Oslo  - US cultural theorist Fredric R Jameson was Tuesday named winner of the 2008 Holberg International Memorial Prize.

Worth 4.5 million kroner (785,000 dollars), the prize is awarded "for outstanding scholarly work in the academic fields of the arts and humanities, social science, law and theology."

Jameson, 74, a professor at Duke University in North Carolina, was cited for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of the relation between social formations and cultural forms."

He has written on a wide range of topics, including classical European literary tradition, film in Europe, North America and Asia, science fiction and architecture as well as music.

Among his influential writings was the 1991 book Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, the jury said.

The prize was created 2003 in memory of 18th century Danish- Norwegian author and playwright Ludvig Holberg and aimed at raising awareness of the academic fields of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology.

Previous winners are Julia Kristeva, Juergen Habermas, Shmuel Eisenstadt and Richard Dworkin.

The award presentation was due November 26 at the University of Bergen in western Norway. (dpa)