Born: Stockholm, Sweden, 22 January 1849. Education: Educated at Uppsala University, 1867, 1870-72, no degree. Family: Married 1) Baroness Siri von Essen in 1877 (divorced 1891), three children; 2) Frida Uhl in 1893 (divorced 1897), one daughter; 3) Harriet Bosse in 1901 (divorced 1904), one daughter. Career: Teacher, tutor, actor, and journalist; trained as telegraph clerk, 1873; assistant librarian, Royal Library, Stockholm, 1874-79; centre of a group of radical writers in 1880s; tried for blasphemy, but acquitted, 1884; lived in France, Switzerland, Bavaria, and Denmark, 1883-89; opened an experimental theatre in Copenhagen, 1889 (closed same year); lived in Berlin, 1892-94, Paris, 1894-96, Lund, 1896-99, and Stockholm, after 1899; suffered his ”Inferno” crisis, 1894-97: stayed in a mental clinic in Ystad, Sweden, 1895, 1896; founder, Intima Teatern [Intimate Theatre], Stockholm, 1907 (closed 1910). Also a painter. Died: 14 May 1912.
Publications
Collections
Samlade skrifter [Collected Writings], edited by John Landqvist. 55 vols., 1912-20; supplemented with Samlade otryckta skrifter [Collected Unpublished Writings], 2 vols., 1918-19.
Plays, translated by Edith and Warner Oland. 4 vols., 1912-14.
Plays, translated by Edwin Bjorkman. 7 vols., 1912-16.
Plays, translated by C.D. Locock, E. Classen, and others. 4 vols., 1929-39.
Skrifter [Writings], edited by Gunnar Brandell. 14 vols., 1945-46.
The Washington Strindberg, edited and translated by Walter Johnson. 12 vols., 1955-83.
Dramer, edited by Carl R. Smedmark. 3 vols., 1962-.
Plays, translated by Michael Meyer. 2 vols., 1964 (US edition published in one volume, 1973); revised edition, 1975; selections as Plays, 3 vols., 1976-91.
Samlade verk [Collected Works], edited by Lars Dahlback and others. 1980-.
Selected Essays by August Strindberg, selected, edited and translated by Michael Robinson. 1996.
Strindberg—Other Sides: Seven Plays, translated and introduced by Joe Martin. 1997.
Three Chamber Plays, translated by Inga-Stina Ewbank. 1997.
Miss Julie and Other Plays, translated with an introduction and notes by Michael Robinson. 1998.
The Father; Lady Julie; Playing with Fire, translated by Eivor Martinus. 1998.
Plays
I Rom [In Rome] (produced 1870). 1870.
Hermione. 1871.
Den fredlose (produced 1871). 1881; as The Outlaw, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912.
Gillets hemlighet [The Secret of the Guild] (produced 1880). 1880.
Master Olof (prose version; produced 1881). 1881; revised version (verse, produced 1890), 1878; as Master Olof, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, 1915; also translated by C.D. Locock, in Master Olof and Other Plays, 1931; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 6, 1959; Evert Sprinchorn, in Selected Plays, 1986.
Anno fyrtioatta [Anno Forty-Eight]. 1881.
Lycko-Pers resa (produced 1883). 1882; as Lucky Pehr, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912; as Lucky Peter’s Travels, translated by E. Classen, in Lucky Peter’s Travels and Other Plays, 1930; as Lucky Per’s Journey, translated by Arvid Paulson, in Eight Expressionist Plays, 1965.
Herr Bengts husfru [Mr. Bengt's Wife] (produced 1882). 1882.
Kamraterna (produced 1905). 1886; as Comrades, translated by Edith and Warner Oland, in Plays, 1912; also translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1913; Horace B. Samuel, in Plays, 1914; Arvid Paulson, in Seven Plays, 1960.
Fadren (produced 1887). 1887; as The Father, translated by N. Erichsen, 1899, and in Eight Famous Plays, 1949; also translated by C.D. Locock, in Lucky Peter’s Travels and Other Plays, 1930; Elizabeth Sprigge, in Six Plays, 1955; Peter Watts, in Three Plays, 1958; Arvid Paulson, in Seven Plays, 1960; Valborg Anderson, 1964; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 7, 1970; Harry G. Carlson, in Five Plays, 1983; Evert Sprinchorn, in Selected Plays, 1986; adapted by John Osborne, with Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, 1989.
