Podcast Summary: New Books Network – Iida Turpeinen on "Beasts of the Sea"

Date: February 2, 2026
Host: Chris Holmes
Guest: Iida Turpeinen

Episode Overview

In this episode of Burned By Books on the New Books Network, host Chris Holmes interviews Finnish author and literary scholar Iida Turpeinen about her acclaimed novel Beasts of the Sea (Little, Brown, 2025). The conversation delves into the extinct Steller’s sea cow, the ethics and histories of natural history museums, the role of women in the history of science, and the possibilities of fiction for narrating the Anthropocene. Rich in archival discoveries, literary influences, and reflection, the episode is both a story of research adventures and a meditation on extinction, memory, and hope.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Allure and Tragedy of the Steller's Sea Cow

[04:37–08:54]

• Turpeinen’s Serendipitous Encounter:
  Iida recounts how, as a new PhD student, she discovered the sea cow skeleton at the Helsinki Natural History Museum. Reading that the animal went extinct just 27 years after scientific discovery sparked her deep research journey.

• Quote:

  "I saw the skeleton of this big, bulky animal... and read the little placard... that said this is the Steller's sea cow and this animal went extinct only 27 years after its discovery by science. For some reason, this brought up so many questions in me."
  – Iida Turpeinen (06:18)

• Human Appetite and Extinction:
  Holmes and Turpeinen discuss how the sea cow’s fate was accelerated due to its perceived tastiness and utility for food and supplies.

• Quote:

  "There was one seaman who said he had tasted both the tortoise and the sea cow. And the sea cow was far more tasty."
  – Iida Turpeinen (08:38)

2. George Steller—Science, Theology, and Vulnerability

[10:12–14:21]

• Complex Portrait of Steller:
  Turpeinen details Steller’s transition from theology to natural history and the era’s view that studying nature was another way of studying God’s works.
• Contradictions:
  Steller’s diaries reveal compassion for the animals he studied and consumed, set against the conventions of an 18th-century “gentlemanly code.”
• Quote:

  "Even though he would be very angry, very distressed, he keeps his calm in a way that makes it very difficult for a contemporary reader to get close to him... One day he suddenly stops and writes: 'I feel a bit sad. This has been a difficult day.'... Four of his assistants died that day."
  – Iida Turpeinen (13:08)

3. Unsung Women in Science’s Archives

[15:08–19:22]

• Invisible Labor:
  Turpeinen set out to find women’s stories in the history of science. Through archival research, she discovered Anna and Constance Furuhjelm, whose letters revealed deep engagement with Alaska’s colonial world and scientific collections.

• Quote:

  "They gave Constance the task of taking care of the natural history collection of the Governor's house. So in a way... she ended up being given a job as curator of a scientific collection."
  – Iida Turpeinen (17:53)

• Transformational Roles:
  The character arc of Constance shows how proximity to natural history collections opened new worlds for women otherwise marginalized.

4. Literary and Scientific Influences

[20:10–22:03]

• Not Conventional Novels:
  Iida found most inspiration in old natural history writings (16th–18th centuries), blending personal narrative with scientific observation.

• Quote:

  "They read like good novels on the natural world and science... their way of writing where personal experiences and observations mixed with the world of science and emerging empirical standards."
  – Iida Turpeinen (20:31)

• Poetic Language:
  Finnish contemporary poetry, for its attention to language, provided balance to her archival and scientific reading.

