Kaare Martin Gunvaldsen was born on July 17, 1908 in Koparvik, Norway. After arriving in Canada in 1928, he attended the University of Saskatchewan (B.A. Honours, 1935). He went on to earn a M.A. (1938) and a PhD. (1948) from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Gunvaldsen joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan in 1947, serving the institution for over forty years as Professor, Head of the Department of Germanic Languages and finally as Professor Emeritus. In addition to his teaching, he spent much of that time researching and writing about the Czech born German language writer of visionary fiction, Franz Kafka. Gunvaldsen died in 1986 with his Kafka manuscript unfinished and unpublished. He had been convinced that he had made a breakthrough in Kafka interpretation based on his research at Oxford's Bodleian Library.