Froken Julie (produced 1889). 1888; as Julie, translated by Arthur Swan, 1911; as Countess Julia, translated by Charles Recht, 1912; as Miss Julia, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1913, and in Eight Famous Plays, 1949; Peter Watts, in Three Plays, 1958; as Miss Julie, translated by Horace B. Samuel, in Plays, 1914; also translated by Elizabeth Sprigge, in Six Plays, 1955; Arvid Paulson, in Seven Plays, 1960; Evert Sprinchorn, in Selected Plays and Prose, 1964; F.R. Southerington, in Three Experimental Plays, 1975;Harry G. Carlson, in Five Plays, 1983; Peter Hogg and Helen Cooper, 1992; Truda Stockenstrom, 1996; as Lady Julie, translated by C.D. Locock, in Lucky Peter’s Travels and Other Plays, 1930; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 7, 1970; as After Miss Julie: A Version of Strindberg’s Miss Julie by Patrick Marber, 1996.
Paria (produced 1889). 1890; as Pariah, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912; also translated by Edith and Warner Oland, in Plays, 1912; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 12, 1983; Eivor Martinus, in Three One-Act Plays, 1987; as Paria, translated by Horace B. Samuel, in Plays, 1914.
Den starkare (produced 1889). 1890; as The Stronger, translated by Francis J. Ziegler, 1906; also translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912, and in Eight Famous Plays, 1949; Charles Wangel, in Ten-Minute Plays, edited by P. Loving, 1923; Elizabeth Sprigge, in Six Plays, 1955; Arvid Paulson, in Seven Plays, 1960; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 7, 1970; F.R. Southerington, in Three Experimental Plays, 1975; Evert Sprinchorn, in Selected Plays, 1986; as The Stronger Woman, translated by Horace B. Samuel, in Plays, 1914.
Hemsoborna [The Natives of Hemso], from his own novel (produced 1889).
Fordringsagare (produced 1889). 1890; as The Creditor, translated by Francis J. Ziegler, 1910; also translated by Mary Harned, 1911; Horace B. Samuel, 1914; as Creditors, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1913; also translated by Horace B. Samuel, in Plays, 1914; Elizabeth Sprigge, in Five Plays, 1960; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 7, 1970; Evert Sprinchorn, in Selected Plays, 1986.
Samum (produced 1890). 1890; as Simoom, translated by Francis J. Ziegler, 1905; also translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1913; as Simoon, translated by Mary Harned, in Three One-Act Plays, 1906; also translated by Horace B. Samuel, in Plays, 1914; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 12, 1983.
Bandet (produced 1902). 1892; as The Link, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912, and in Eight Famous Plays, 1949; as The Bond, translated by Elizabeth Sprigge and C. Napier, in Lucky Peter’s Travels and Other Plays, 1930; also translated by Arvid Paulson, in Seven Plays, 1960; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 7, 1970.
Leka med elden (produced 1893). 1892; as Playing with Fire, translated by E. Classen, in Lucky Peter’s Travels and Other Plays, 1930; also translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 12, 1983; and Evert Sprinchorn, in Selected Plays, 1986.
Debet ock kredit (produced 1893). 1892; as Debit and Credit, translated by Mary Harned, in Three One-Act Plays, 1906; also translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1913; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 12, 1983.
Moderskarlek (produced 1894). 1892; as Motherlove, translated by Francis J. Ziegler, 1910; as Motherly Love, translated by Horace B. Samuel, in Plays, 1914; also translated in Miss Julie and Other Plays, 1918; Eivor Martinus, in Three One-Act Plays, 1987; as Mother Love, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 12, 1983.
Forsta varningen (produced 1893). 1892; as The First Warning, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1916; also translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 12, 1983; Eivor Martinus, in Three One-Act Plays, 1987.
Infor doden (produced 1893). 1892; as Facing Death, translated by Velma Swanston Howard, 1907; also translated by Olive M. Johnson, 1911; Edith and Warner Oland, in Plays, 1912; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 12, 1983.
Advent (produced 1915). 1898; as Advent, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1913; also translated by Claud Field, 1914; Walter Johnson, in Dramas of Testimony, 1975, and in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 9, 1976.
Folkungasagen (produced 1901). 1899; as The Saga of the Folkungs, translated by C.D. Locock, in Master Olof and Other Plays, 1931; also translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 5, 1959.
Gustav Vasa (produced 1899). 1899; as Gustavus Vasa, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1916, and in Eight Famous Plays, 1949; also translated by C.D. Locock, in Master Olof and Other Plays, 1931; as Gustav Vasa, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 6, 1959.
