The Strange Life of August Strindberg

by Elizabeth Sprigge

The Royal Theatre rejected his first major play, Master Olof, in 1872; it was not until 1881, at the age of 32, that its première at the New Theatre gave Johan August Strindberg his theatrical breakthrough. In his plays The Father (1887), Miss Julie (1888), and Creditors (1889), he created naturalistic dramas that – building on the established accomplishments of Henrik Ibsen's prose problem plays while rejecting their use of the structure of the well-made play – responded to the call-to-arms of Émile Zola's manifesto "Naturalism in the Theatre" (1881) and the example set by André Antoine's newly established Théâtre Libre (opened 1887). In Miss Julie, characterisation replaces plot as the predominant dramatic element (in contrast to melodrama and the well-made play) and the determining role of heredity and the environment on the "vacillating, disintegrated" characters is emphasized. Strindberg modelled his short-lived Scandinavian Experimental Theatre (1889) in Copenhagen on Antoine's theatre and he explored the theory of Naturalism in his essays "On Psychic Murder" (1887), "On Modern Drama and the Modern Theatre" (1889), and a preface to Miss Julie, the last of which is probably the best-known statement of the principles of the theatrical movement. In Sweden Johan August Strindberg is known as an essayist, painter, poet, and especially as a novelist and playwright, but in other countries his renown is mostly as a playwright. [ Wikipedia]

246 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Yooperprof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life of a great 19th Century Swede (i.e. pre-ABBA). Melancholy, misogynist, and likely schizophrenic - and remarkably productive.

[Sebastianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Elizabeth Sprigge is armed with astute compassion as she weaves superbly intelligent psychological insight into the story she writes of August Strindberg's life.

I wish Strindberg's paintings were more famous -- because they are dazzlingly, soulfully beautiful and reflect high forms of inspiration. Unfortunately, only few have seen his paintings as Strindberg seems to be more renowned for his plays. The plays are strong, stirring, bold, deeply knotted in pain, like a mouthpiece for trauma. But they are manufactured by the mind claustrophobically figuring out the lacerations and limitations of life, and remain stranded in the realm of strife. Strindberg's paintings, on the other hand, are clearly born of the sublime and their masterful beauty powerfully transcends or transmutes whatever agonies life had dealt him.