The Genre of Trolls - Doria

colleagues to obtain much of my research material, and I truly appreciate
the enthusiasm and rapidity with which it has been put at my disposal.
Elizabeth Nyman accepted the task of correcting my English before the
book went to print, and I thank her for this. Dr Pär Sandin kindly took
care of the technical editing of the text, for which I am very grateful. Professor
Charles Lock, Department of English at the University of Copenhagen,
acted as my second preliminary examiner, giving important corrections
to the text. He is also an inspiration in his extensive and innovative
research on Bakhtin.
This study could not have been carried out without the generous financial
support of the following: The Committee for Folklore of the Swedish
Literature Society in Finland; The Research Institute of Åbo Akademi
University; Waldemar von Frenckell’s Foundation; Chancellor Lars Erik
Taxell’s Fund, Åbo Akademi University; The Swedish-Ostrobothnian
Association; The Åberg Fund, The Swedish Foundation for Culture; The
Graduate School for Cultural Interpretations; and The Victoria Foundation.
I thank Åbo Akademi University Press for accepting my thesis for publication;
Inger Hassel and Kristina Toivonen guided me in the practicalities
of finding a printer, Tove Ahlbäck designed the book cover on the basis of
the excellent drawing made by Emma Rönnholm, and Anne Andersson
took care of the CIP cataloguing of the dissertation. I appreciate the work
of all of you.
Finally, I wish to thank my family and friends. My parents, Bengt and
Kristina Asplund, always encouraged me to read and write, and this is where
it got me. I have greatly enjoyed the journey. My sister, Linda Asplund,
has shared my interest in the bizarre. My grandmother, Birgit Asplund,
came to the rescue when I needed information on the parish of Vörå, her
native parish. My uncle and aunt, Bror Rönnholm and Margareta Willner-
Rönnholm, have invited me to stay in their home every time I have been in
Åbo, and kept me sober and down-to-earth with the voices of experience.
In Finland, Olivia Granholm, Susanna Östman, Viveca Rabb and Anette
Johansson have been agreeable companions. In Sweden, Martina and David
Finnskog, Henrik Gerding and Rebecka Randler, Elisabet and Anders
Göransson, Kristian Göransson and Maria Mellgren, Oskar Hagberg and
Shirley Näslund, Mi Lennhag, Björn Levander, Pär Sandin, Kristiina Savin
and Jonas Hansson, Aron Sjöblad, Claes Schuborg and Karin Staffans,
Joachim Walewski, Per Östborn and others have guided my thoughts to
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