Erik XIV (produced 1899). 1899; as Erik XIV, translated by Joan Bulman, in Master Olof and Other Plays, 1931; also translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 6, 1959.
Brott och brott (produced 1900). 1899; as There Are Crimes and Crimes, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, 1912, and in Eight Famous Plays, 1949; also translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 9, 1976; as Crimes and Crimes, translated by Elizabeth Sprigge, in Five Plays, 1960; also translated by Arvid Paulson, in Seven Plays, 1960; Evert Sprinchorn, in The Genius of the Scandinavian Theater, 1964.
Till Damaskus (trilogy) (produced 1900-24). 1900-04; edited by G. Lindstrom, 1964; as To Damascus, translated by Harriet Middleship, 1913; also translated by Sam E. Davidson, 1933; Graham Rawson, 1939; Evert Sprinchorn, in The Genius of the Scandinavian Theater, 1964; Arvid Paulson, in Eight Expressionist Plays, 1965; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 10, 1979.
Pask (produced 1901). 1900; as Easter, translated by Velma Swanston Howard, in Easter and Stories, 1912; also translated by Edith and Warner Oland, in Plays, 1912; E. Classen, in Easter and Other Plays, 1929; Elizabeth Sprigge, 1949; Peter Watts, in Three Plays, 1958; Arvid Paulson, in Seven Plays, 1960; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 4, 1976.
Gustav Adolf (produced 1903). 1900; as Gustav Adolf, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912; also translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 3, 1957.
Svanevit (produced 1908). 1901; as Swanwhite, translated by Francis J. Ziegler, 1909; also translated by Edith and Warner Oland, 1914; Elizabeth Sprigge, in Five Plays, 1960; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 11, 1981.
KarlXII(produced 1905). 1901; as CharlesXII, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 1, 1955.
Dodsdansen (produced 1905). 1901; as The Dance of Death, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912, and in Eight Famous Plays, 1949; also translated by C.D. Locock, in Easter and Other Plays, 1929; Elizabeth Sprigge, in Five Plays, 1960; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 9, 1976; Suzane Grossman, 1981; Harry G. Carlson, in Five Plays, 1983; Evert Sprinchorn, in Selected Plays, 1986.
Engelbrekt (produced 1901). 1901; translated as Engelbrekt, 1955; also translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 5, 1959.
Midsommar (produced 1901). 1901.
Kronbruden (produced 1906). 1902; as The Bridal Crown, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912; as The Virgin Bride, translated by Michael Meyer, in Plays, 1975; as The Crownbride, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 11, 1981.
Gustav III (produced 1916). 1902; as Gustav III, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 1, 1955.
Ett dromspel (produced 1907). 1902; as The Dream Play, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912; also translated by Elizabeth Sprigge, in Six Plays, 1955; as A Dream Play, translated by C.D. Locock, in Easter and Other Plays, 1929; also translated by Evert Sprinchorn, in Selected Plays and Prose, 1964; Arvid Paulson, in Eight Expressionist Plays, 1965; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 8, 1973; F.R. Southerington, in Three Experimental Plays, 1975; Harry G. Carlson, in Five Plays, 1983.
Naktergalen i Wittenberg (produced 1914). 1903; as The Nightingale of Wittenberg, translated by Arvid Paulson, in World Historical Plays, 1970.
Himmelrikets nycklar, in Samlede dramatiska arbeten. 1903-04; as The Keys of Heaven, translated by Arvid Paulson, in Eight Expressionist Plays, 1965.
Kristina (produced 1908). 1904; as Queen Christina, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 1, 1955.
Three One-Act Plays, translated by Mary Harned (includes Simoon; Debit and Credit; The Outcast, latter from novel of Ola Hansson). 1906.
Spoksonaten (produced 1908). 1907; edited by G. Lindstrom, 1963; as The Spook Sonata, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1916, and in Eight Famous Plays, 1949; as The Ghost Sonata, translated by E. Palmstierna and J.B. Fagan, in Easter and Other Plays, 1929; also translated by Elizabeth Sprigge, in Six Plays, 1955; Evert Sprinchorn, in The Chamber Plays, 1962, revised edition, 1981; Michael Meyer, in Plays, 1964, revised edition, 1982; Arvid Paulson, in Eight Expressionist Plays, 1965; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 8, 1973; Harry G. Carlson, in Five Plays, 1983; Eivor Martinus, in Chamber Plays, 1991.
