Sigurd Hoel (December 14, 1890 – October 14, 1960) was a
Norwegian author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
and publishing consultant, born in
Nord-Odal
Nord-Odal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sand. Other villages in the municipality include Knapper and Mo.
Th ...
. He debuted with the collection of short stories (The Way We Go) in 1922. His breakthrough came with (Sinners in Summertime, 1927), which was made into a
film in 1932 and in 2002.
Life
Hoel was born in
Nord-Odal
Nord-Odal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sand. Other villages in the municipality include Knapper and Mo.
Th ...
, Norway, in 1890.
He was the son of teacher Lars Anton and Elisa Dorothea Hoel and grew up in
Odalen
Odal or Odalen is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, Norway. The district encompasses the area around the lake Storsjøen in the north and to the areas around the river Glåma in the south. The district is currently divided b ...
. He was admitted into
Ragna Nielsen's school in
Kristiania (now Oslo), but when he finished school in 1909, he could not afford to begin college right away. He worked for a while as an insurance salesman before he could begin his studies in 1910, during which time he supported himself with teaching jobs. In 1913 he was an employee at .
In his time at college he was the editor of the periodical ''
Minerva
Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...
''. His literary career began with the short story "" ('The Idiot') from 1918, when he won a writing contest. The same year he became an employee of as a literature and theater critic. In 1920 he wrote the comedy together with his friend
Finn Bø.
Harald Grieg got him a job as a consultant for
Gyldendal Norsk Forlag
Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, commonly referred to as Gyldendal N.F. and in Norway often only as Gyldendal, is one of the largest Norwegian publishing houses. It was founded in 1925 after buying rights to publications from the Danish publishing ...
and
Erling Falk made him the editor of ''
Mot Dag
Mot Dag (, 'Towards Day') was a Norwegian political group. The group was active from the 1920s to the early 1930s and was first affiliated with the Labour Party. After World War II, many of its former members were leaders in Norwegian politics an ...
''.
In 1924 he traveled to
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
to study
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
, and there he wrote his first novel, ('The Seven Star'). He continued on to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, where he met
Nic Waal
Nic Waal, born Caroline Schweigaard Nicolaysen in Kristiania, Norway (1 January 1905 – 28 May 1960) was a Norwegian psychiatrist, noted for her work among children and adolescents in Norway where she is known as "the mother of Norwegian pediatr ...
(died 1960), whom he married in Norway in 1927. They separated in 1936, and the same year he married again, this time to Ada Ivan. From 1934 to 1939 Hoel was a colleague of
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several influential books, most ...
who then had chosen Oslo as his exile. Since January 1934 he had received training analysis from Reich but the extent of his own practice as a therapist was limited to four patients. Hoel contributed to Reich's German language periodical (Journal for Political Psychology and Sex Economy) and was the editor-in-chief of issues nos. 13 to 15. One of his major essays deals with the
Moscow Trials
The Moscow trials were a series of show trials held by the Soviet Union between 1936 and 1938 at the instigation of Joseph Stalin. They were nominally directed against " Trotskyists" and members of " Right Opposition" of the Communist Party of ...
.
Der Moskauer Prozess
(German)
During the war Hoel and his wife went back to Odalen. He participated in the Resistance, and wrote articles for the Resistance press. In 1943 he was forced to flee to Sweden.
Hoel had a short connection to the ''landsmål
Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...
'' movement, but later played an active part in the ''riksmål
(, also , ) is a written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as .
Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish wri ...
'' campaign. He was among the founders of ('the Author's Association of 1952') and was the chairman of the Riksmål Society
Riksmålsforbundet (; official translation: "The Riksmaal Society - The Society for the Preservation of Traditional Standard Norwegian") is the main organisation for Riksmål, an unofficial variety of the Norwegian language, based on the official ...
from 1956 to 1959. He died of a heart attack at age 69 in Oslo.
Body of work
(''Road to the World's End
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
'', 1933) is a child's portrayal from a farm environment and is considered one of his key works, together with, among other things, the novel (''Meeting at the Milestone {{italic title
''Meeting at the Milestone'' (''Møte ved Milepelen '') by Sigurd Hoel was first published in 1947 by Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. It is considered one of the most significant books of Norwegian literature of the Occupation. It was immed ...
'', 1947). In this novel he both distances himself from Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
and portrays the confrontation of war as a problem. The last novel, ''Trollringen'' (''The Troll Circle
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
'', 1958), is also among his best-known works.
As the main consultant for Norwegian and translated literature for Gyldendal publishing, Hoel made an impression on a whole generation of Norwegian literature. From 1929 to 1959 Hoel was the editor of the publisher's "Gold Series", where he introduced a number of foreign authors, often with an astounding foresight for which works would remain. The series comprised 101 books—including works from authors such as Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
and Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ty ...
. Hoel wrote prefaces for all of the books, and the preferences are collected in the books ''50 gold'' (1939) and ''The last 51 gold'' (1959).
Works
* ''Knut Hamsun'', O. Norlis, 1920
* ''Veien vi gaar'', Gyldendal
Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal () is a Danish publishing house.
Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...
, 1922. Short stories.
