Øistein Parmann (10 March 1921 – 8 February 1999) was a Norwegian journalist, teacher, biographer and art historian. He served as the publishing director in Dreyers Forlag from 1975 until 1988.

Background

Parmann was born in

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

(now Oslo), Norway. His parents were Øistein Parmann (1883-1956) and Aud Petra Katharina Amundsen (1898-1976). His father operated a bookstore in Oslo. He grew up in Aker and graduated artium at

Ullern Ullern is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. History The borough has its name from an old farm, Old Norse language, Norse ''Ullarin''. The first element is the genitive case of the name of the Norse god Ullr. The l ...

in 1940. He then studied art history and literature at 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 ...

. He was married in 1945 to physiotherapist Elsie Solveig Jacobsen. He died in February 1999 at Nesodden in

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

Career

He made his literary debut in 1943 with ''Kanskje dette – Av en ung manns skissebok''. He continued his writer's activities and marked himself as an art historian. He wrote novels and art history as well as biographies of anthroposophist Marcello Haugen (1974), artist Harald Dal (1975), painter Halfdan Egedius (1979) and architect Herman Major Schirmer (1986). He also edited and published essays by poet Alf Larsen and in 1980 he edited and published the diaries of

Maria Quisling Maria Quisling, born Maria Vasilyevna Pasek or Pasetchnikova Dahl (1991), p.93 (10 October 1900 – 17 January 1980), was known as the wife of the Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling, but some historians have doubts on whether the couple ...

, widow of

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (; ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Nazi collaborator who Quisling regime, headed the government of N ...

. He was a journalist at ''

Morgenbladet is Norway's oldest daily newspaper, covering politics, culture and science, now a weekly news magazine primarily directed at well-educated readers. The magazine is notable for its opinion section featuring contributions exclusively from Norweg ...

'' from 1948 and later served as cultural editor. He began a seven year career as a teacher at the Rudolf Steinskolen in Oslo during 1959. The pinnacle of his working career was as publishing director of the publishing house Dreyers Forlag from 1974 to 1988 and praeses in the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature from 1982 to 1988. He was also a Government scholar from 1986.

Selected works

*
Marcello Haugen
' (Oslo: Cappelen) (1974) *
Harald Dal
' (Oslo: Gyldendal) (1975) *
Halfdan Egedius: Liv og verk
' (Oslo:Dreyer) (1979) *''Herman Major Schirmer og Tegneskolen: Et stykke norsk arkitekturhistorie'' (Oslo: Grøndahl og Dreyer) (1986)

References

1921 births 1999 deaths Journalists from Oslo University of Oslo alumni Norwegian book publishers (people) Norwegian art historians Norwegian male writers Norwegian male biographers Anthroposophists 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian biographers {{Norway-novelist-stub