Ovader (produced 1907). 1907; as The Storm, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1912; as Storm Weather, translated by Seabury Quinn, Jr. and Kenneth Petersen, in The Chamber Plays, 1962, revised edition, 1981; as Stormy Weather, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 8, 1973; as Thunder in the Air, translated by Eivor Martinus, in Chamber Plays, 1991.
Branda tomten (produced 1907). 1907; as After the Fire, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1913; also translated by Eivor Martinus, in Chamber Plays, 1991; as The Burned House, translated by Seabury Quinn, Jr., in The Chamber Plays, 1962, revised edition, 1981; as The House That Burned, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 8, 1973.
Pelikanen (produced 1907). 1907; as The Pelican, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1916; also translated by Evert Springhorn, in The Chamber Plays, 1962, revised edition, 1981; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 8, 1973; Eivor Martinus, in Chamber Plays, 1991.
Abu Casems tofflor [Abu Casem's Slippers] (produced 1908). 1908.
Siste riddaren (produced 1908). 1908; as The Last of the Knights, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 2, 1956.
Riksforestandaren (produced 1911). 1908; as The Regent, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 2, 1956.
Bjalbo-Jarlen (produced 1909). 1908; as Earl Birger of Bjalbo, translated by Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 2, 1956.
Svarta handsken (produced 1909). 1909; as The Black Glove, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1916; also translated by Eivor Martinus, in Chamber Plays, 1991. Stora landsvagen (produced 1910). 1909; as The Great Highway, translated by Arvid Paulson, in Modern Scandinavian Plays,1954, and in Eight Expressionist Plays, 1965; also translated by Elizabeth Sprigge, in Five Plays, 1960; Walter Johnson, in The Washington Strindberg, vol. 11, 1981.
Plays (includes The Stronger Woman; Motherly Love; Paria; Simoon; Comrades; Miss Julie; Creditors), translated by Horace B. Samuel. 1914.
Genom oknar till arvland; eller, Moses (produced 1922). In Samlade otryckta skrifter, 1918-19; as Moses, translated by Edwin Bjorkman, in Plays, 1916; as Through Deserts to Ancestral Lands, translated by Arvid Paulson, in World Historical Plays, 1970.
Toten-Insel, in Samlade skriften. 1918; translated as Isle of the Dead,in Modern Drama, 3, 1962.
Miss Julie and Other Plays (includes Miss Julie; The Creditor; The Stronger Woman; Motherly Love; Paria; Simoon). 1918.
Hellas; eller, Sokrates (produced 1922). In Samlade otryckta skrifter, 1918-19; as Hellas, translated by Arvid Paulson, in World Historical Plays, 1970.
Lammet och vilddjuret; eller, Kristus (produced 1922). In Samlade otryckta skrifter, 1918-19; as The Lamb and the Beast, translated by Arvid Paulson, in World Historical Plays, 1970.
Easter and Other Plays (includes Easter; Dance of Death; A Dream Play; Ghost Sonata), translated by E. Classen, C.D. Locock, E. Palmstierna, and J.B. Fagan. 1929.
Lucky Peter’s Travels and Other Plays (includes Lucky Peter’s Travels; The Father; Lady Julie; The Bond; Playing with Fire), translated by E. Classen, C.D. Locock, and C. Napier. 1930.
Master Olof and Other Plays (includes Master Olof; The Saga of the Folkungs; Gustavus Vasa; Erik XIV), translated by C.D. Locock and Joan Bulman. 1931. Eight Famous Plays (includes The Link; The Father; Miss Julia; The Stronger; There Are Crimes and Crimes; Gustavus Vasa; The Dance of Death; The Spook Sonata), translated by Edwin Bjorkman and N. Erichsen. 1949, reprinted as Eight Best Plays, 1979. Six Plays (includes The Father; Miss Julie; The Stronger; Easter; Dream Play; The Ghost Sonata), translated by Elizabeth Sprigge.1955.
Three Plays (includes The Father; Miss Julie; Easter), translated by Peter Watts. 1958.
Miss Julie and Other Plays (includes Miss Julie; Creditors; The Ghost Sonata; The Stronger), translated and adapted by Max Faber. 1960.
Five Plays (includes Creditors; Crimes and Crimes; Swanwhite; Dance of Death; The Great Highway), translated by Elizabeth Sprigge. 1960.
Seven Plays (includes Comrades; The Father; Miss Julie; The Stronger; The Bond; Crimes and Crimes; Easter), translated by Arvid Paulson. 1960.
