Jaak Tomberg
Jaak Tomberg (born 30 June 1980) is a literary scholar.
Tomberg was born in Tartu and studied at Tartu Miina Härma Gymnasium. At the University of Tartu, he defended the master’s thesis Ekstrapolatiivne kirjutamine: tulevikukirjutuse poeetikast (‘Extrapolative Fiction: On the Poetics of Science Fiction’, 2004) and the doctoral thesis Kirjanduse lepitav otstarve (‘The Reconciliatory Purpose of Literature’, 2009). Tomberg belongs to the Research Group of Contemporary Estonian Culture and works as associate professor of Estonian literature at the University of Tartu.
His main research areas are related to literary theory and science fiction and fantasy but also to poetics and philosophy of literature. One of Tomberg’s interests has been cyberpunk and William Gibson’s creation. Tomberg has translated literary theory, written literary and cultural criticism, plays (for example, Aurora temporalis together with andreas w, premiered in 2002 at Tartu Theatre Lab) and short prose (the ten-part series of stories Faddei Bulgarini kümme soont – ‘Faddei Bulgarin’s Ten Veins’ – in the prose collection Mitte-Tartu – ‘Non-Tartu’ -, 2012). Jaak Tomberg has also been the editor of the Tartu avant-garde journal VIHIK.
Tomberg has received the annual award of the newspaper Sirp (2009), the annual award of the Science Fiction Research Association for the best research article (“On the “Double Vision” of mimetic realism and science-fictional estrangement in William Gibson’s “Bigend trilogy”” which was published in the journal Science Fiction Studies in 2014), the title of Tartu Culture Reporter (2017) and the University of Tartu Badge of Distinction (2023).
A. K. (Translated by I. A.)
Books in Estonian
Literary research
Ekstrapolatiivne kirjutamine: tulevikukirjutuse poeetikast. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2004, 108 lk
Kirjanduse lepitav otstarve. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2009, 167 lk [2. tr 2011]
Kuidas täita soovi: realism, teadusulme ja utoopiline kujutlusvõime. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2023, 307 lk
