Øystein Rottem (1 February 1946 – 5 December 2004) was a Norwegian

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

literary historian The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques ...

and

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

Personal life

Rottem was born on the island of

Hemnskjela Hemnskjela (sometimes ''Hemnskjel'') is an island in the municipality of Hitra in Trøndelag county, Norway. The island is located in the Trondheimsleia strait at the mouth of the Hemnfjorden, just south of the village of Sandstad on the nearby ...

in what was then the municipality of

Heim Heim is the German, Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese equivalent of the English word ''home''. It is a common German and Norwegian suffix in place names such as Mannheim and Trondheim. In Norwegian place names, the suffix is often weakened to just ...

. His parents were Sverre Bernhardsen Rottem and Solveig Terese Hassel. He was married to Gerd Synnøve Vigeland from 1969 to 1989, and to Bente Findling-Nielsen from 1991. He died from cancer in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

on 5 December 2004.

Career

Rottem graduated from 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 ...

in 1976 with the cand.philol. degree. He was a literary critic for the newspaper ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

'' from 1984, and is regarded among the most important and influential literary critics in Norway over a period of two decades. Before ''Dagbladet'' he had worked for ''

Ny Tid ''Ny Tid'' (English: ''Modern Times Review'') is Norway's largest international quarterly review of non-fiction books – up to 50 in each issue. It is currently owned by Ny Tid & Orientering AS. ''Ny Tid'' is headed by the newspaper founder Tr ...

'' and ''

Arbeiderbladet ''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...

''. He also contributed to ''

Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia. The first edition (NBL1) was issued between 1921 and 1983, including 19 volumes and 5,100 articles. It was published by Aschehoug with economic support from the state. bought the rights to ...

''. His most widespread works as a literary historian are the three last volumes of ''Norges Litteraturhistorie'', covering the period after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, ''Fra

Brekke Brekke is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The municipality has existed two separate times: from 1850 until 1861 and then again from 1905 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the northeastern part of ...

til Mehren 1945–1965'' (volume 6, published 1995), ''Inn i medietidsalderen 1965–1980'' (volume 7, 1997) and ''Vår egen tid 1980–1998'' (volume 8, 1998). He lectured at the

University of Tromsø The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway (Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway an ...

and from 1985 to 1991 at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

, and spent one year from 1991 to 1992 as a visiting scholar at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. He published several academic works about

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

, and a biography of

Sigurd Hoel Sigurd Hoel (December 14, 1890 – October 14, 1960) was a Norwegian author and publishing consultant, born in Nord-Odal. He debuted with the collection of short stories (The Way We Go) in 1922. His breakthrough came with (Sinners in Summertim ...

(1991). His guide books on Copenhagen include ''Vårt København. Norske forfattere i Kongens by'' (2000), ''Sild & snaps i København'' (2003), and ''Til bords i Tivoli'' (2004).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rottem, Oeystein 1946 births 2004 deaths Norwegian literary critics Dagbladet people Norwegian literary historians University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Tromsø Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Norwegian expatriates in Denmark People from Sør-Trøndelag