutionen för nordiska språk och nordisk litteratur vid Helsingfors universitet. 107-122.
Bäckström, P. (2008). I digtet undersøges grænserne for det uudsigelige : Søren Ulrik Thomsen, Pia Tafdrup och dansk poetik. Theorier om verklig diktning : En festskrift till Per Erik Ljung. Lund, Absalon. 165-178.

Collection (editor) (Other academic)

Børset, B., Bäckström, P. (2011). Norsk avantgarde. Oslo, Novus Forlag. 790.
Oftedal Andersen, H., Bäckström, P., Langås, U. (2010). Modernisme i nordisk lyrikk 4 : Samspill mellom kunstartene. Helsingfors, Finska, finskugriska och nordiska institutionen, Helsingfors universitet. 160.