Jostein Børtnes (born 16 April 1937) is a Norwegian literary historian and

Slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was ...

with emphasis on Russian. He was born in

Hovin, Telemark Hovin is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1886 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now divided between Tinn Municipality and Notodden Municipality. The administrative centre was the village ...

. He took the Russian training in the

Norwegian Armed Forces The Norwegian Armed Forces () are the armed forces responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Norwegian Coast Guard, Coast Guard, the Royal Norwegian Air ...

, then graduated with the cand.philol. degree in Russian 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 1965. He was a NAVF

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

from 1966 to 1969, research fellow at the University of Oslo from 1970 to 1972, visiting fellow at Clare Hall from 1971 to 1972, and then lecturer at the University of Oslo. After taking the dr.philos. degree at the University of Oslo in 1976 he was promoted to first lecturer. He spent the years 1979 to 1982 at

Sidney Sussex College Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...

. Børtnes was promoted to

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

literary science Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, th ...

at the University of Oslo in 1982 and professor of

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...

at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

in 1984. He remained here until retiring in 2007, and was also the dean of the Faculty of Humanities from 1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 1999 he was also an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

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 ...

. Among his works are the books ''Det gammelrussiske helgenvita: dikterisk egenart og historisk betydning'', PhD thesis from 1975 (translated into English as ''Visions of Glory: Studies in Early Russian Hagiography''), ''Aristoteles om diktekunsten'' from 1980, and ''Episke problemer'' from 1980, in addition to contributions to journals and anthologies. Børtnes became a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, 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 University in Christiania was establis ...

in 1989 and the

Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (, DKNVS) is a Norway, Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The society's Protector is King Harald V of ...

in 1990. He resides at

Paradis, Bergen Paradis is a neighborhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. It is located between the neighborhoods of Storetveit in the bourough of Årstad, Bergen, Årstad and Hop, Bergen, Hop in the borough of Fana, Bergen, Fana, on the easte ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bortnes, Jostein 1937 births Living people People from Tinn Norwegian literary historians Slavists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Norwegian expatriates in England Academic staff of the University of Bergen Academic staff of the University of Tromsø Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters