Odd Eidem (23 October 1913 – 10 June 1988) 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 ...

writer, journalist and literary critic.

Biography

He was born in

Kristiania 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 ...

(now Oslo), Norway. He was the eldest of three sons born to Gunnar Kølbel (1890–1963) and Dorothea Serine Eidem (1889–1940). His parents divorced during his youth. He grew up 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. ...

and received his '' artium'' in 1931. He earned a master's degree in literature history 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 ...

in 1938. He debuted in 1939 as a fiction author. During the 1930s, he was an active member of the political movement

Mot Dag Mot Dag (, 'Towards Day') was a Norwegian political group. The group was active from the 1920s to the early 1930s and was first affiliated with the Labour Party. After World War II, many of its former members were leaders in Norwegian politics and ...

. He worked as a secretary for

Nansenhjelpen Nansenhjelpen (formally called Nansen Hjelp, variously called the Nansen Relief in English and Nansenhilfe in German) was a Norwegian humanitarian organization founded by Odd Nansen in 1936 to provide safe haven and assistance in Norway for Jewish ...

from 1938 to 1940. After

World War II 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 ...

, Eidem became a literary critic at ''

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 ...

'', where he remained a regular contributor until 1977. From 1955 to 1977, he also wrote theater reviews. He wrote a column for ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

'' from 1978 to 1988. His performances on radio can be heard on the CD collection ''Hørøretøret'' from the Gunnar Haugan NRK radio program Hørøret. Eidem was awarded the

Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature The Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature (''Den norske Kritikerprisen for litteratur'' or ''Kritikerprisen'') is awarded by the Norwegian Literature Critics' Association (''Norsk Litteraturkritikerlag'') and has been awarded every year since 1950. ...

(''Kritikerprisen'') in 1978 for the flaneries, ''Cruise''. He received the

Cappelen Prize The Cappelen Prize ( no, Cappelenprisen) is a Norwegian literary award that was established in 1979 by the publishing company J.W. Cappelens Forlag, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the publishing house. It has not been awarded after J.W ...

(''Cappelenprisen'') in 1980.

Selected works

*''Uten fane'', 1939 *''Kala'', 1971 *''Cruise'', 1978 *''Pieter og jeg'', 1979 *''Ute på veiene'', 1980 *''Morgen i Dibonne. Et landsbybilde'', 1982 *''Arons roser'', 1985

Awards

Riksmål Society Literature Prize The Riksmål Society Literature Prize (''Riksmålsforbundets litteraturpris'') is awarded annually by the '' Riksmålsforbundet'' for the outstanding publication in riksmål. The prize was awarded until 2002 by the ''Oslo and Bærum Riksmål Leagu ...

, 1960 *

Norwegian Booksellers' Prize The Norwegian Booksellers' Prize (''Bokhandlerprisen'') is a literature prize awarded annually by the Norwegian Booksellers Association after voting among all who work in Norwegian bookstores. The prize is awarded for one of the year's books in t ...

, 1968 *

, 1978

References

1913 births 1988 deaths Writers from Oslo Norwegian columnists Norwegian literary critics Norwegian theatre critics Norwegian writers Mot Dag 20th-century Norwegian writers 20th-century Norwegian journalists {{Norway-writer-stub