Ivar Eskeland (30 November 1927 – 23 December 2005) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

philologist, publisher, translator, biographer, literary critic, newspaper editor, theatre worker, radio personality and organizational leader.

Career

He was born in

Stord Stord is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since it has such a variety of landscapes: coastline, fjords, forests, agricultural l ...

as a son of headmaster Severin Eskeland (1880–1964) and Olga Dorothea Olsen (1886–1975). He was a nephew of

Lars Eskeland Lars Eskeland (6 March 1867 – 30 September 1942) was a Norwegian educator and writer, and proponent for Nynorsk. Personal life Eskeland was born at Stord as the son of farmers Øystein Larsson Eskeland and Mari Larsdotter Vatna, and was a br ...

. He

finished Finished may refer to: * ''Finished'' (novel), a 1917 novel by H. Rider Haggard * ''Finished'' (film), a 1923 British silent romance film * "Finished" (short story), a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp See also *Finishing (disa ...

his secondary education at Valler, graduated from Stord Teachers' College in 1949 and 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 1955 with the cand.philol. degree. He was hired as secretary-general of

Noregs Mållag Noregs Mållag (literally "Language Organisation of Norway") is the main organisation for Norwegian Nynorsk (New Norwegian), one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language. In the Norwegian language conflict, it advocates the u ...

in 1955, then worked for the publishing house Fonna Forlag from 1956 to 1960, for

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ( en, Norwegian Theater)Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabl� ...

from 1960 to 1965 before editing the newspaper ''

Dag og Tid Dag, or variant forms, may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''DAG'' (American TV series), 2000–2001 * ''Dag'' (Norwegian TV series), 2010–2015 * ''DAG'' (newspaper), a former free Dutch newspaper * DAG (band), an American funk band * D ...

'' from 1965 to 1966. He was also a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

teacher at the

Norwegian National Academy of Theatre The Oslo National Academy of the Arts ( no, Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, ''KHiO'') is a university college in Oslo, Norway, that provides education in visual arts, design and performing arts. It is one of two public institutes of higher learning in N ...

in the 1960s. In language organizations, he was the deputy chairman of Noregs Mållag from 1957 to 1960 and chairman from 1960 to 1963, and member of the Vogt Committee between 1965 and 1967. From 1968 to 1972 he was the director of the Nordic House in Iceland, and from 1972 to 1974 he directed the Secretariat for Nordic Cultural Cooperation. He translated

Halldór Laxness Halldór Kiljan Laxness (; born Halldór Guðjónsson; 23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was an Icelandic writer and winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote novels, poetry, newspaper articles, essays, plays, travelogues and s ...

and

William Heinesen Andreas William Heinesen (15 January 1900 – 12 March 1991) was a poet, novel writer, short story writer, children's book writer, composer and painter from the Faroe Islands. His writing The Faroese capital Tórshavn is always the centre of H ...

, wrote a textbook in Icelandic and biographies of

Gisle Straume Gisle Straume (26 August 1917 – 1 December 1988) was a Norwegian actor and theatre director. Personal life Straume was born in Holla, the son of farmer and headmaster Eivind Straume and teacher Brita Monsine Skanke Aarnes. He married actr ...

and

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

. For this he was decorated with the

Order of the Falcon The Order of the Falcon ( is, Hin íslenska fálkaorða) is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. N ...

in 1971 and the

Bastian Prize The Bastian Prize ( no, Bastianprisen) is a prize awarded annually by the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators. The prize, established in 1951, is given for translating a published work into Norwegian language. The award is a statue made ...

in 1972. He was also chairman of the Broadcasting Council from 1963 to 1968, the

Norwegian Association of Literary Translators Norwegian Association of Literary Translators ( no, Norsk Oversetterforening) is an association for Norwegian literary translators, founded in 1948. The association has awarded the annual Bastian Prize from 1951, for best literary translation into t ...

from 1965 to 1968 and 1978 to 1986, and the

Norwegian Critics' Association The Norwegian Critics' Association (''Norsk litteraturkritikerlag'') is an organization for Norwegian critics in the newspaper and broadcasting professions. Former independent critic teams merged into Norwegian Critics Association in 1998. The o ...

from 1975 to 1981. He was an honorary member of the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators and Noregs Mållag. He was also a radio personality known for his

causerie Causerie (from French, "talk, chat") is a literary style of short informal essays mostly unknown in the English-speaking world. A causerie is generally short, light and humorous and is often published as a newspaper column (although it is not defin ...

s, and a literary critic. From 1985 to 1986 he was director in the publishing house Forlaget Atheneum. Eskeland was married twice. He died in December 2005 in Oslo. He was decorated as a Grand Knight with Star of the Icelandic

Selected works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eskeland, Ivar 1927 births 2005 deaths People from Stord Noregs Mållag leaders Stord/Haugesund University College alumni University of Oslo alumni Norwegian philologists Norwegian biographers Male biographers Translators from Icelandic Norwegian expatriates in Iceland Grand Knights with Star of the Order of the Falcon Norwegian expatriates in Denmark Norwegian publishers (people) Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian radio personalities NRK people Norwegian literary critics 20th-century biographers 20th-century Norwegian translators 20th-century Norwegian male writers 20th-century philologists