5. Time, Scale, and the Novel’s Form

[22:33–24:12]

• Novel as Vehicle:
  Turpeinen emphasizes fiction’s unique capacity to narrate slow, planetary catastrophes like extinction—turning “catastrophes without events” into emotionally resonant stories.
• Quote:

  "Maybe novel as a format could be quite a good way of trying to wrap our heads around what's happening, because there you can incorporate quite huge timescales into one story... The beauty of literature is that through concentrating on something quite particular, you can speak about quite big things."
  – Iida Turpeinen (23:01)

6. Blending Fiction and Historical Documents

[25:15–26:57]

• Documentary Interludes:
  The novel includes archival tables and lists (e.g., uses of sea cows), blending documentary material with narrative as a way to juxtapose different “ways of knowing.”
• Quote:

  "It was my play with different ways of knowing the world... I work with scientific materials and turn them into fiction in essays or short stories and so forth."
  – Iida Turpeinen (26:34)

7. Natural History Museums—Between Mausoleum and Hope

[27:46–31:14]

• Museums as Liminal Spaces:
  Turpeinen reflects on the beauty and eeriness of such museums, which both collect and inadvertently contributed to extinction.
• Change Over Time:
  She sees hope in museums’ evolving ethics, such as ending practices that harm species once those harms were understood.
• Quote:

  "If you are not looking at it as a beautiful setting or a work of art, and you start to think of the animals as individuals that once lived, suddenly this turns into quite a horrifying mausoleum of a weird relationship to nature... At the same time, I find that natural history museums are also a very good... They are quite hopeful places because the way we collect has changed so much."
  – Iida Turpeinen (28:40, 30:43)

8. Marking the Loss—Art as Witness to Extinction

[32:06–33:48]

• Extinct Species Acknowledgments:
  Turpeinen used her acknowledgments to list species that went extinct during the novel’s writing, discovering nearly 400 such losses. The act became a powerful, difficult reminder of unseen catastrophe.
• Quote:

  "Writing this text was actually quite a difficult task... even though I thought that I had followed the discussion on extinction very closely... I had maybe heard of three or four species on that list. It means that almost 400 species disappeared without us even noticing."
  – Iida Turpeinen (33:14)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Sea Cow’s Fate:

  "It seems like this was an extremely tasty animal, unfortunately."
  – Iida Turpeinen (08:47)

• On Empathy Across the Centuries:

  "Even though he [Steller] would be very angry, very distressed, he keeps calm in a way that makes it very difficult for a contemporary reader to get close to him."
  – Iida Turpeinen (13:09)

• On Women in Science History:

  "I gave myself the conscious task of finding them [women]. And what interesting characters I ended up finding..."
  – Iida Turpeinen (15:29)

• On Museums as Mausoleums and Sites of Hope:

  "This sort of a point between fascination and horror, it's something that has always fascinated me about natural history museums."
  – Iida Turpeinen (28:31)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & context: [01:07–04:35]
• Steller’s Sea Cow & initial inspiration: [04:37–08:54]
• Edibility and the tragedy of extinction: [08:54]
• George Steller, faith, and science: [10:12–14:21]
• Women’s hidden contributions (Anna & Constance): [15:08–19:22]
• Literary and scientific influences: [20:10–22:03]
• The challenge of time and storytelling: [22:33–24:12]
• Archival/documentary methods: [25:15–26:57]
• Museums as ambiguous spaces: [27:46–31:14]
• On marking extinct species: [32:06–33:48]
• Book recommendations: [34:28–37:01]

Book Recommendations

From Iida Turpeinen:

• The Wall by Marlen Haushofer:

  "It's called the Feminist Robinson Crusoe... she learns to live with the forest, with the animals in the end... the way she talks about her relationship to the animals, I found it really magical." (35:04)

• Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes:

  "What a wonderful book about the difficulties of writing about historical characters." (36:30)

Tone & Style

The conversation maintains an inquisitive, reflective, and deeply humane tone. Turpeinen’s warmth, humility, and sense of wonder shine through, balanced with Holmes’s thoughtful questions and enthusiasm for literary history and ecological engagement.

Final Takeaway

Beasts of the Sea stands as a profound work bridging archival history, extinction narratives, and the transformative power of literature. Turpeinen and Holmes’s discussion urges both a close reading of the past and an ethical reckoning with the present, using fiction as a means to make loss visible and to imagine hope.