The Chamber Plays (includes Storm Weather; The Burned House; The Ghost Sonata; The Pelican), translated by Evert Sprinchorn, Seabury Quinn, Jr., and Kenneth Petersen. 1962; revised edition, 1981.
Twelve Plays (includes text of Six Plays, 1955, Five Plays, 1960, with The Bond), translated by Elizabeth Sprigge. 1963.
Eight Expressionist Plays (includes Lucky Per’s Journey; To Damascus I-III; A Dream Play; The Great Highway; The Keys of Heaven; The Ghost Sonata), translated by Arvid Paulson. 1965.
Strindberg’s One-Act Plays, translated by Arvid Paulson. 1969.
Fiction
Roda rummet. 1879; as The Red Room, translated by Ellie Schleussner, 1913.
Svenska oden och aventyr [Swedish Fates and Adventures]. 2 vols., 1883-90.
Giftas. 2 vols., 1884-86; as Married: 20 Stories of Married Life, translated by Ellie Schleussner, 1913; complete version, as Getting Married, translated by Mary Sandbach, 1972.
Hemsoborna. 1887; as The People of Hemso, translated by Elspeth Harley Schubert, 1959; as The Natives of Hemso, translated by Arvid Paulson, 1967.
Skarkarlsliv [Life in the Skerries]. 1888.
Tschandala (in Danish). 1889.
Ihavsbandet. 1890; as By the Open Sea, translated by Ellie Schleussner, 1913; also translated by Mary Sandbach, 1984; as On the Seaboard, translated by Elizabeth Clarke Westergren, 1913.
Fagervik och Skamsund. 1902; translated as Fair Haven and Foul Strand, 1914.
Sagor. 1903; as Tales, translated by L.J. Potts, 1930.
Gotiska rummen [The Gothic Rooms]. 1903.
Historiska miniatyrer. 1905; as Historical Miniatures, translated by Claud Field, 1913.
Svarta fanor [Black Banners]. 1907.
Taklagsol. 1907; as The Roofing Ceremony, with The Silver Lake, translated by David Mel Paul and Margareta Paul, 1987.
Syndabocken. 1907; as The Scapegoat, translated by Arvid Paulson, 1967.
In Midsummer Days, and Other Tales, translated by Ellie Schleussner. 1913.
The German Lieutenant, and Other Stories, translated by Claud Field. 1915.
Stories and Poems (bilingual edition), edited by Joseph E.A. Alexis. 1924.
Verse
Dikter [Poems]. 1883.
Other
Svenska folket [The Swedish People]. 2 vols., 1880-82.
Det nya riket [The New Kingdom]. 1882.
Utopier i verkligheten [Utopias in Reality]. 1884.
Likt och olikt [This and That]. 2 vols., 1884.
Tjanstekvinnans son. 4 vols., 1886-87; as The Growth of a Soul, translated by Claud Field, 1913; in part as The Son of a Servant, translated by Field, 1913; also translated by Evert Sprinchorn,1967.
Blomster malningar och djurstycken [Flower Pictures and Animal Pieces]. 1888.
Le Plaidoyer d’un fou. 1895; as En dares forsvarstal, 1914; as The Confession of a Fool, translated by Ellie Schleussner, 1912; as A Madman’s Defense, edited by Evert Sprinchorn, translated by Schleussner, 1968; as A Madman’s Manifesto, translated by Anthony Swerling, 1968.
Inferno. 1897; as Inferno, translated by Claud Field, 1912; also translated by Evert Sprinchorn, in Inferno, Alone, and Other Writings, 1968; part translated by Robert Brustein, in Selected Plays and Prose, 1964.
Legender. 1898; translated as Legends: Autobiographical Sketches, 1912.
Ensam. 1903; as Alone, translated by Evert Sprinchorn, in Inferno, Alone, and Other Writings, 1968.
Hovdingaminnen [Memories of Leaders]. 1906.
En bla bok. 4 vols., 1907-12; in part as Zones of the Spirit, translated by Claud Field, 1913.
Oppna brev till Intima Teatern. 1908; as Open Letters to the Intimate Theater, translated by Walter Johnson, 1959; as Letters to the Intimate Theatre, edited by Johnson, 1967.
Tal till svenska nationen [Speeches to the Swedish Nation]. 1910.
Gamla Stockholm [Old Stockholm], with Claes Lundin. 1912.
Easter and Stories (miscellany). 1912.
