Per Qvale (born 1946) is a Norwegian translator and literary historian. He was born in

Oslo 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 ...

. After studying in Oslo, Bergen and

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 ...

, he was an auxiliary teacher of philosophy 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 ...

from 1974 to 1977 and took the mag.art. degree in 1981 with a thesis on

Lars Gustafsson Lars Erik Einar Gustafsson (17 May 1936 – 3 April 2016) was a Swedish poet, novelist, and scholar. Among his awards were the in 2006, the Goethe Medal in 2009, the Thomas Mann Prize in 2015, and the Nonino#Winners, International Nonino Prize i ...

's ''Sprickorna i muren''. Qvale's career as a translator from English, German and Swedish started in 1972. From 1986 to 1990 he chaired the

Norwegian Association of Literary Translators Norwegian Association of Literary Translators () is an association for Norwegian literary translators, founded in 1948. The association has awarded the annual Bastian Prize from 1951, for best literary translation into the Norwegian language. The p ...

. His book about the theory and practice of translation, ''Fra Hieronymus til hypertekst. Oversettelse i teori og praksis'' (1998), was published in English as ''From St. Jerome to Hypertext'' (Manchester 2003). He published the essay collection ''Det umuliges kunst'' in 1991 on

Aschehoug H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), commonly known as Aschehoug,() is one of the largest independent publishing companies in Norway, founded in 1872. Headquartered in Oslo, the publishing house has 480 employees. The Aschehoug group also comprises o ...

, followed by the essay collection ''Samarkand, Sarabande, Sarajevo'' (2011) and the novels ''Trabant'' (2013) and ''Orvil'' (2020), both on Bokvennen. He was awarded the in 2002 for translating ''

The Magic Mountain ''The Magic Mountain'' (, ) is a novel by Thomas Mann. It was first published in Germany in November 1924. Since then, it has gone through numerous editions and been translated into many languages. It is widely considered a seminal work of 20t ...

'' and the

Bastian Prize The Bastian Prize () is a prize awarded annually by the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators. The prize, established in 1951, is given for translating a published work into Norwegian language. The award is a statue made by Ørnulf Bast, ...

in 2008 for translating '' Lotte in Weimar'' (1939), both books by

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

. In 2013 he received the . He was nominated for the Rosetta Prize in 2023. He was a jury member of the Bastian Prize as well as the

Riksmål Society Literature Prize The Riksmål Society Literature Prize (''Riksmålsforbundets litteraturpris'') is awarded annually by the '' Riksmålsforbundet'' for the outstanding publication in riksmål. The prize was awarded until 2002 by the ''Oslo and Bærum Riksmål League ...

. Qvale was inducted into the

Norwegian Academy The Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature (), commonly known as the Norwegian Academy, is a Norwegian learned body on matters pertaining to the modern Norwegian language in its Dano-Norwegian variety, now commonly known as Riksmål and Bok ...

in 2007.

References

1946 births Living people Writers from Oslo University of Oslo alumni Norwegian literary historians Translators from Swedish Translators from German Translators from English 20th-century Norwegian translators 21st-century Norwegian translators Members of the Norwegian Academy {{norway-writer-stub