Arnulf Øverland

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Arnulf Øverland on a postcard from the collection of the Nasjonalbiblioteket .

Ole Peter Arnulf Øverland (born April 27, 1889 in Kristiansund , † March 25, 1968 in Oslo ) was a Norwegian writer. He also worked as a painter and translator.

Life

Øverland grew up as the middle of three brothers in Bergen before the family moved to Oslo. His older brother and father died of tuberculosis in 1905 and 1906 .

In 1907 he enrolled as a graduate of the Oslo katedralskole at the University of Oslo, where he studied philology. However, he did not complete his studies. Instead he read Strindberg , among others , occupied himself with painting and wrote. His pictures were exhibited for the first time in 1910, and his first volume of poetry, Den ensomme fest , appeared the following year . In 1911 Øverland also fell ill with tuberculosis and was taken to a clinic in Kongsvinger . He survived the disease.

His early publications were only moderately successful. Øverland worked as an art critic for various newspapers. As such, he regularly panned the works of artists like Pablo Picasso , as he could not gain anything from modern art. He also turned against modern developments in literary debates.

In the 1930s Øverland belonged to the socialist intellectual group Mot Dag and was u. a. friends with the exiles Willy Brandt and Wilhelm Reich, who were then living in Norway . Øverland positioned himself against the ideology of National Socialism , but from the time of the Great Terror also increasingly rejected the totalitarian system of the Soviet Union . During this time he also published several writings in which he opposed religious fundamentalism. Especially the conservative theologian Ole Hallesby was sharply criticized by him. In 1933 there was a trial for blasphemy, which was punishable at the time, but it ended in an acquittal.

During the German occupation of Norway he was a political prisoner in 1941, first in the Grini internment camp and in the following year in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . The famous Swedish geographer and travel writer Sven Hedin , who had good relations with high-ranking officials of the Nazi regime, campaigned for his release, but was unable to obtain them. Only at the end of the war in 1945 was Øverland liberated.

Arnulf Øverland made himself a. a. as an advocate for the unofficial language form Riksmål . He fought against efforts to change the Norwegian language and unify it as Samnorsk . Between 1947 and 1956 he was chairman of the Riksmålsforbundet .

A well-known poem by Øverland is »Du må ikke sove« (You are not allowed to sleep), published in 1937.

The Øverlandnosa , a hill in the Antarctic, is named after him .

plant

Øverland wrote mainly poetry, but also two plays and short stories, which appeared in three volumes. In the 1930s he translated several works by Hans Fallada into Norwegian, and later also Pär Lagerkvist's story Bödeln ( The Executioner ). Two Shakespeare transmissions by Øverland were only performed posthumously.

Øverland's poetry is characterized by simple language. He often used motifs from the Bible, but also from Norwegian folklore. Clear metrics and rhymes are always present in Øverland's works, he rejected modern developments. August Strindberg is regularly mentioned as an important influence .

literature

  • Vigdis Ystad: Arnulf Øverland in Tanya Thresher (Ed.): Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 297. Twentieth Century Norwegian Writers . Thomson / Gale, Detroit, et al. 2004. p. 362ff

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The small encyclopedia , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, volume 2, page 303
  2. ^ Astrid Brekken: Øverland, Arnulf (1889-1968) . Norsk Rikskringkasting, accessed April 19, 2017
  3. ^ Willy Dahl: Arnulf Øverland . Norsk biografisk leksikon, accessed on April 19, 2017
  4. ↑ Eric Wennerholm: Sven Hedin . Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1978. p. 229
  5. ^ A b Ingrid Weatherhead: Øverland, Arnulf in Virpi Zuck (Ed.): Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature , Greenwood Press, Westport, 1990. pp. 452ff
personal data
SURNAME Øverland, Arnulf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Øverland, Ole Peter Arnulf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian poet and writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Kristiansund , Norway
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1968
Place of death Oslo , Norway