Kåre Johannes Langvik-Johannessen (born 10 April 1919) is a Norwegian philologist, literary historian and translator.

He was born in Onsøy

Onsøy

Onsøy is a peninsula and a former municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre was Gressvik.-History:The parish of Onsø was established as a municipality January 1, 1838...

 as a son of manager Hans Johannessen (1889–1986) and Betzy Langvik (1887–1963). He finished

Examen artium

Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...

 his secondary education in 1939 in Fredrikstad

Fredrikstad

is a city and municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad....

, and during the Second World War he studied piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

, and took commerce school. He enrolled in Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 studies at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 in 1946, and graduated with the cand.mag.

Cand.mag.

Candidatus magisterii , Candidata magisterii , i.e. Latin Candidate of Arts, abbreviated cand.mag., is an academic degree used in Denmark, and formerly in Norway and Iceland, roughly corresponding to an American Master of Arts and officially translated as such...

 degree in 1948. The same year he travelled to the Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 to study Dutch language

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 and literature

Dutch literature

Dutch literature comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers...

. He took another degree at the University of Oslo in 1955 with the master's thesis Det bibelske drama i Nederlandene før Joost van den Vondel. In 1963 he took the dr.philos. degree on the topic Joost van den Vondel

Joost van den Vondel

Joost van den Vondel was a Dutch writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most frequently performed, and his epic Joannes de Boetgezant , on the life of John the Baptist, has...

 with the thesis Zwischen Himmel und Erde (1963).

He was a docent

Docent

Docent is a title at some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks below professor . Docent is also used at some universities generically for a person who has the right to teach...

 from 1965 and professor from 1972 until his retirement in 1989, both at the University of Oslo. He has also been a guest professor at the Catholic University of Leuven

Catholic University of Leuven

The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...

. Another important book about Joost van den Vondel, Het treurspel spant de kroon, came in 1987. Langvik-Johannessen has also studied Franz Grillparzer

Franz Grillparzer

Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who is chiefly known for his dramas. He also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral.-Biography:...

 (the book Im Namen kaiserlicher Majestät, 1975) as well as the Rederijkers and Flemish drama. His 1980 book Nederlandenes litteratur gjennom 800 år is a collection of several lesser works. He also won the Bastian Prize

Bastian Prize

The Bastian Prize is a prize awarded annually by the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators.The prize, established in 1951, is given for translating a published work into Norwegian language...

 in 1996 for translating John of Ruysbroeck's The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage into Norwegian.

In 1999 he was decorated as a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. He was married twice, first to actress Ingrid Bothner from 1949 to 1959, then to Annika Lønnå (1936–2006) since 1954.