The views of a literary critic come to the fore when the reading public jointly defines what constitutes good literature. As the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Parnasso, Karo Hämäläinen leads Finland’s most prestigious literary magazine, and as such is a key figure for budding authors.

Nevertheless, Hämäläinen refuses to see his role as that of a nightclub bouncer who keeps the queue in line and decides who gets in. A literary gatekeeper is also the herald of high-quality works. Hämäläinen notes that the Internet has led to the democratisation of publicity and a reduction in the significance of professional critics. Today, more opinions on books appear than was previously the case, but the number of reviews written in the professional style of a critic has collapsed along with the general decline in newspaper reviews.

Hämäläinen sees the role of a literary expert as partly artistic in nature. It involves an active dialogue with aesthetics and the promotion and development of literature.