Strindberg: Five Plays

by August Strindberg, Harry G. Carlson (Translator)

Strindberg's most important and most frequently performed plays--The Father, Miss Julie, A Dream Play, The Dance of Death, and The Ghost Sonata--are gathered together here in translations praised for their fluency and their elegance.

Genres: Plays

297 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 1983

About the author

Johan August Strindberg, a Swede, wrote psychological realism of noted novels and plays, including Miss Julie (1888) and The Dance of Death (1901).

Johan August Strindberg painted. He alongside Henrik Ibsen, Søren Kierkegaard, Selma Lagerlöf, Hans Christian Andersen, and Snorri Sturluson arguably most influenced of all famous Scandinavian authors. People know this father of modern theatre. His work falls into major literary movements of naturalism and expressionism. People widely read him internationally to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_...

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote individual reviews of each of the five plays contained in this collection, often referencing Harry Carlson's introduction, so I won't add too much here. I haven't read other translations of Strindberg, so I'm not equipped to expound on the virtues or flaws of this particular translation in comparison, and not being fluent in Swedish (I only know a few choice words, mostly picked up from Ingmar Bergman films) I can't say how true Carlson is to the original texts, but I can say that I greatly enjoyed this collection, including Carlson's introduction, finding the whole work very fresh and accessible (which I was not necessarily expecting at first, having never read any Strindberg's works before, albeit in this case by way of a translator). I've read all the plays through once and this is definitely a collection I'll be coming back to in the future.

[Stephen Simpson · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I liked "The Father" more than 2-stars worth, the other plays didn't make much of an impression on me. He was a "different" dude and it shows in his playwriting. I can't really name specific flaws or problems, but his plays just don't work for me.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished in early 2013. Actually not sure what my opinion is on these. Strindberg is a weird dude.