Øystein Rottem (1 February 1946 – 5 December 2004) was a Norwegian

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

literary historian The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment or education to the reader, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pie ...

and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

Personal life

Rottem was born on the island of Hemnskjela in what was then

Heim Municipality Heim is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020 upon the merger of three other municipalities. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district ...

. His parents were Sverre Bernhardsen Rottem and Solveig Terese Hassel. He was married to Gerd Synnøve Vigeland from 1969 to 1989, and to Bente Findling-Nielsen from 1991. He died from cancer in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

on 5 December 2004.

Career

Rottem graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1976 with the cand.philol. degree. He was a literary critic for the newspaper ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

'' from 1984, and is regarded among the most important and influential literary critics in Norway over a period of two decades. Before ''Dagbladet'' he had worked for ''

Ny Tid ''Ny Tid'' (English: ''Modern Times Review'') is Norway's largest international quarterly review of non-fiction books – up to 50 in each issue. It is currently owned by Ny Tid & Orientering AS. ''Ny Tid'' is headed by the newspaper founder ...

'' and ''

Arbeiderbladet 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. Eirik Hoff Lys ...

''. He also contributed to ''

Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia. It is part of the '' Great Norwegian Encyclopedia''. Origin The first print edition (NBL1) was issued between 1923 and 1983; it included 19 volumes and 5,100 articles. Kunnskapsforlaget to ...

''. His most widespread works as a literary historian are the three last volumes of ''Norges Litteraturhistorie'', covering the period after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, ''Fra Brekke til Mehren 1945–1965'' (volume 6, published 1995), ''Inn i medietidsalderen 1965–1980'' (volume 7, 1997) and ''Vår egen tid 1980–1998'' (volume 8, 1998). He lectured at the

University of Tromsø The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway a ...

and from 1985 to 1991 at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, and spent one year from 1991 to 1992 as a visiting scholar at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. He published several academic works about

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to conscio ...

, and a biography of Sigurd Hoel (1991). His guide books on Copenhagen include ''Vårt København. Norske forfattere i Kongens by'' (2000), ''Sild & snaps i København'' (2003), and ''Til bords i Tivoli'' (2004).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rottem, Oeystein 1946 births 2004 deaths Norwegian literary critics Dagbladet people Norwegian literary historians University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Tromsø Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Norwegian expatriates in Denmark People from Sør-Trøndelag