Marja-Liisa Vartio (1924-1966) is considered one of the foremost
innovators of consciousness representation in Finnish post-war
modernism. Mysterious Minds, the first study to examine this subject in
depth, explores the portrayal of fictional minds in her novels. The
volume suggests alternative methods for reading Vartio's fictional minds
not only as private, solipsistic, and self-reflective consciousnesses,
but also as social, collective, and interconnected entities. These
intermental minds sometimes remain unreadable and mysterious even to the
characters of her novels themselves. The volume is an enjoyable and
beneficial read both for students and scholars sharing an interest in
recent cognitive and affective narrative studies, and for anyone
interested in Vartio's work.