Brev till Harriet Bosse. 1923; as Letters of Strindberg to Harriet Bosse, edited and translated by Arvid Paulson, 1959.
Brev [Letters], edited by Torsten Eklund and Bjorn Meidal. 1948-.
Vivisektioner (essays), edited by Torsten Eklund. 1958.
Brev till min dotter Kerstin [Letters to My Daughter Kerstin], edited by Karin Boye and A[ring]ke Thulstrup. 1961.
Ur ockulta dagboken, edited by Torsten Eklund. 1963; complete version, 1977; in part as From an Occult Diary, translated by Mary Sandbach, 1965.
Selected Plays and Prose (includes The Father; Miss Julie; selection from Inferno; A Dream Play), edited by Robert Brustein and translated by Brustein, Evert Sprinchorn, and N. Erichsen. 1964.
Klostret. 1966; as The Cloister, edited by C.G. Bjurstrom, translated by Mary Sandbach, 1969.
Inferno, Alone, and Other Writings, translated by Evert Sprinchorn.1968.
Letters 1892-1912, edited and translated by Michael Robinson. 2 vols., 1992. by Jackson R. Bryer in Modern Drama, 5, 1962, and Birgitta Steene in Structures of Influence: A Comparative Approach to Strindberg edited by Marilyn Johns Blackwell, 1981; Illustrerad svensk litteraturhistoria 4 by Sven Rinman, 1967; August Strindberg by Paul Fritz, 1979.
Critical Studies:
Strindberg the Man by Carl Gustaf Uddgren, 1920; August Strindberg: A Psychoanalytic Study with Special Reference to the Oedipus Complex by Axel Johan Uppvall, 1920; Strindberg: An Introduction to His Life and Work by Brita Mortensen and Brian W. Downs, 1949; The Strange Life of August Strindberg by Elizabeth Sprigge, 1949; Strindberg’s Naturalistic Theatre by B.G. Madsen, 1962; Strindberg and the Historical Drama, 1963, and Strindberg, 1976, both by Walter Johnson; Essays on Strindberg edited by Carl. R. Smedmark, 1966, and Strindberg and Modern Theatre edited by Smedmark, 1975; The Novels of Strindberg by Eric O. Johannesson, 1968; August Strindberg by Martin Lamm, 1971; Strindberg: A Collection of Critical Essays edited by Otto Reinert, 1971; Strindberg’s Impact in France 1920-1960 by Anthony Swerling, 1971; August Strindberg (English text) by Gunnar Ollen, 1972; The Greatest Fire: A Study of Strindberg by Birgitta Steene, 1973, 2nd revised edition as August Strindberg: An Introduction to His Major Works, 1982, and Strindberg and History, edited by Steene, 1992; Strindberg in Inferno by Gunnar Brandell, 1974; The Social and Religious Plays of Strindberg by John Ward, 1980; Structures of Influence: A Comparative Approach to August Strindberg by Marilyn Johns Blackwell, 1981; Strindberg and Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Influence on Strindberg’s Historical Drama by Joan Bulman, 1982; Strindberg by George A. Campbell, 1982; Strindberg and the Poetry of Myth by Harry G. Carlson, 1982; Strindberg as Dramatist by Evert Sprinchorn, 1982; Strindbergian Drama: Themes and Structure by Egil Tornqvist, 1982, and Strindberg’s Miss Julie: A Play and Its Transpositions by Tornqvist and Barry Jacobs, 1988; August Strindberg by Olof Lagercrantz, 1983; Strindberg on Stage: Report from the Symposium in Stockholm, May 18-22, 1981 edited by Donald K. Weaver, 1983; August Strindberg by Margery Morgan, 1985; Strindberg: A Biography, 1985, and File on Strindberg, 1986, both by Michael Meyer; Strindberg and Autobiography: Writing and Reading a Life by Michael Robinson, 1986, and Strindberg and Genre edited by Robinson, 1991; Strindberg and the Intimate Theatre by Inga-Stina Ewbank, 1988; Strindberg’s Dramaturgy edited by Goran Stockenstrom, 1988; Harriet Bosse, Strindberg’s Muse and Interpreter by Carla Waal, 1990; Out of Inferno: Strindberg’s Reawakening as an Artist by Harry G. Carlson, 1996; Strindberg, Ibsen and Bergman: Essays on Scandinavian Film and Drama Offered to Egil Tornqvist on the Occasion of this 65th Brithday, edited by Harry Perridon, 1998; Theatrical and Narrative Space: Studies in Ibsen, Strindberg and J.P. Jacobsen by Erik 0sterud, 1998; Strindberg: The Moscow Papers, edited by Michael Robinson, 1998; Questioning the Father: From Darwin to Zola, Ibsen, Strindberg, and Hardy by Ross Shideler, 1999; Expressionism and Modernism: New Approaches to August Strindberg, edited by Michael Robinson and Sven Hakon Rossel, 1999; Ibsen, Strindberg and the Intimate Theatre: Studies in TV Presentation by Egil Tornqvist, 1999; The Psychology of the Grotesque in August Strindberg’s ”The Ghost Sonata" by Terry John Converse, 1999; Stella Adler on Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov by Stella Adler, edited by Barry Paris, 1999; Strindberg and the Five Senses: Studies in Strindberg’s Chamber Plays by Hans-Goran Ekman, 2000; Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata: From Text to Performance by Egil Tornqvist, 2000; Strindberg and Love by Eivor Martinus, 2001.