* ''Syvstjernen'', Gyldendal, 1924. Novel.
* ''Syndere i sommersol
''Sinners in Summertime'' (Norwegian: ''Syndere i sommersol'') is a 1934 Norwegian drama film directed by and starring Einar Sissener. It also featured Tore Segelcke and Hans Jacob Nilsen and marked the debut of the future star of German cinema ...
'', Gyldendal, 1927. Novel.
* ''Ingenting'', Gyldendal, 1929. Novel.
* ''Mot muren'', Gyldendal, 1930. Drama.
* ''Don Juan'', Gyldendal, 1930. Drama, written together with Helge Krog
Helge Krog (9 February 1889 – 30 July 1962) was a Norwegian journalist, essayist, theatre and literary critic, translator and playwright.
Personal life
Krog was born in Kristiania, the son of jurist Fredrik Arentz Krog and Ida Cecilie Thorese ...
.
* ''En dag i oktober
''En dag i oktober'' (eng: ''One day in October'') is a novel by Norwegian writer Sigurd Hoel, published in 1931.
The novel takes place in one day, 10 October, in an apartment building on St. Hanshaugen in Oslo. The novel describes the life of ...
'', Gyldendal, 1931. Novel.
* ''Veien til verdens ende'', Gyldendal, 1933. Novel.
* ''Fjorten dager før frostnettene'', Gyldendal, 1935. Novel.
* ''Sesam sesam'', Gyldendal, 1938. Novel.
* ''Prinsessen på glassberget'', Gyldendal, 1939. Short stories.
* ''50 gule'', Gyldendal, 1939. Articles.
* ''Arvestålet'', Gyldendal, 1941. Novel.
* ''Tanker i mærketid'', Gyldendal, 1945. Essays.
* ''Møte ved milepelen'', Gyldendal, 1947. Novel.
* ''Tanker fra mange tider'', Gyldendal, 1948. Essays.
* ''Jeg er blitt glad i en annen'', Gyldendal, 1951. Novel.
* ''Tanker mellom barken og veden'', Gyldendal, 1952. Essays.
* ''Stevnemøte med glemte år'', Gyldendal, 1954. Novel.
* ''Tanker om norsk diktning'', Gyldendal, 1955. Essays.
* ''Ved foten av Babels tårn'', Gyldendal, 1956. Novel.
* ''Trollringen'', Gyldendal, 1956. Novel.
* ''De siste 51 gule'', Gyldendal, 1959. Articles.
Posthumous works
* ''Ettertanker'', Gyldendal, 1980. Left behind essays and articles, published by Leif Longum
Leif Longum (19 November 1927 – 5 May 1997) was a Norwegian essayist and literary researcher. He was born in Oslo. He was assigned to the Nansen Academy from 1960 to 1972, and the University of Bergen from 1972 to 1995; from 1992 as a prof ...
.
* ''Litterære essays'', Dreyer, 1990. Published by Helge Nordahl
Helge Nordahl (12 January 1927 – 31 March 2018) was a Norwegian philologist.
Nordahl graduated from the University of Oslo in 1953 with the cand.philol. degree in French. He was a part-time teacher at Oslo Cathedral School from 1954 to 1956, ...
.
Translations
* Anita Loos
Corinne Anita Loos (April 26, 1888 – August 18, 1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first female staff screenwriter in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood, when D. W. Griffith put h ...
, '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'', Gyldendal, 1926.
* Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not sp ...
, ''The Nigger of the Narcissus
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
'', Gyldendal, 1928
* Joseph Conrad, ''Heart of Darkness
''Heart of Darkness'' (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgian company in the African interior. The novel ...
'', Gyldendal, 1929
* Joseph Conrad, ''Lord Jim
''Lord Jim'' is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in ''Blackwood's Magazine'' from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event in the story is the abandonment of a passenger ship in distress by its crew, i ...
'', Gyldendal, 1932
* William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most ...
, ''Light in August
''Light in August'' is a 1932 novel by the Southern American author William Faulkner. It belongs to the Southern gothic and modernist literary genres.
Set in the author's present day, the interwar period, the novel centers on two strangers, ...
'', Gyldendal, 1934
* Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...
, ''Arrival and Departure
''Arrival and Departure'' (1943) is the third novel of Arthur Koestler's trilogy concerning the conflict between morality and expedience (as described in the postscript to the novel's 1966 Danube Edition). The first volume, '' The Gladiators'' ...
'', Gyldendal, 1946
Awards and distinctions
*Gyldendal's Endowment Gyldendal's Endowment was a literature prize which was awarded in the period 1934–1995 by the Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. The prize was awarded to significant authors, regardless of which publisher the author was associated w ...
(Gyldendal's Legacy) 1940
*Bokhandlerprisen
The Norwegian Booksellers' Prize (''Bokhandlerprisen'') is a literature prize awarded annually by the Norwegian Booksellers Association after voting among all who work in Norwegian bookstores.
The prize is awarded for one of the year's books in ...
(Bookseller Award) 1948
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoel, Sigurd
1890 births
1960 deaths
People from Nord-Odal
Norwegian writers
Mot Dag
Members of the Norwegian Academy