Øistein Parmann (10 March 1921 – 8 February 1999) was a Norwegian journalist, teacher, biographer and art historian. He served as the publishing director in Dreyers Forlag from 1975 until 1988.

Background

Parmann was born in

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

(now Oslo), Norway. His parents were Øistein Parmann (1883-1956) and Aud Petra Katharina Amundsen (1898-1976). His father operated a bookstore in Oslo. He grew up in Aker and graduated

artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

Ullern Ullern is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. History The borough has its name from an old farm, Norse ''Ullarin''. The first element is the genitive case of the name of the Norse god Ullr. The last element is ''vin'', meaning pasture or mea ...

in 1940. He then studied art history and literature at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

. He was married in 1945 to physiotherapist Elsie Solveig Jacobsen. He died in February 1999 at

Nesodden Nesodden is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Follo. The administrative centre of the municipality is Nesoddtangen. The parish of ''Næsodden'' was established as a municipality on 1 ...

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

Career

He made his literary debut in 1943 with ''Kanskje dette – Av en ung manns skissebok''. He continued his writer's activities and marked himself as an art historian. He wrote novels and art history as well as biographies of

anthroposophist Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers ...

Marcello Haugen (1974), artist

Harald Dal Harald Dal (June 26, 1902 – June 4, 1972) was a Norwegians, Norwegian painter. After a lengthy education both in Norway and abroad, he debuted as a painter at an exhibition in Oslo's Kunstnerforbundet art gallery in 1927. Dal was born in Trond ...

(1975), painter

Halfdan Egedius Halfdan Egedius (May 5, 1877 – February 2, 1899) was a Norwegian painter and illustrator. Biography Halfdan Johnsen Egedius was born in Drammen in Buskerud county and grew up in Christiania (now Oslo). His interest in painting and illustratio ...

(1979) and architect

Herman Major Schirmer Herman Major Schirmer (20 June 1845 – 11 April 1913) was a Norwegian architect, educator and historian of art. He has been described as "one of the chief ideologues" of Norwegian romantic nationalism. He was also a diligent writer and Norway's fi ...

(1986). He also edited and published essays by poet

Alf Larsen Alf Larsen (22 July 1885 – 12 December 1967) was a Norwegian poet, essayist and magazine editor. Biography Larsen was born at Tjøme in Vestfold, Norway. he was the eldest of seven children born to Alfred Larsen (1859-1905) and Kristi ...

and in 1980 he edited and published the diaries of

Maria Quisling Maria Quisling, born Maria Vasilyevna Pasek or Pasetchnikova Dahl (1991), p.93 (10 October 1900 – 17 January 1980), was known as the wife of the Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling, but historians have doubts on whether the couple were ...

, widow of

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (, ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally headed the government of Norway during the country's occupation by Nazi Germ ...

. He was a journalist at ''

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseavi ...

'' from 1948 and later served as cultural editor. He began a seven year career as a teacher at the Rudolf Steinskolen in Oslo during 1959. The pinnacle of his working career was as publishing director of the publishing house Dreyers Forlag from 1974 to 1988 and praeses in the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature from 1982 to 1988. He was also a Government scholar from 1986.

Selected works

*
Marcello Haugen
' (Oslo: Cappelen) (1974) *
Harald Dal
' (Oslo: Gyldendal) (1975) *
Halfdan Egedius: Liv og verk
' (Oslo:Dreyer) (1979) *''Herman Major Schirmer og Tegneskolen: Et stykke norsk arkitekturhistorie'' (Oslo: Grøndahl og Dreyer) (1986)

References

1921 births 1999 deaths Journalists from Oslo University of Oslo alumni Norwegian book publishers (people) Norwegian art historians Norwegian biographers Norwegian male writers Male biographers Anthroposophists 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century biographers {{norway-writer-stub