Professor of Russian at the Åbo Akademi University and associate professor of Slavic languages at Stockholm University. Received a PhD in 1979 for a dissertation on Russian modernist poet Velimir Chlebnikov. Has written about the prose of Zamyatin and Babel (the skaz-problem) and the poetry of Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, Akhmatova. Is particularly interested in Russian folklore and the recasting of folk culture in the literature.

Translations from Russian (since 1977) and Serbian (since 1985). Translation awards in Sweden: 1988 from Samfundet De Nio (the literary society “The Nine” – 9 distinguished poets, writers, translators); 1995 from the Foundation Natur och Kultur, the Swedish Academy.