Åke Ohlmarks
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Åke Joel Ohlmarks (3 June 1911 – 6 June 1984) was a Swedish author, translator and scholar of
philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
,
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
and
religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...
. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Greifswald from 1941 to 1945, where he founded the institute for religious studies together with the Deutsche Christen member . His most notable contribution to the field is his 1939 study of Shamanism. As a translator, he is notable for his Swedish version of the Icelandic Edda, of Shakespeare's works and a heavily criticised translation of
J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
's ''
The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...
'', as well as a version of the
Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
and works by writers including
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
and
Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinisation of names, Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French Astrology, astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed Oracle, seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéti ...
.


Early life and career

Ohlmarks was born in Kristianstad, Sweden, and was the son of wholesaler Joel Ohlmarks and Anna-Lisa Larsson. He studied Nordic languages and the
history of religion The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The Prehistoric religion, prehistory of reli ...
at
Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...
, where he immersed himself in student life and became renowned for his occasional poetry and Spex writing. After earning a bachelor's degree he was editor of a student newspaper and then worked as Swedish lecturer in
Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...
from 1933 to 1934 and in
Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
from 1935 to 1936. He earned a Licentiate of Philosophy degree in 1935 and a
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
degree in 1937, but his doctoral thesis ''Heimdalls Horn und Odins Auge'' was criticised for lacking philological accuracy and he failed to get a readership (''docentbetyg'') in Sweden, which Ohlmarks claimed was because his satirical poetry had angered his professors. He was ''docent'' and associate professor in the Swedish language in
Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...
from 1941 to 1945. There he founded an institute for religious studies, which he led until he left the city shortly before it was invaded by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. He did not adjust his scholarship in line with National Socialist ideology and later denied being a Nazi, but his conduct at the time has been described as opportunistic and as a combination of adaptation, collaboration and ignorance. Ohlmarks was director of Europafilm's manuscript department from 1950 to 1959, visiting professor in
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
in 1965 and head of the Institut für vergleichende Felsbildforschung in Rheinklingen in 1966. He was also a co-worker of the '' Die Tat'' in Zürich from 1966. He published about eighty works of
popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...
and
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
of varying quality, and roughly as many translations, in addition to nine novels and four volumes of autobiography. His great productivity was partly caused by financial problems after his time at Europafilm. He was chairman of the Association of Nordic Philologists (''Föreningen nordiska filologer'') in
Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and
) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...
from 1931 to 1934 and of the Academic Society for the Swedish-Baltic Cooperation (''Akademiska föreningen för svensk-baltiskt samarbete'') from 1938 to 1940. Ohlmarks was secretary in the Science of Religion Coummunity (''Religionsvetenskapliga samfundet'') in Lund from 1936 and the community Ad patriam illustrandam in 1963. Ohlmarks had a deep interest in
Iranian Studies Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...
and is the author of ''Alla Irans härskare'' and ''Shiʾa: iranska islams urkunder'', the latter being a criticism of Islamic fundamentalism.


Translation of Tolkien's works

Ohlmarks translation of Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' was strongly disliked by the author,, #263 to Rayner Unwin, 1957 prompting him to compile his " Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings". Ohlmarks not only invented many expressions of his own, but also took great liberties with the contents of Tolkien's work, both by shortening many parts of it and by inserting his own interpretations. Tolkien was also dissatisfied by the title ''Sagan om ringen'', "The
Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...
of the Ring". As a result of the severe criticism directed against his translation of ''The Lord of the Rings'', both by Tolkien himself and by Swedish
Tolkien fandom Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fan (aficionado), fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. The c ...
, Ohlmarks in the late 1970s began to display hostility towards the "Tolkien phenomenon", and in 1982 published a book titled ''Tolkien and
Black Magic Black magic (Middle English: ''nigromancy''), sometimes dark magic, traditionally refers to the use of Magic (paranormal), magic or supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes. The links and interaction between black magic and religi ...
'', expounding a
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
connecting Tolkien and Tolkien fandom with Nazi occultism. Despite the criticism and controversy, Ohlmarks's translations remained the only Swedish-language translations of ''The Lord of the Rings'' until the publication of a completely new version by Erik Andersson and Lotta Olsson in 2005.


