The greatest fire : a study of August Strindberg
Birgitta Steene (Author), Harry T. Moore (Writer of preface)
"Playwright, novelist, poet, and scientist, August Strindberg was a conflict-ridden man who took all knowledge as his domain. Unfortunately, most students of Strindberg have taken a Freudian or biographical approach and considered him a paranoid exhibitionist who used his writing to rid himself of traumas or to launch attacks on presumed enemies. Birgitta Steene in The Greatest Fire refutes such an approach by a masterful analysis of Strindberg's literary works, proving him to be a careful, conscious artist. Miss Steene's approach is mainly chronological, and her discussion is divided into three major periods: 1) years of apprenticeship, 1869-79; 2)naturalistic period, 1879-98; 3)Inferno crisis and symbolist works, 1896-1912. Within each period Miss Steene deals with the material according to genre, showing Strindberg's development in each. After an introductory chapter in which Miss Steene traces Strindberg's growing awareness of himself as an artist and provides the reader with biographical and psychological data, she discusses Strindberg's earliest play, the historical Master Olof, and his breakthrough as a novelist with the satirical work The Red Room. These are followed by an analysis of other samples of Strindberg as I'homme engage: his novel Son of a Servant; his historical vignettes; and his collection of short stories, Married, which led to his trial for blasphemy. Considerable attention is also given to such works of fiction as A Madman's Defense and The Natives of Hemso; as well as a novelette, By the Open Sea, which foreshadows the later symbolist works. But much of Miss Steene's discussion in this part of the book centers on Strindberg's major realistic plays. He claimed to follow Zola's tenets of naturalism in the love-triangle drama Creditors, the class-conscious play Miss Julie, and the marriage drama The Father. But Miss Steene shows that even these plays made use of symbols, as Strindberg began moving away from naturalism, believing it had become too mechanical. Strindberg's creative energies were tremendous after the period of personal turmoil which he termed his 'Inferno crisis,' and almost half of the book deals with his work after 1896. Here his dramatic production is of greatest importance. Miss Steene discusses his major symbolist dramas, Dance of Death, A Dreamplay, The Great Highway, and the chamber plays, including The Ghost Sonata. It was during this period, too, that Strindberg returned to historical drama, weaving all his history plays into a thematic cycle. The book includes with a discussion of Strindberg's late fiction which is a return to his earliest themes, and of his involvement in the 'Strindberg feud'- a series of newspaper articles that brought back his reputation as a social critic. But it is indisputable, Miss Steene asserts, that it is as a literary artist that Strindberg is an overshadowing giant. Strindberg gave his vision of life a dramatic form so starting and challenging that he opened up new avenues for modern drama which are only now being fully explored and recognized by other playwrights- artists as diverse as Tennessee Williams, Ionesco, Pinter, Albee, and Peter Weiss. The Greatest Fire by Birgitta Steene fills a gap in Strindberg scholarship in English by concentrating on Strindberg the madman and misogynist. Students interested in modern drama, the European novel, or Scandinavian literature will find the book especially useful."- Publisher
Print Book, English, 1973
Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois, 1973