Kjell Heggelund (16 December 1932 – 8 February 2017) was a Norwegian literary researcher, lecturer, editor, manager, poet, translator and literary critic.

Personal life

Heggelund was born in

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

. His parents were Kristian Heggelund and Katrine Vestby. He grew up in

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative ce ...

and later

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. He was married to Gerd Zelow Hofseth from 1956 to 1963, to Irene Olesen from 1965 to 1975, and then married the writer

Liv Køltzow Liv Køltzow (born 14 January 1945) is a Norwegian novelist, playwright, biographer and essayist. Personal life Køltzow was born in Oslo to Oscar Køltzow and Else Mathisen. She was married to writer Espen Haavardsholm from 1966 to 1973, and to ...

in 1985. He died in February 2017.

Lyrics

In the 1960s Heggelund issued three poetry collections, ''Reisekretser'' (1966), ''I min tid'' (1967) and ''Punkt 8'' (1969). His lyrics are regarded as an important contribution to the renewal of Norwegian poetry that took place in the late 1960s. In 1971 he issued a book with translations of poems by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

into

Norwegian language Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regio ...

, in cooperation with

Tor Obrestad Tor Obrestad (12 February 1938 – 25 January 2020) was a Norwegian novelist, poet and documentary writer. Early and personal life Obrestad was born in Hå on 12 February 1938. His parents were farmer Jon R. Obrestad and Sophie Riise. He studie ...

(''Mao Tsetungs dikt''). He has also translated works by the

surrealists Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

Robert Desnos Robert Desnos (; 4 July 1900 – 8 June 1945) was a French poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day. Biography Robert Desnos was born in Paris on 4 July 1900, the son of a licensed dealer in game and poultry at the '' H ...

Henri Michaux Henri Michaux (; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim ...

and

Benjamin Péret Benjamin Péret (4 July 1899 – 18 September 1959) was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist and a founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism. Biography Benjamin Péret was born in Rezé, ...

. Heggelund co-edited the literary magazine ''

Vinduet ''Vinduet'' (Norwegian: ''The Window'') is an online literary magazine. It was a print publication between 1947 and 2021. Its first issue as purely an online publication was started in Autumn 2021. The magazine is based in Oslo, Norway. History ...

'' with

Jan Erik Vold Jan Erik Vold (born 18 October 1939) is a Norwegian lyric poet, jazz vocal reciter, translator and author. He was a core member of the so-called "''Profil'' generation", the circle attached to the literary magazine ''Profil''. Throughout his care ...

from 1970 to 1974. He co-edited the literary magazine ''Basar'' from 1975 to 1981.

Academics and management

Heggelund was a lecturer and researcher 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 ...

from 1970 to 1992. As a researcher he has worked on the

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and pre romantic epoques, as well as on

modernist literature Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented ...

. He has also edited works by

Petter Dass Petter Pettersen Dass (c. 1647 – 17 August 1707) was a Lutheran priest and the foremost Norwegian poet of his generation, writing both baroque hymns and topographical poetry. Biography He was born at Northern Herøy (Dønna), Nordland, No ...

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...

and

Johan Herman Wessel Johan Herman Wessel (6 October 1742 – 29 December 1785) was an 18th-century Danish-Norwegian poet, satirist and playwright. His written work was characterized by the use of parody and satiric wit. Biography Wessel was born and raised at Vest ...

. He wrote the chapter covering the period from 1500 to 1814 in the six-volume work ''Norsk Litterturhistorie'' from 1974. From 1992 to 2004 Heggelund served as a literary manager at the publishing house

Aschehoug H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), commonly known as Aschehoug,() is one of the largest independent publishing companies in Norway, founded in 1872. Headquartered in Oslo, the publishing house has 480 employees. The Aschehoug group also comprises ot ...

Awards

Heggelund was awarded

Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment Mads Wiel Nygaard's Endowment is an annually awarded literary prize from the publishing house Aschehoug. The prize is a recognition of superior literary work. The publisher's editorial management makes the award based on their collective judgement ...

in 1968. He received the

Norwegian Academy Prize in memory of Thorleif Dahl The Norwegian Academy Prize in memory of Thorleif Dahl (''Det Norske Akademis Pris til minne om Thorleif Dahl'') is awarded annually by the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature (''Det Norske Akademi for Sprog og Litteratur''). The prize is ...

in 1995, and the

Herman Wildenvey Poetry Award The Herman Wildenvey Poetry Award ( no, Herman Wildenveys Poesipris) is a Norwegian award. It is conferred every year on July 20, the birthday of the poet Herman Wildenvey, in an event held at Hergisheim. The award consists of NOK 15,000 and a bronz ...

in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heggelund, Kjell 1932 births 2017 deaths People from Hamar Writers from Tønsberg Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian literary historians 20th-century Norwegian poets Norwegian male poets Norwegian magazine editors Norwegian book publishers (people) 20th-century Norwegian male writers 20th-century Norwegian translators