Personal life

In his second marriage, in 1954, he married Letty Steenstrup (born 1919), the daughter of Erling Steenstrup and Ruth Strandnaes. In his third marriage, in 1969, he married editorial assistant Monica Suter (born 1940), daughter of Adolf Suter von Schwyz and his wife. Ohlmarks died in 1984 in Crist di Niardo,
Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
, Italy.


Publications


Academic

*1936, Isländska hov och gudahus, in: Bidrag till nordisk filologi tillägnade Emil Olson den 9 juni 1936, S.339-355. *1936, Totenerweckung in Eddaliedern, in: Arkiv för nordisk filologi 52, S 264–297. *1937, Heimdalls Horn und Odins Auge. Studien zur nordischen und vergleichenden Religionsgeschichte, Erstes Buch (I-II) Heimdallr und das Horn,
Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and
) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...
. *1939, Studien zum Problem des Schamanismus, Lund. *1939, Anmärkningar och genmäle angående Heimdall, in: Arkiv för nordisk filologi 54, S. 354–363. *1939, Arktischer Schamanismus und altnordischer Seiðr, in: Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 36, S. 171–180. *1941, Stellt die mythische Bifrost den Regenbogen oder die Milchstrasse dar? Eine textkritisch-religionshistorische Untersuchung zur mythographischen Arbeitsmethode Snorri Sturlusons, (Meddelande från Lunds astronomiska observatorium, Ser. II Nr. 110), Lund. *1941, Das Grabschiff. Studien zur vorgeschichtlichen nordischen Religionsgeschichte, i: Zeitschrift für systematische Theologie 18, S. 150–158. *1943, Studien zur altgermanischen Religionsgeschichte. 4 Aufsätze, Leipzig. *1943, Die klassischen Isländersagas und ihr Ehrbegriff, in: Grundmann, Walter (Hg.), Die völkische Gestalt des Glaubens, Leipzig, S. 157–220. *with Lars Åkerberg (1944), Thomas Thorild als Vorläufer der neuzeitlichen Religionswissenschaft, Greifswald. *1944, Alt-Uppsala und Urnes. Untersuchung zur Entstehung der Dreischiffstabkirche und des ältesten germanisch-heidnischen Kulthauses, (Meddelande från Lunds astronomiska observatorium, Ser. II Nr. 115), Lund. *1944, Alt-Uppsala und Arkona, in: Vetenskapssocieteten i Lund, Årsbok 1943, Lund, S. 79-120. *1945, „Toalettredskapen“ och solreligionen under yngre bronsåldern, in: Fornvännen 40, S. 337–358. *1946, Gravskeppet. Studier i förhistorisk nordisk religionshistoria, Stockholm. *1963, Hällristningarnas gudar. En sammanställning och ett förklarningsförsök, Stockholm. *1979, Vårt nordiska arv. från 10.000 f.Kr. till medeltidens början, Stockholm.


Autobiographical

* I paradiset. Levnadsminnen I, Uddevalla (1965). * Doktor i Lund. En bok om akademiska intriger, Stockholm (1980). *Efter mig Syndafloden. Greifswald-Berlin-Hamburg 1941–1945, Köping (1980).


See also

* Translations of The Lord of the Rings * Translation of The Lord of the Rings into Swedish


References


Further reading

* Fritz Heinrich, (1997), Das religionswissenschaftliche Institut der Ernst Moritz Arndt-Universität Greifswald 1944–1945, in: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 5, S. 203–230. * Fritz Heinrich, (2002), ''Die deutsche Religionswissenschaft und der Nationalsozialismus. Eine ideologiekritische und wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Untersuchung'', Petersberg. * Gunnar Jarring, (1992–1994), Ohlmarks, Åke Joel, in: ''Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon'' Bd. 28, Stockholm, S. 111–117. * Anders Marell, (1998), Åke Ohlmarks – schwedischer Lektor, Nazimitläufer und/oder Geheimagent?, in: Germanisten 1-3 Jg. 3, S. 93-100. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohlmarks, Ake 1911 births 1984 deaths People from Kristianstad Swedish male writers Swedish Iranologists Writers from Skåne County Neoshamanism Germanic studies scholars Academic staff of the University of Greifswald 20th-century Swedish translators Translators of the Poetic Edda Writers on Germanic paganism Translations of The Lord of the Rings