August Strindberg’s achievement as an immensely productive dramatist, poet, novelist, essayist, painter, historian, autobiographer, and speculator in the natural sciences, alchemy, and linguistics is so various as almost to preclude summary. His international reputation, however, undoubtedly rests upon his plays. Strindberg experimented with many theatrical forms, fairytale comedy in Lycko-Pers resa (Lucky Peter’s Travels), the folkplay in Kronbruden (The Virgin Bride), and, beginning with his first major work, Master Olof (Master Olof), from 1872, the history play, in a cycle of 12 history plays which represent the most important contribution to the genre since Shakespeare. Indeed, Gustav Vasa, Erik XIV, Karl XII (Charles XII), and Kristina (Queen Christina) combine a Shakespearean response to the sweep and detail of history with an acute and personal insight into historical characters, but they have been unduly neglected abroad because their material is taken from Swedish history.
This is certainly not the case with the two sets of plays that Strindberg wrote with his sights already trained on the theatres of France and Germany, two countries where, after his attack on Swedish society in the satirical pamphlet Det nya riket [The New Kingdom] in 1882, and his trial for blasphemy arising from the collection of stories Giftas (Getting Married) in 1884, he was to spend several important years of his life. The first set consists of the naturalist plays which Strindberg wrote between 1887 and 1892 as if in response to Zola’s plea for someone to abandon the contrived formula of the contemporary well-made play and ”put a man of flesh and bones on the stage, taken from reality scientifically analysed, and described without one lie.” Building upon extensive reading in current psychology and cultivating a remarkable propensity for self-analysis that he owed in part to his pietist upbringing, Strindberg developed an intense and concentrated form for the portrayal on stage of what he called ”the harsh, cynical and heartless drama that life presents.” At the heart of this drama is an elemental struggle between man and woman, which he explores tragically in Fadren (The Father) and Froken Julie (Miss Julie) and sardonically in Fordringsagare (Creditors). Conflict, however, is no longer physical but what Strindberg termed a ”battle of the brains” in which one character seeks through suggestion to impose his or her will upon another. His ideas are outlined in the volume of essays, Vivisektioner [Vivisections], whose title implies the kind of analysis to which the naturalist writer aspired, and the preface to Miss Julie, which is the major theoretical statement of theatrical naturalism, where Strindberg describes his characters as not only the products of environmental and inherited forces but also as ”split and vacillating . . . agglomerations of past and present cultures, scraps from books and newspapers, fragments of humanity, torn shreds of once-fine clothing that has become rags, in just the way that a human soul is patched together.”
Miss Julie itself may not fully realize Strindberg’s intentions, but in his next major group of plays, begun after an interval of six years, he effected a radical break with prevailing dramatic conventions and produced the key works in the development of theatrical modernism. In Till Damaskus (To Damascus), a sequence of three plays in which Strindberg projected his inner life through the figure of his protagonist, The Unknown, the picture-frame stage of the naturalists, with its abundance of realistic detail, gives way to the interior stage of the mind, a landscape through which The Unknown journeys as he delves into the past and encounters characters who are either aspects of his own personality or the product of his anxious imagination. In Ett dromspel (A Dream Play), meanwhile, which is generally regarded as
Strindberg’s major achievement, he sought ”to imitate the inconsequent yet transparently logical shape of a dream” where time and place do not exist and everything is possible and probable. The similarity of Strindberg’s concerns with those of his contemporary, Sigmund Freud, have often, and rightly, been observed, but the dramatic presentation of life as a dream and the world as a stage also occurs in earlier drama, for example in Shakespeare, Calderon, and Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. Nevertheless, A Dream Play initiated a succession of metatheatrical plays and marks the transition from a drama centred on plot and character to a theme-centred drama. In their use of concrete theatrical images enlisting all the resources of the stage, and in their apparently fluid structure, these plays are often easier to comprehend in terms of music, an affinity Strindberg underlined by calling his last important collection of plays, the Chamber Plays— Ovader (The Storm), Branda tomten (The Burned House), Spoksonaten (The Ghost Sonata), and Pelikanen (The Pelican)—written in 1907, his ”last sonatas.”
