Peter Swirski
Research Director, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Helsinki, Finland
Professor, American Literature and Culture, University of Missouri—St. Louis
Honorary Professor, Center for American Studies, Jinan University, China
International American Studies Association (IASA), Executive Council
Academic Advisor, Guangdong International Studies Center, China
Dimič Research Institute for Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, Executive
http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/english/staff/Swirski/swirski.htm
http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/artscience/english/faculty/swirski.html
http://umsl.academia.edu/PeterSwirski
http://www.hku.hk/press/news_detail_5934.html
Email: peter.swirski@helsinki.fi, swirski@umsl.edu
Work: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
PO Box 4, Fabianinkatu 24
00014 University of Helsinki
Helsinki, Finland
ACADEMIC DEGREES
Ph.D., Summa cum laude, Dean’s Honour Roll, American Literature;
Department of English, McGill University
M.A., American Literature; Department of English, McGill University
B.A., English, 1st-Class Honours, University Scholar, Faculty Scholar;
McGill University
1996
1990
1989
RESEARCH AREAS
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Modern and Contemporary American Literature
American Popular Fiction, American Popular Culture and Film
Historical, Political, Social Perspectives on American Culture
Critical Theory and Methodology, Analytic Aesthetics, Evolutionary Studies
Stanislaw Lem, Literature and Science, Science Fiction
ACADEMIC CAREER
2010—
2010—
Research Director, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Helsinki,
Finland
Professor, American Literature and Culture, Department of English,
University of Missouri—St. Louis
2003-2009
2003-2009
2000-2003
1999-2000
1998-1999
1996-1998
Director, American Studies, University of Hong Kong
Associate Professor, American Literature and Culture, University of Hong
Kong
Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature and Popular Culture, University
of Alberta
Lecturer, American Literature, Department of English, University of Toronto
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC),
Research Fellow in American Literature and Culture, McGill University
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC),
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in American Literature and Culture, Concordia
University
BOOKS
1. LEM—PoLEMics: Provocation and Letters. In progress.
2. LEM—DiLEMmas: On the Early and Late Writings of Stanislaw Lem. In progress.
3. American Eutopia and Social Engineering in Literature, Social Thought, and
Political History. New York, London: Routledge, 2011. DAVID RAMPTON:
“Professor Swirski is something of a phenomenon. His publishing record is superb by
any standard. His background in European and American literatures is formidable.
His style is witty, accessible, and admirably suited to his subject. A great teacher in
the university classroom, Professor Swirski uses his pedagogical skills to take the
reader via his books through a series of complex subjects on which he is obviously an
expert. American Eutopia is a superb example of his particular abilities manifesting
themselves in a new and original project… a remarkably original contribution to
American studies…. there really is no other book out there remotely like it.” DAVID
LIVINGSTONE SMITH: “This is a stunning book. Drawing on a rich blend of
literary analysis, sociopolitical critique, and evolutionary biology, Swirski examines
the hopes, horrors and illusions of utopian social engineering through the lens of
twentieth-century American fiction. Superbly crafted, accessible to the nonspecialist, and intellectually exhilarating, American Utopia and Social Engineering
should not be missed.” ARTHUR ASA BERGER: “American Utopia will be seen as
a superb example of interdisciplinary research and will also find a market in academic
circles, using material, as it does, from the biological sciences, neurosciences, the
social sciences, literary theory, the humanities, philosophical thought, etc.” PHILIP
R. YANNELLA: “Professor Swirski’s subject is huge and complicated. Few scholars
would even take it up, but he has managed to pursue it with considerable vigor and
passion. The result is a book that is sometimes brilliant, usually provocative, and
nearly always interesting… Swirski is clearly a first-rate interdisciplinary scholar who
is doing important work.” JAAKKO HINTIKKA: “In the Sallisen opera, Paavo
Haavikko’s Ratsumies says: ‘How can I dare to hope anything, when all my hopes
come true?’ Using imaginative examples from American literature as the testing
ground, Peter Swirski examines in the same spirit the collective hopes that found their
expression in sundry American utopias. What could—what would—happen if they
were realized? Stay tuned to this book!”
