Ole Rein Holm og Critica

Kontekster og kriterier i teaterkritikkens barndom

Abstract

In this article I describe the very earliest phase of Norwegian theatre criticism by putting it into different contexts. The article argues that theatre criticism is something more and other than literary criticism, and that the history of theatre criticism is something more and something other than the history of literary criticism. More often than not, the history of theatre criticism has been written as an under-researched part of literary criticism's history. The vantage point for the article is the theatre critic Ole Rein Holm, and the journal of criticism he initiated, edited and wrote – Critica. The story of Critica and Holm shows how the history of criticism in general and the history of theatre criticism in particular depend on a combination of perspectives to make sense across an historical distance.