Heiko Uecker (5 September 1939 – 30 May 2019) was a German philologist who specialized in Germanic studies. He was Professor of

Nordic Philology Scandinavian studies is an interdisciplinary academic field of area studies, mainly in the United States and Germany, that primarily focuses on the Scandinavian languages (also known as North Germanic languages) and cultural studies pertaining to ...

at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

and a known expert on

Scandinavian literature Scandinavian literature or Nordic literature is the literature in the languages of the Nordic countries of Northern Europe. The Nordic countries include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway (including Svalbard), Sweden, and Scandinavia's associate ...

Biography

Heiko Uecker was born in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, Germany on 5 September 1939. After graduating from , Uecker studied Nordic and

German philology German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

at the universities of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and

Oslo 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 ...

. He received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1966 with the thesis ''Die altnordischen Bestattungssitten in der literarischen Überlieferung'', which examined descriptions of

Norse funeral Norse funerals, or the burial customs of Viking Age North Germanic Norsemen (early medieval Scandinavians), are known both from archaeology and from historical accounts such as the Icelandic sagas and Old Norse poetry. Throughout Scandinavia, the ...

s in

Old Norse literature Old Norse literature refers to the vernacular literature of the Scandinavian peoples up to c. 1350. It chiefly consists of Icelandic writings. In Britain From the 8th to the 15th centuries, Vikings and Norse settlers and their descendants colon ...

. Uecker completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1977, and subsequently served as a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. In 1982, Uecker was appointed Professor of Nordic Philology at the

. He served as Head of the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Bonn. From 1982 to 1988, and 2006 to 2010, Uecker was the Chairman of the . Uecker specialized in the study of

. He was an authority on both medieval and modern Scandinavian literature, and also

early Germanic literature Early Germanic culture refers to the culture of the early Germanic peoples. Largely derived from a synthesis of Proto-Indo-European and indigenous Northern European elements, the Germanic culture started to exist in the Jastorf culture that de ...

, on which he was the author of numerous works. He is known for his research on Norwegian authors

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

and

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 ...

. He contributed significantly to the improvement of

Germany–Norway relations Germany–Norway relations are foreign relations between Germany and Norway. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1905, after Norway's independence. During World War II, Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany, lasting from 1940 unt ...

. In 2004, Uecker received both the

Willy Brandt Prize The Willy Brandt Prize is an annual prize awarded by the Norwegian-German Willy Brandt prize foundation (in German: ''Norwegisch-Deutsche Willy-Brandt-Stiftung'') since 2000. It is awarded to persons or institutions that make significant contribut ...

and the

Royal Norwegian Order of Merit The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Norwegian: ''Den Kongelige Norske Fortjenstorden'' (Bokmål) or ''Den Kongelege Norske Fortenesteordenen'' (Nynorsk)) was instituted by King Olav V in 1985. It is awarded to foreigners, Norwegian citizens livin ...

. Uecker was married to Kari Uecker. He was the father of actor

Georg Uecker Georg Uecker (born 6 November 1962 in Munich) is a German actor. Since 1985, he has played the character of ''Dr. Carsten Flöter'' on the popular German TV series Lindenstraße on ARD. Controversially, in 1987, he kissed ''Gert Weinbauer'' (pla ...

. Uecker retired from the

in 2004. He died in Bonn on 30 May 2019.

Selected works

* ''Geschichte der altnordischen Literatur''. Stuttgart: Reclam 2004. . * (mit Joachim Trinkwitz): ''Die Klassiker der skandinavischen Literatur. Die großen Autoren vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart''. Essen: Meysenburg 2002. . (Überarbeitete Neuauflage der Ausgabe Düsseldorf: Econ 1990.) * ''Germanische Heldensage''. Stuttgart: Metzler 1972 (=Sammlung Metzler, Bd. 106).

Sources

1939 births 2019 deaths German philologists Germanic studies scholars Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Old Norse studies scholars People from Nuremberg Academic staff of the University of Bonn {{Germany-linguist-stub

Biography

See also

Selected works

Sources