Øystein Rottem

1. 'What in your opinion is a good review?'

'A good review should be taut, to-the-point and informative. It should enter into a dialogue with the text and the author while keeping in mind who it's being written for, that is the reading public. A review should probably contain several things, but the main ones are presentation, interpretation, appraisal, contextualization in respect of the author's overall output and wider literature history. But it also needs to have a focus, know where its going, along with a personal touch. Most important of all though, a review should be well drafted. It should be worth reading on its own merit. Doing literature criticism is my way of taking part in a public discussion on literature. Taking it lightly is therefore not an option.'

2. 'Turning to your own reviews, which of them are you most satisfied with?'

'The reviews I'm most happy with are the ones that meet the test of my own criteria. It happens quite often that you hand over a piece that you feel could probably have been done better. There are the usual excuses, too little time, unreliable mood, can't find the words etc. There are particular constraints involved in writing for the press. You can't write as you like. But if you didn't feel you had something sensible worth saying from time to time, you probably would have given up years ago.
'By and large, then, I'm happiest with reviews I feel treat the text and writer fairly, whether I've been critical or shouted their praise from the rooftops. I'm particularly pleased with reviews that seemingly achieve something positive. I've been told, for instance, that because of a few kind words from me, books by little known authors have sold better than originally bargained for. That's always gratifying to hear.'

3. 'What sort of books do you like reading yourself?'

'I read virtually anything; I enjoy a colourful cookbooks just as much as cryptic poetry. But I'll admit that I enjoy good novels especially. My list of favourites includes classics like Dostoyevsky, Musil, Mann, Conrad etc. When I read for pleasure, I try to fill the gaps in my classical education. I'm ashamed I haven't read Don Quixote or the whole of War and Peace. But I intend rectifying that state of affairs before I can't read any more. I've hardly read a word of Goethe's either. It's embarrassing.'

Øystein Rottem
(b. 1946) has a Cand.Philol. degree and has teached literature at several universities, among them those of Tromsø, Copenhagen and Vienna. He has been reviewing literature for the press for 25 years, and in 1993 became Dagbladet's head reviewer. He lives in Copenhagen. He is currently a freelance academic.
Rottem has published several articles on literary subjects and several books ranging across a number of areas, among them a biography of Sigurd Hoel and a three-volume work on Norwegian post-war literature.
It is the quality of his work, not least for Dagbladet, that has made Rottem one of the leading critics active in Norway today; he is, indeed, the point of reference against which all literature criticism in Norway is judged. 

Translated by Chris Saunders