Leif Borthen (25 January 1911,Title: The Road to San Vicent. Author: Leif Borthen. Published: Barbury Press. in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

– 9 June 1979, in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

) was a Norwegian journalist and author.

Early life

''Borthen'' was a student of

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

at the

Royal Frederick University 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 1932 he gave up these studies and head for Spain for a year. This was in the time of the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...

, and he spent this time in the Catalan region. He spent part of the year working as a fisherman in Mallorca, where he lived in a colony of artists which included Jacob Brinchmann and

Paul René Gauguin Paul René Gauguin (27 February 1911 – 14 February 1976) was a French painter, graphical artist, sculptor, book illustrator and scenographer. He was born in Copenhagen, and was a son of Pola Gauguin, and grandson of Paul Gauguin. He is pa ...

, the grandson of the French artist

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

. In 1933 he moved to Ibiza and settled in the remote village of Sant Vicent de sa Cala in the north east of Ibiza. During this time he began writing for the Norwegian 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 ...

''.

1940 to 1950s

At the outbreak of the

Second World War 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 ...

, Borthen went to London, England, later to Argentina, where he worked in the Norwegian embassy in Buenos Aires as press attaché from 1945 until 1950. He wrote his first book in 1952 about his experiences there. It was called ''Reise til Peróns rike'' ("Travel to Peron's Empire") which was published in 1952. In 1955 ''Borthen'' along with Jan Wihbourg took a year out to travel the Brazilian rainforest. During this time he made a film and also wrote ''I morgen drar vi til Bahia'' ("Tomorrow we're off to Bahia")

1952 to 1960

Between 1950 and 1952 Borthen reported for the newspaper ''

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 made appearances on the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

(NRK), and contributed to the leading Norwegian daily newspaper ''

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

'', under the pseudonym ''Don Segundo'', with articles on the cinema, cookery and current affairs. He also became a film and theatre critic,SNL
/ref> chairing the Norwegian Film Critics between 1959 and 1960. In 1960 Borthen returned to Sant Vicent de sa Cala. He purchased a house and Borthen continued to write from there. In 1967 he published ''Veien til San Vicente'' ("

The Road to San Vicente ''The Road to San Vicente'' is a book by Leif Borthen about life in the tiny village of Sant Vicent de sa Cala in the far north east of the Spanish island of Ibiza. In 1933Title: The Road to San Vicent. Author: Leif Borthen. Published: Barbury P ...

"). Borthen continued to work and live on Ibiza until his death in 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borthen, Leif 1911 births 1979 deaths People from Trondheim Norwegian newspaper reporters and correspondents Norwegian expatriates in Spain Norwegian expatriates in Argentina People from Ibiza 20th-century Norwegian writers 20th-century Norwegian journalists