4. Ars Americana, Ars Politica: Partisan Expression in Contemporary American
Literature and Culture. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010.
ISBN: 0773537651 (hardcover), ISBN: 0773537668 (paperback). HOWARD ZINN:
“Ars Americana is both fascinating and original, and the subject of political literature
is endlessly interesting and important.” H. BRUCE FRANKLIN: “Continually
provocative, Ars Americana, Ars Politica plunges us into a kind of political art that
anyone who wants to comprehend American popular culture cannot afford to ignore”.
ARTHUR ASA BERGER: “Peter Swirski has presented us with a soundly
researched, passionate, and beautifully written work—a Jeremiad about other
Jeremiads, and a powerful critique of American society and politics as reflected in
American media and popular culture.” BRIAN BOYD: “From the author of the
acclaimed bestseller From Lowbrow to Nobrow comes Ars Americana, Ars Politica, a
manifesto for political, cultural and literary studies, a head-cleanser and a sheer
romp”. ROBERT W. McCHESNEY: “Peter Swirski’s Ars Americana, Ars Politica
is an illuminating and highly entertaining look at the intersection of art, popular
culture and politics. I learned a great deal about subjects where I thought I was a
know-it-all. I strongly recommend this book”. DAVID RAMPTON: “If Fox News
reviews Ars Americana, Ars Politica sparks will fly”. Nominated for the Modern
Language Association (MLA) James Russell Lowell Award, John Hope Franklin’s
Publication Prize, James Russell Lowell Prize, the Albert J. Beveridge Award, John
H. Dunning Prize, the National Book Awards, National Book Critics Circle Book
Award, BAAS (British Association for American Studies) Book Prize, Goldsmith
Awards (John Shoernstein Centre), and American Studies Network Book Prize.
5. Literature, Analytically Speaking: Explorations in the Theory of Interpretation,
Analytic Aesthetics, and Evolution (Cognitive Approaches to Literature and Culture
Series). Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010. ISBN: 0292721781 (hardcover).
CHOICE: “a bracing, energetic challenge to the status quo. Summing up:
Recommended”. REVIEWER: “In a new approach to interdisciplinary literary
theory, Literature, Analytically Speaking integrates literary studies with analytic
aesthetics, girded by neo-Darwinian evolution. Scrutinizing narrative fiction through a
lens provided by analytic philosophy, revered literary theorist Peter Swirski puts new
life into literary theory while fashioning a set of practical guidelines for critics in the
interpretive trenches... Reflecting a resounding shift from the poststructuralist
paradigm, Swirski’s lively and colorful presentation, backed up by a dazzling variety
of examples and case studies, reconceptualizes the aesthetics of literature and literary
studies.”
6. I Sing the Body Politic: History as Prophecy in Contemporary American Literature,
editor and contributor. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009.
ISBN: 0773536035 (hardcover), ISBN: 0773536337 (paperback). ARTHUR ASA
BERGER: “A unique combination of scholarship, readability, and what might be
described as moral outrage… Beautifully written, and based on an impressive amount
of research, it casts a devastating light on the Bush administration and the political
order in recent years”. JOHN HOWARD: “Sure to be consulted for many years by
any number of scholars and students in departments of American Studies, English
Film Studies, and beyond”.
7. Of Literature and Knowledge: Explorations in Narrative Thought Experiments,
Evolution, and Game Theory. New York, London: Routledge, 2007. ISBN:
0415420598 (hardcover), ISBN: 0415420601 (paperback). EDWARD O. WILSON:
“An important advance in this new and important subject… literature is about to
become even more interesting”. JOHN ADAMS, British Society for Literature and
Science: “A complex and usefully provocative contribution to the field. Laudably
ambitious and readable”. BRIGITTE BRASCHLER: “Why do people love to tell
and hear stories so much? If you are interested to learn more about the role of stories
in our lives then this book has some surprising answers. The author methodically
examines the role of fiction in our search for knowledge. He introduces us to the
modelling properties of stories, showing the surprising similarities between literature
and mathematics. He demonstrates that many stories have the properties of though
experiments not different from those used in philosophy or the natural sciences.”
