The Enchantment

by Victoria Benedictsson, Clare Bayley (Adapter)

The mesmeric play by the woman who was reputedly a model for Ibsen and Strindberg.

Genres: Short Stories, Plays

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1890

About the author

See also pseudonym: Ernst Ahlgren

Victoria Benedictsson (March 6, 1850, Domme – July 21, 1888) was a Swedish author. She was born as Victoria Maria Bruzelius in Domme, a village in the province of Skåne. She wrote under the pen name Ernst Ahlgren.

Benedictsson grew up on a farm in Sweden. At 21 she married a 49-year-old widower from Hörby. Benedictsson was not happy in her marriage and had a love affair with the Danish critic and scholar Georg Brandes. The unhappy love affair has often been blamed for her subsequent suicide, but she was also very unhappy with the intellectually limited life she led. She is, together with August Strindberg, regarded as one of the greatest proponents of the Swedish realist writing style. In her novels she described the inequality of marriage and often debated women's rights issues in her writings. Current critics see her as an early feminist; earlier the focus was on her love affair with Brandes.

Reviews

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benedictsson proving the hypnotic powers that all red flag men seem to possess over ordinarily logical women 😃

[Eden Leavey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this probably isn’t the most accurate translation of the original text, but I truly loved Clare Bayley’s 21st century adaptation of Victoria Benedictsson’s semi-autobiographical suicide note. I also felt this play was the first in my research to so blatantly prove the societal fear of performance as reality. This book totally turns my research paper on its head and has given me such an interesting way to consider women beyond through the lens of male Scandinavian playwrights.

[Maja Svensson]

Jag tror jag förstår hennes stil, det första jag läst av henne men baserat på de av jag vet om henne som person kändes nära och var drabbande. Tyckte bättre om novellen än manuset

[Shane Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rare that I enjoy reading a play but this is so accessible, vivid, and well written that it felt more like a novella. We should all know the name Victoria Benedictsson!

[Amy]

This is an incredible play. A major influence on Strindberg before he wrote Miss Julie. It was staged at the National last year and needs a good American production.

[Michael Bakken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Briliant!