Milada Blekastad (1 July 1917 – 25 October 2003) 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 ...

literary historian.

Personal life

She was born in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. Her grandfather

František Topič František () is a masculine given name of Czech origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, François, and Franz. People with the name include: *Frank Daniel (František Daniel) (1926–1996), Czech film director, producer, and screenwriter *F ...

was one of the most prominent publishers in that town and often published Nordic literature; her father Jaroslav Topič was a publisher as well and her mother Milada Topičová was a translator. As a fifteen-year old, Milada Blekastad received an invitation from Gunnvor Krokann, wife of the writer

Inge Krokann Inge Krokann (19 August 1893 – 27 September 1962) was a Norwegian writer. His most famous work is '' I Dovre Sno '' (1929), an epic story of the Loe family during the Middle Ages. Because his writing was full of local expressions and is so ...

, to travel to Norway. There she met the artist Hallvard Blekastad (1883–1966) whom she married in 1934. She was quick to learn

nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

and spoke fluent

Gausdal Gausdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Segalstad bru. Other villages in Gausdal include Follebu, Forse ...

dialect, but she translated to both nynorsk and

bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...

. She had seven children.

Career

She was a lecturer in

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

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 1957. She took the dr.philos. degree in 1969 with the thesis ''Comenius, Versuch eines Umrisses von Leben, Werk und Schicksal des Jan Amos Komenský''. She was a

Government scholar Government scholar (Norwegian, ''statsstipendiat'') is a position awarded by the Parliament of Norway upon the recommendation of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Research and funded directly over the State budget of Nor ...

from 1970. She wrote several academic and popular works on

Comenius John Amos Comenius (; cs, Jan Amos Komenský; pl, Jan Amos Komeński; german: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considere ...

. Books about him include ''Menneskenes sak'' (1977), and translations include ''Verdsens labyrint'' (1955; orig.

1631 Events January–March * January 23 – Thirty Years' War: Sweden and France sign the Treaty of Bärwalde, a military alliance in which France provides funds for the Swedish army invading northern Germany. * February 5 &ndash ...

) and ''Informatoriet for skulen hennar mor'' (1965). She was a prolific translator between Czech and Norwegian, being awarded 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 1969 for translating

Ludvík Vaculík Ludvík Vaculík (23 July 1926 – 6 June 2015) was a Czech writer and journalist. He was born in Brumov, Moravian Wallachia. A prominent samizdat writer, he was best known as the author of the " Two Thousand Words" manifesto of June 1968. Pre- ...

's ''The Axe''. She wrote historical overviews ''Millom aust og vest'' (1958) and ''Millom bork og ved'' (1978) as well as publishing the fairytale collection ''Tsjekkiske og Slovakiske eventyr'' in four volumes between 1939 and 1955. She was a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

and of the Norwegian

PEN Club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

. In 1997, she was awarded the Medal of Merit, First Grade, by the president of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel.

References

1917 births 2003 deaths Writers from Prague Czechoslovak emigrants to Norway Norwegian philologists Slavists Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian literary historians Translators from Czech Translators to Norwegian Nynorsk-language writers 20th-century Norwegian translators Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) 20th-century philologists {{Norway-translator-stub