Sverre Lyngstad (April 30, 1922 – May 2, 2011) was a

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

and translator of

Norwegian literature Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr ...

. He is renowned for his significant contribution to making Norwegian literature accessible to an English-speaking audience, for which he was awarded the St. Olav's Medal in 1987 and the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, Knight's Cross, First Class in 2004. He is best known for his translations of and commentaries on the works of

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to conscio ...

, which are widely credited for helping to popularise Hamsun's work in the US and UK.

Biography

Born on 30 April 1922 in Lyngstad,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, Sverre Lyngstad obtained degrees in English and History 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 1943 and 1946 respectively. He earned his M.A. in English at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and his Ph.D from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 1960 under the supervision of David H. Greene, before becoming Assistant Professor in English at

Newark College of Engineering New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a Public university, public research university in Newark, New Jersey, United States, with a graduate-degree-granting satellite campus in Jersey City. Founded in 1881 with the support of local indust ...

. He became particularly well known in 1996 for his translation of Knut Hamsun's ''Hunger'', which corrected what he described as the unfaithfulness of a previous translation by

Robert Bly Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ...

(1967), quipping that "If the narrator of Knut Hamsun's ''Hunger'' could have foreseen the abuse his story would suffer at the hands of translators and/or publishers, his demonic rebellion would surely have been considerably heightened". James Wood praised the new translation as "superbly fresh", noting that ""If amsun'snovels are not much read in English, it is probably less to do with his Nazism than with the difficulty of finding good translations", and

Tore Rem Tore may refer to: Places * Tõre, Estonia, a village * Tore, Scotland, a village * Töre, Sweden, a locality * Töre River, Sweden * Tore (volcano), Papua New Guinea People * Tore (given name), a Scandinavian given name * Elihan Tore (1885–1976 ...

applauded that the "novel has finally found a worthy English form." In the same year he was awarded the Leif and Inger Sjöberg Award for his translation of

Arne Garborg Arne Garborg (born Aadne Eivindsson Garborg) (25 January 1851 – 14 January 1924) was a Norwegian writer. Garborg championed the use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk, or New Norwegian), as a literary language; he translated the Odyssey into i ...

's ''Weary Men''. Over the next decade Lyngstad subsequently translated the rest of Hamsun's major novels in the interest of restoring the works to their original artistic conception. Lyngstad was made Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature upon his retirement to

Port Jefferson, New York Port Jefferson, also known as Port Jeff, is an incorporated village in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 7,962 at the time of the 2020 census. Port J ...

where he died on 2 May 2011. He was survived by his wife, Eléonore M. Zimmermann, Professor Emerita of

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

, and his daughter, Karin H. Lyngstad Hughes."In memory of Sverre"
Norwegian American Weekly, 27 May 2011

Selected works

Literary criticism

* ''Ivan Goncharov'' (1971, co-author) * ''Jonas Lie'' (1977) * ''Sigurd Hoel's Fiction'' (1984) * ''Knut Hamsun, Novelist: A Critical Assessment'' (2005)

Translations

Knut Hamsun

* ''

Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...

'' (1996) * ''Rosa'' (1997) * '' Pan'' (1998) * '' On Overgrown Paths'' (1999) * '' Mysteries'' (2001) * ''The Last Joy'' (2003) * '' In Wonderland'' (2004) * ''

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

'' (2005) * ''

Growth of the Soil ''Growth of the Soil'' ( Norwegian ''Markens Grøde'') is a novel by Knut Hamsun which won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. It follows the story of a man who settles and lives in rural Norway. First published in 1917, it has since been ...

'' (2007)

Sigurd Hoel Sigurd Hoel (December 14, 1890 – October 14, 1960) was a Norwegian author and publishing consultant, born in Nord-Odal. A prolific writer and critic, during the World War II he was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement. In his early ...

*''The Troll Circle'' (1991) *''Road to the World’s End'' (1995) *''Meeting at the Milestone'' (2002) *''A Fortnight Before the Frost'' (2010)

Dag Solstad Dag Solstad (16 July 1941 – 14 March 2025) was a Norwegian novelist, short-story writer and dramatist whose work has been translated into 20 languages. Solstad wrote nearly 30 books and was the only author to have received the Norwegian L ...

*''Shyness and Dignity'' (2006) *''Novel 11, Book 18'' (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyngstad, Sverre 1922 births 2011 deaths People from Møre og Romsdal University of Oslo alumni University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni New York University alumni New Jersey Institute of Technology faculty Norwegian–English translators Norwegian emigrants to the United States Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal 20th-century Norwegian translators