UCSB ENGLISH PROFESSOR LECTURES IN FINLAND

UC Santa Barbara English Professor Robert Erickson gave four lectures during a recent visit to Finland and the Graduate School of Theology at the University of Helsinki.

Erickson was one of four eminent scholars invited to speak at the university's annual seminar for doctoral fellows.

His first talk was called "The Language of the Heart," based on his recent book of the same name which discusses use of the heart as a metaphor in world literature.

He also gave presentations titled "Paradise Lost, Shamanism and the Kalevala" and "Is Paradise Lost a Shamanic Epic?" Later, at the Tampere Public Library in Tampere, Finland, Erickson spoke at an exhibition devoted to arctic shamanism and compared the works of John Milton to shamanism.

"This lecture was given in conjunction with the exhibition, 'Samaanit,' the most important exhibition devoted to Arctic shamanism ever assembled and one which will soon be on tour in this country,'' Erickson said.