imported>Oceanh: Date format audit

2023-10-29T17:36:19Z

Date format audit

New page

{{Short description|Norwegian novelist and playwright}}
{{Use dmy dates |date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Ola Bauer
| image =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1943|7|24|df=yes}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1999|6|12|1943|7|24|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Oslo]], Norway
| occupation = [[novelist]], [[playwright]], [[journalist]]
| nationality = Norwegian
| genre =
| influenced by=
| influences =
| notableworks = ''[[Graffiti (novel)|Graffiti]]'' (1976) <br/>''[[Humlehjertene]]'' (1980) <br/>''[[Rosapenna]]'' (1983)}}
'''Ola Bauer''' (24 July 1943 – 12 June 1999) was a Norwegian novelist and playwright. He made his literary debut with the novel ''Graffiti'' in 1976, under the pseudonym Jo Vendt. Among his best known books are ''Humlehjertene'' (1980), ''Rosapenna'' (1983), and ''Metoden'' (1985). Bauer was awarded [[Gyldendal's Endowment]] in 1982, and the [[Dobloug Prize]] in 1998.<ref name=litprizes>{{cite web | url=http://www.barum.folkebibl.no/utiverden/litteraturpris/norden.html | title=Nordiske priser | publisher=Bærum Public Library | language=no | access-date=16 February 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024111348/http://www.barum.folkebibl.no/utiverden/litteraturpris/norden.html | archive-date=24 October 2007 }}</ref> He died of cancer in 1999.

==Early life==
Bauer was born 24 July 1943 in [[Holmenkollåsen]], [[Oslo]], during the [[Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany|German occupation of Norway]]. His father was a baker, and an active member of the [[Norwegian resistance movement]]. In 1943, he was arrested, while the rest of the family went undercover in [[Hadeland]]. Bauer's father was eventually deported to the [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]], where he died three months before the end of the war. Bauer's family continuously moved from place to place, and Bauer had a hard time adjusting to the changes, and finding friends. He found himself consistently making friends with children of traitors, those who had supported the Germans during the war. "We were all innocent children, who had to pay for our fathers' choices. We could understand each other", Bauer later said.<ref name="vg95">{{cite news|title=Speil-vender sin fortid|last=Røssaak Nilsen|first=Børge|author2=Nils Bjåland|date=13 August 1995|publisher=[[Verdens Gang]]|language=no}}</ref> He used to make up stories about his father's death, a new version for every new place his family moved. He graduated from [[Oslo Språkskole]] in 1965, on his second attempt, "with a D in Norwegian, as usual".<ref name="ap93">{{cite web|title=Lørdagsportrettet - Kall meg en varmesøkende rakett |last=Hansen|first=Jan E.|date=20 March 1993|publisher=[[Aftenposten]]|language=no}}</ref>

Bauer started his literary career translating short stories from [[Danish language|Danish]] to Norwegian for ''[[Allers (magazine)|Allers]]''. He quickly advanced to becoming sports reporter for ''[[Det Nye]]'', and later a traveling journalist for ''[[Vi Menn]]''.<ref name="ap93"/> He stayed in [[Paris]] for more than a year in the late 1960s, and later traveled around Africa. From 1972 on he made frequent visits to [[Belfast]], and made many friends there.<ref name="vg80">{{cite news|title=Sans for svart humor|last=Havers|first=Kitty|date=20 October 1980|publisher=Verdens Gang|language=no}}</ref>