That Strindberg could make this remarkable transition from naturalism to modernism was largely a consequence of what is known as his ”Inferno crisis.” This was a period of acute mental suffering which verged on psychological breakdown, during which he was largely unproductive as an imaginative writer. Between 1892 and 1898 he spent much time on scientific studies which, in accord with the spirit of fin de siecle Paris where he lived for long periods, gravitated towards alchemy and magic. Behind his apparently aimless experiments, however, lay the need to renew himself by the discovery of fresh ways of seeing and apprehending both the visible and invisible world. At a time when Freud was similarly engaged on the self-analysis which led to The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Strindberg also sought and found access to the unconscious life of the mind, employing techniques, outlined in the essay ”The New Arts; or, The Role of Chance in Artistic Creation,” which anticipate surrealism, and which he first applied in his paintings. A friend of Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch, Strindberg was a considerable artist, and the way in which he approaches a non-representational art in his paintings marks a parallel development to his move away from plot and character in drama.
A partial account of these years is provided by the autobiographical novel Inferno, and his Ur Ockulta dagboken (From an Occult Diary), two in a sequence of autobiographical works which Strindberg saw as the core of his life’s work. Employing various narrative techniques he traces the stages of an existence during which, both in life and literature, he experimented in a Kierkegaardian manner with a succession of different points of view, including an anarchism penetrated by the thought of Rousseau, an uneasy accommodation with Darwinism, atheism, Nietzschean individualism, and, after 1896, the discovery of a fruitful perspective for his writing in a personal syncretic religion that owed much to the Swedish scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). In Tjanstekvinnans son (The Son of a Servant), which stresses his lifelong identification with his mother, a former servant girl and waitress, rather than with his middle-class father, he undertook a naturalist investigation into his childhood and youth. This is followed by En dares forsvarstal (A Madman’s Defense), first published as Le Plaidoyer d’un fou, the savage and exuberant vivisection of the first of his three turbulent marriages, Klostret (The Cloister), Inferno, Legender (Legends), and finally Ensam (Alone), an evocative portrayal of loneliness and the artistic process. Strindberg wished these works to be published as a single book, together with the From an Occult Diary and his letters, an unwieldy project since the letters alone (and Strindberg was a formidable correspondent) fill over 18 volumes.
Inevitably the problem of subjectivity is one that Strindberg’s work frequently raises. He regarded his life as literary capital and can often be discovered provoking experience in order to obtain material for further books. The real point, however, is not whether it is possible to correlate what is known of his life with the matter of his writing, but the transformation this material undergoes as it is turned into literature to enter into a complex set of relationships with all his other works. And if Strindberg appears to lack both imagination and humour, the reproach is belied by yet another portion of his work, again little known abroad—his novels and stories. Roda rummet (The Red Room), for example, with which he first made his reputation in Sweden, is an iridescent novel of Stockholm life, by turns comic, pathetic, and satiric, in which the influences of Charles Dickens and Honore de Balzac are adroitly balanced. The humour of Hemsoborna (The Natives of Hemso) is rich, even ribald, and like its successor, I havsbandet (By the Open Sea), it demonstrates Strindberg’s passionate feeling for nature, particularly the landscape of the Stockholm archipelago. Getting Married is amusing as well as acerbic in its treatment of women. Taklagsol (The Roofing Ceremony) is a finely judged experiment in the stream-of-consciousness technique. Gotiska rummen [The Gothic Rooms] and Svarta fanor [Black Banners] are both lively as well as bitter attacks on contemporary society. In all these books, as well as in his many essays on natural history, his historical studies Gamla Stockholm [Old Stockholm] and Svenska folket [The Swedish People], his historical fiction, and the political polemics in which he was engaged at the end of his life, Strindberg displays a multi-faceted response to experience which is consistently invigorated by a virtuoso command of his native language.
