Preface
There are several reasons why August Strindberg (1849-1912) is generally considered one of the leading dramatists around 1900. The most significant is undoubtedly his power to create meaningful and arresting plays, that is, plays marked by an infallible feeling for what is specific to the dramatic genre. With his around sixty plays, Strindberg today counts as one of the great innovators of modern drama. The aim of this book is to throw some light, be it fragmentary, on Strindberg as a dramatic craftsman. And to suggest that it is not least in this underexposed area that his mastership shows. While many of Strindberg’s plays are examined from this point of view, special attention is paid to some of the best known dramas, easily accessible in English translation. However, since the dramaturgic problems confronting Strindberg are to a great extent problems facing any (modern) playwright, the book addresses itself also to those interested in dramaturgy generally. A pervading idea is the distinction between the page and the stage, the reader’s text and the spectator’s performance. We need not only recognize that drama by necessity is a hybrid genre; we need also, more than has hitherto been done, to examine the consequences of this fact. For quotes from Strindberg’s plays I owe much to existing versions in English, although I have sometimes felt free to use V
my own rendering when this seemed called for. In the interest of reader-friendliness, I have abstained from page references to the plays. A few technical hints may be useful. ‘Recipient’ is used as an umbrella term for reader and spectator. In my text the recipient is consistently referred to as ‘he’; for this read ‘he and/or she.’ Three dots within quotations indicate either a pause or interrupted speech. Omissions within quotations are indicated by a hyphen within square brackets: [-]. SV stands for August Strindbergs Samlade Verk (August Strindberg’s Collected Works); the figures following the abbreviation indicate volume and page(s). S stands for Strindberg’s works, as listed under “Source and target texts” in “Cited works.” In the Play Index the English titles, in alphabethical order, are followed by the original Swedish titles. A substantial part of this book has appeared earlier. Chapter One is partly based on “Strindberg on Page and Stage: Miss Julie as Paradigmatic Example” in Kirsten Wechsel, ed., Strindberg and His Media, Leipzig/Berlin 2003. Chapter Two owes something to “Strindberg’s Secondary Text” in Modern Drama, 23: 4, 1990. Chapter Three is based on “Sättet att börja stycken – om Strindbergs pjäsöppningar,” Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek, 30: 1, 2009. Chapter Four relies on “Strindberg and Subjective Drama” in Michael Robinson’s edition Strindberg and Genre, Norwich 1991. Chapter Five appeared in Scandinavica, 38: 1, 1999, as “Unreliable Narration in Strindbergian Drama.” Chapter Six was published as “‘Tid och rum existera icke’: Tidsproblematiken i Strindbergs Ett drömspel,” in Agora: Journal for metafysisk spekulasjon, 3, 1996. Part of Chapter Seven appeared as “Translating Strindbergian Imagery for the Stage” in Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek, 19: 1, 1998. Chapter Eight, finally, is largely based on “The Strindbergian OneActer,” Scandinavian Studies, 68: 3, 1996. All articles have here been thoroughly revised. VI
Those who wish to know more about the literature on Strindberg’s plays may turn to vol. 2 of An International Annotated Bibliography of Strindberg Studies 1870-2005, 1-3, 2008, edited by Michael Robinson. I am most grateful to prof. Franco Perrelli for his willingness to include this volume in the series Biblioteca dello Spettacolo Nordico. E. T.
VII
Strindberg The Master Weaver
When one is young, one sees the web set up: parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, servants are the warp; later on in life one sees the weft; and the shuttle of fate carries the thread back and forth; sometimes it breaks but it is tied together again, and then it goes on; the beam falls, the yarn is forced into twists and turns, and the web is done. In old age when one’s eyes can really see, one discovers that all the twists and turns form a pattern, a cipher, an ornament, a hieroglyphic, which one can now interpret for the first time: That is life! The world weaver has woven it! The Burned Site (1907)
I found it easiest to write plays; people and events took shape, wove themselves together, and this work gave me so much pleasure that I found life sheer bliss as long as I kept on writing and I still do. Only then am I truly alive! Strindberg in interview (1909)
Contents
Preface
V
Reception Texts Opening Subjectivism Reliability Time Imagery Genre
3 21 37 53 67 87 103 115
Cited Works Play Index
127 131