==Literary career==
Bauer had grown up with the notion that his father was a war hero, having died as a [[prisoner of war]]. As an adult, he learned that his father had in fact died of [[methanol]] poisoning, having gotten hold of what he thought was alcohol.<ref name="vg95"/> In his [[autobiography|autobiographical]] debut novel, ''Graffiti'' (1976), Bauer confronted his mother with the fact that she had kept this secret from him. "I grew up in a lie about a man I have never known", he commented.<ref name="vg95"/> Because of the novel's contents, one of his relatives insisted that he publish it under a pseudonym, to protect his mother. Despite "having nothing to hide [him]self", he therefore released the novel under the [[pen name]] Jo Vendt.<ref name="ap93"/> ''Graffiti'' was very well received by critics.<ref name="vg76_2">{{cite news|title=Barndom i kveldens Pan|date=22 October 1976|publisher=Verdens Gang|language=no}}</ref> Roar Petersen of ''[[Verdens Gang]]'' noted the poetic quality of many of the passages in the novel.<ref name="vg76">{{cite news|title=Graffiti|last=Petersen|first=Roar|date=6 October 1976|publisher=Verdens Gang|language=no}}</ref> [[Johan Borgen]] described the debut as "measuring 7.3 on the [[Richter magnitude scale|Richter earthquake scale]]".<ref name="ap99">{{cite web|title=Ola Bauer døde i går|last=Korsvold|first=Kaja|date=13 June 1999|publisher=Aftenposten|language=no}}</ref>

Bauer published the freestanding sequel to ''Graffiti'', ''Bulk'' (1978), under his own name.<ref name="snl">{{cite web|url=http://www.snl.no/Ola_Bauer|title=Ola Bauer|publisher=[[Store norske leksikon]]|language=no|access-date=28 February 2010}}</ref> The novel depicts a young man returning to Oslo after spending some time at sea. Alcoholism is a central theme, both the protagonist and his mother are portrayed as heavy drinkers.<ref name="vg78">{{cite news|title=Situasjon|last=Petersen|first=Roar|date=14 November 1978|publisher=Verdens Gang|language=no}}</ref> His next novel, ''[[Humlehjertene]]'' (1980), depicts the protagonist's stay in [[Paris]] from 1967 to 1969, where he becomes involved in the [[May 1968 in France|May 1968 student riots]].<ref name="snl"/> The novel was heavily based on Bauer's own experiences from Paris during the same period. "I suppose every writer actually writes about themselves", he told ''Verdens Gang''.<ref name="vg80"/> [[The Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]] would become the topic of ''[[Rosapenna]]'' (1983), named after a street in [[Belfast]]. Bauer felt that the Norwegian press was giving a one-sided picture of The Troubles, something he wanted to correct.<ref name="vg83">{{cite news|title=Hatets Land|last=Lystad|first=Magne|author2=Gunnar Ruud|date=25 April 1983|publisher=Verdens Gang|language=no}}</ref> To get the necessary distance to the source material, he decided to let the novel take place in 1973.<ref name="vg83"/> Bauer himself arrived in Belfast in 1972, shortly after the [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]], as a journalist for ''Vi Menn''. He became an eyewitness to the [[List of bombings during the Northern Ireland Troubles|bombing of the Abercorn restaurant]] in Castle Lane. Bauer could not believe the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] was responsible for the bombing, and defended them in ''Vi Menn''. He eventually became closely involved with the IRA.<ref name="db01">{{cite news|title=Jakten på pappas Belfast |last=Gjerstad|first=Tore|date=7 April 2001|publisher=[[Dagbladet]]|language=no}}</ref> "England is to blame for the conflict in Northern Ireland. The antagonism is based on economic differences ... this is not a religious war", Bauer said in an interview shortly after the release of ''Rosapenna''.<ref name="vg83"/> Bauer's 1985 novel ''Metoden'' introduced the protagonist Bo Brandt, the son of a wealthy, alcoholized, [[ship-owner]].<ref name="ap85">{{cite news|title=Kulden dreper|last=Heyerdahl|first=Johan Fr.|date=2 September 1985|publisher=Aftenposten|language=no}}</ref> The novel serves both as a [[crime fiction|crime thriller]] and a psychological study.<ref name="snl" />

