August Strindberg

From Philosopedia

Strindberg, Johan August (22 January 1849 - 14 May 1912)

Strindberg was a major Swedish playwright, historian, writer of stories, and poet, one whose work combined psychology and literary naturalism. He has been termed the greatest master of the Swedish language. Known for having led a tumultuous life, with three disastrous marriages, he suffered from a persecution mania.

Mäster Olof (1872–1878) was about God but, rather than perpetuating Christianity, was basically an exploration of the inhuman nature of idealism. Men meet their fate, not because of God: They meet their fate because of the result of human instinct and cultural ideologies.

The Father (1887) was misogynistic, seeing males as being victimized by females in a war between the sexes.

The Red Room satirized Swedish hypocrisy and injustice.

Married (2 vols., 1884–1885), which derogated women and denounced the practices of conventional religion, was confiscated by the authorities because of its content.

Miss Julie (1888) told of an upper-class woman seduced by an insensitive chauffeur. Like Creditors (1889), it showed the influence of Zola and Nietzsche.

From 1894 to 1896, influenced by Swedenborg, he experienced an “inferno crisis,” exploring the occult and believing he was being persecuted by other-worldly creatures, which he depicted in Inferno (1897).

Statue in Stockholm by Carl Eldh

After marrying the actress Harriet Bosse in 1901 but parting in 1904, he lost, as in his two previous marriages, custody of his offspring.

Strindberg then experimented with visual effects as well as other aspects of dramatic form, becoming internationally known for expressionist dream sequences and symbols that were combined with religious mysticism. A Dream Play (1902), To Damascus (1898–1904), and The Ghost Sonata (1907) illustrated this new experimentation, all showing man’s discordant existence along with varying degrees of pessimism. Gustav Vasa (1899) was a historical drama, and The Great Highway (1909) was a symbolic study of his own life. In 1884, after being a leader in the Rationalist group of young followers of Edvard Brandes, he was driven abroad but, when he returned to face a charge of ridiculing the Eucharist, he was found not guilty.

Son of a Servant (1886) is Strindberg’s bitter autobiography. The Swedish Academy never inducted him, but his works influenced Sean O’Casey and Eugene O’Neill. According to critic Robert William McKay, Strindberg was an atheist during most of his life “but he had a mental breakdown, lost his virility, and drifted into mysticism.” However, Strindberg despite his interest in Swedenborgianism, never returned to the church.

{BDF; CE; EU, Faith Ingwersen; JM; JMR; RE}