Studies in Strindberg: No. 14 (Series A: Scandinavian Literary History and Criticism) - Hardcover

Robinson, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1870041372 ISBN 13: 9781870041379

Publisher: Norvik Press, 1998

Synopsis

In this volume, Strindberg's accomplishments as a dramatist are set against his achievements in other fields, as an autobiographer, painter, letter writer and theatre director. There are studies of individual plays, in which Strindberg's theatre is related both to naturalism and the theatre of the absurd, and of the role played by his life-long interest in historical drama. Other essays range from studies of the problems posed by Strindberg's preoccupation with converting his own life into literature to a consideration of the importance he placed on letterwriting as a model for writing of all kinds. His letters are also used to explore his ideas about the theatre. A recurring concern is with the period of turmoil known as the Inferno Crisis, in which Strindberg refashioned himself as a writer. Robinson examines the importance of Strindberg's painting for his renewal as a writer and situates the achievement of his later works in relation to Symbolism and to Musical Expressionism.

About this title

From the Back Cover

In this volume Strindberg's accomplishments as a dramatist are set against his achievements in other fields, as an autobiographer, painter, letter writer and theatre director. There are studies of individual plays, in which Strindberg's theatre is related both to naturalism and the theatre of the absurd, and of the role played by his life-long interest in historical drama as a means of mirroring his own experience. Other essays consider the problems posed by Strindberg's preoccupation with converting his own life into literature and the relationship between his later plays and the musical Expressionism of Schoenberg and Berg as well as the importance he placed on letter-writing as a model for writing of all kinds; these letters are also used to explore his ideas about acting and theatre generally. A recurring concern is with the extraordinary period of mental and emotional turmoil, known as the Inferno Crisis, in which Strindberg refashioned himself as a writer, not least through his ground-breaking work as a painter. The collection is prefaced by an account of the difficulties Strindberg's works have encountered in their reception in England and concludes with a 'penance for Strindberg' in the form of a wide-ranging study of the nineteenth-century actress that re-examines the concern with character and theatricality of the earlier essays in a new context.

Edition details

• Publisher: Norvik Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1870041372
• ISBN 13: 9781870041379
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 244