JOSEPH CARROLL: “Swirski infuses his subject with energy and passion,
successfully crosses the divide between difficult academic theory and the colloquial
idiom of popular speech, and brings into play a range of literary and theoretical
reference that is in itself a chief source of pleasure for readers”.
8. All Roads Lead to the American City, editor and contributor. Hong Kong, London:
Hong Kong University Press, 2007. Co-published with University of Washington
Press, 2007. ISBN: 9622098622 (hardcover), ISBN: 9622098630 (paperback).
CHRISTINE BOLD: “contains tons of valuable information and much lively
writing. Its strengths are its accessibility, its juxtaposition of materials, and its
historical sweep”. DAVID GRANT: “Without getting caught up in a limited
problematic or a narrow theoretical jargon, All Roads Lead to the American City taps
the insights of many fields in order to show how intimately bound up the reality and
the image of the road and the city are with the American sense of the nation.”
Nominated for the American Studies Association’s 2008 John Hope Franklin’s
Publication Prize.
9. The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem, editor and contributor. Montreal, London:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006. ISBN: 0773530460 (hardcover),
0773530479 (paperback). IAN LANCASHIRE: “Creative application of scientific,
philosophical, and religious thought to the imagining of new worlds”. EARLE
WAUGH: “Very fine indeed”.
10. From Lowbrow to Nobrow. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen’s University Press,
2005. ISBN: 0773529926 (hardcover), ISBN: 0773530193 (paperback). McGillQueen’s University Press Featured Book (2005). COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF
AMERICAN STUDIES: “Fascinatingly original… enthralling and provocative”.
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN STUDIES: “Excellent”. JOURNAL OF POPULAR
CULTURE: “Top five in popular culture studies”. RAY B. BROWNE: “This superb
book will make all previous studies in popular culture moot… must be owned by all
libraries and cultural studies scholars”.
11. Between Literature and Science: Poe, Lem, and Explorations in Aesthetics, Cognitive
Science, and Literary Knowledge. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen’s University
Press, 2000. ISBN: 0773520431 (hardcover), ISBN: 0773520783 (paperback).
STANISLAW LEM: “Peter Swirski, a brilliant literary critic and a superb translator,
deserves wide recognition as a scholar in American and Polish literatures”. PAISLEY
LIVINGSTON: “Between Literature and Science makes a significant contribution to
Poe scholarship, Lem scholarship, literary theory, philosophy and literature,
epistemology, and aesthetics… Rarely have I been so enthusiastic about a book”.
CANADIAN SLAVONIC PAPERS: “breathtaking erudition and intellectual
courage… an inspiration that contributes greatly in improving interactions between
literary studies and other academic fields.” JED RASULA: “Between Literature and
Science engaged me with its studiousness, coherence, and inventiveness.”
JERROLD LEVINSON: “Swirski writes with directness and vigor, and gives new
hope for the future of literary studies.” Second edition by Liverpool University Press,
2001. ISBN: 0853238960 (hardcover).
12. A Stanislaw Lem Reader (Rethinking Theory Series). Evanston, IL: Northwestern
University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0810114944 (hardcover), ISBN: 0810114951
(paperback). KIRKUS REVIEWS: “Densely written, with something to think about
in almost every paragraph, this is probably the best quick introduction to the main
currents of the large body of work Lem has produced over the last half-century”.
SCIENCE-FICTION STUDIES: “Excellent”. EXTRAPOLATION: “A Stanislaw
Lem Reader is well worth the reader’s time and effort.” UTOPIAN STUDIES: “Of
course, it’s always a pleasure to listen to Lem’s ideas, to read Lem’s words, and an
additional pleasure to ‘overhear’ a more off-the-cuff-Lem—in a personal interview
with the author. For readers like myself without knowledge of the Polish language, A
Stanislaw Lem Reader presents the opportunity to discover aspects of Lem not
otherwise accessible. GOODREADS: “This book was eye-opening. It’s more than an
introduction to his work, although it is that—it contains a rich couple of interviews
with an outstanding scientific and literary mind. Rarely do these qualities come
together so well, not from a style point-of-view, but from a critical one, as here”.