Bauer's last novels would revolve around Tom, who starts out as a ten-year-old in ''Hestehodetåken'' (1992), and returns as a teenager in ''Svartefot'' (1995), and a twenty-year-old in ''Magenta'' (1997). Bauer referred to the books as "a reluctant trilogy".<ref name="db97">{{cite news|title=- Sannheten er drit kjedelig |last=Ullmann|first=Linn|author-link=Linn Ullmann|date=7 May 1997|publisher=Dagbladet|language=no}}</ref> In the fourth novel in the series, ''Forløperen'' (1999), Tom returns to Norway after spending forty years traveling abroad. The book was finished while Bauer was terminally ill, and released posthumously.<ref name="ap99_3">{{cite news|title=Historiene var hans hjem |last=Ottesen|first=Svein Johs|date=26 August 1999|publisher=Aftenposten|language=no}}</ref>

Aside from his novels, Bauer was also a [[playwright]]. Two of his plays, ''Vesper'' (1987) and ''Brendan'' (1993), depict the conflict in Northern Ireland.<ref name="ap93-june">{{cite news|title=Dyktige amatører på ekte kaféteater |last=Enger|first=Ruth Krefting|date=9 June 1993|publisher=Aftenposten|language=no}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Bauer died 12 June 1999, having been diagnosed with cancer one and a half years before then.

Bauer had been involved in a dramatic television production, ''Jakttid'', but as his condition worsened, he prioritized finishing his last novel, ''Forløperen''.<ref name="ap99_2">{{cite news|title=Nekrolog Ola Bauer|last=Bull Tuhus|first=Oddvar|author-link=Oddvar Bull Tuhus|date=18 June 1999|publisher=Aftenposten|language=no}}</ref> It was published 26 August 1999.<ref name="ap99_3" /> Three years later, an [[anthology]] was published in Bauer's honor.<ref name="nrk02">{{cite web|url=http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/kultur/1.530758|title=Vennene hyller Bauer|last=Hoem|first=Knut|author2=Anne Cathrine Straume|date=15 October 2002|publisher=[[Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation]]|language=no|access-date=28 February 2010}}</ref> ''Bauers bok'', edited by [[Lars Saabye Christensen]], contained contributions by among others Christensen, [[Kjartan Fløgstad]], [[Espen Haavardsholm]], [[Per Petterson]], [[Dag Solstad]], and [[Tove Nilsen]]. He was described by Solstad as extremely well-read, being particularly interested in authors like [[Louis-Ferdinand Céline]] and [[Jean Genet]]. In the anthology, Petterson compared Bauer's protagonists to [[Holden Caulfield]] of ''[[The Catcher in the Rye]]'', a novel important to Bauer.<ref name="kk02">{{cite news|url=http://www.klassekampen.no/29471/article/item/null|title=Tomrommet etter Bauer|last=Braanen|first=Bjørgulv|author-link=Bjørgulv Braanen|date=16 October 2002|publisher=[[Klassekampen]]|language=no|access-date=28 February 2010}}</ref>

Bauer was survived by his wife Anne Gun,<ref name="ap99_3b">{{cite news|title=Minneord Ola Bauer|last=Christensen|first=Lars Saabye|author-link=Lars Saabye Christensen|author2=[[Niels Fredrik Dahl]], [[Jan Jakob Tønseth]], Erland Kiøsterud|date=13 June 1999|publisher=Aftenposten|language=no}}</ref> and his daughter, Anya Bauer Hartmark, born in 1972. Bauer had wanted her to be named "Mulele", after [[Pierre Mulele]], and Bauer and his friends would refer to her using the nickname Mulle as a tribute to the Congolese revolutionary.<ref name="db01"/>

==Bibliography==

===Novels===
*''Graffiti'' (1976)
*''Bulk'' (1978)
*''Humlehjertene'' (1980)
*''Rosapenna'' (1983)
*''Metoden'' (1985)
*''Løvetemmersken'' (1988)
*''Hestehodetåken'' (1992)
*''Svartefot'' (1995)
*''Magenta'' (1997)
*''Forløperen'' (1999)

===Plays===
*''Mellomkrig'' (1986)
*''Vesper'' (1987)
*''Brendan'' (1993)
*''Mater'' (1994)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Dobloug Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Ola}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:Dobloug Prize winners]]
[[Category:20th-century Norwegian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Norwegian male novelists]]

Ola Bauer - Revision history

imported>Oceanh: Date format audit