FACTS ABOUT SWEDEN | AUGUST STRINDBERG sweden.se P P H H O O T T O: O: S N T ORDI RIND S B K ER A MU GS MU S EE S T EE T August Strindberg: self-portrait from Gersau, Switzerland, 1886. Jealousy Night, painted by Strindberg in Berlin, Germany, 1893. AUGUST STRINDBERG: ‘I’M A DEVILISH FELLOW WHO CAN DO MANY TRICKS’ A hundred years after his death, August Strindberg (1849–1912) continues to fascinate. He was a trailblazer and innovator in his time and still manages to provoke audiences in theaters around the world. There is always an aspect of Strindberg’s everyday language, and today his texts led. His literary development largely fol- character – from the raging sociopoliti- feel remarkably modern. lowed the twists and turns of his private cal polemicist to the psychologically life, including the crises arising from his introspective writer – that fits the prevail- Man of many talents marriage break-ups and political contro- ing spirit and intellectual climate of the People are amazed by Strindberg’s ver- versies. times. His thoughts on morality, class, satility. He tackled most genres. Aside power structures and familial politics from being an innovator in drama and Upbringing and studies are still relevant today. The unflagging prose, he was a poet, a painter, a pho- Johan August Strindberg was born on struggle for free thinking and free speech tographer, even a sinologist. 22 January 1849. He would later claim that he waged throughout his life is more Strindberg’s stormy private life also that his childhood was one of poverty important than ever in a time when cen- explains his enduring appeal, especially and neglect but the family was not poor. sorship prevails in many countries. since it is so integral to his work. His father was a shipping agent who Another reason for Strindberg’s popu- It is difficult to separate Strindberg’s married his housekeeper. They had larity is his accessibility. While some life from his work. He believed a writ- eight children. Strindberg’s mother died older literature can feel dated, he used er’s work reflected the life the writer young, and relations with his father FACTS ABOUT SWEDEN | AUGUST STRINDBERG sweden.se P H O T O S : S T RIND B ER GS MU S EE T The women in Strindberg’s life (from left): Finland-Swedish actress Siri von Essen, who became Strindberg’s first wife (1877–91) with whom he had two daughters and a son; Austrian journalist Frida Uhl, his second wife (1893–97) and the mother of his daugh- ter Kerstin; and Swedish actress Harriet Bosse, his third and final wife (1901–04), photographed with their daughter Anne-Marie. were strained. After a violent quarrel in Following the publication of his with- came interested in the natural sciences 1876, father and son never saw each ering satire The New Kingdom (1882), and alchemy. other again. reactions were so hostile that Strind- Following graduation from senior high berg was forced to leave Sweden. So Return to Sweden school in 1867, Strindberg led a nomadic began a period of exile, with Strind- After the Inferno crisis, Strindberg life. He worked as a school teacher and berg and his family moving around achieved a more peaceful state of mind tutor, studied medicine, tried to become Europe. The scandals back home mul- and returned to Sweden. He married for an actor – all to no avail. At Uppsala tiplied; following the publication of his the third time, the actress Harriet Bosse. University, where he studied on and off, short story collection Getting Married The marriage was brief; soon after the people found him insufferable given his (1884-86), he was charged with blas- birth of their daughter, Anne-Marie, in constant desire to antagonize teachers. phemy. Strindberg was acquitted, but 1902 the couple separated. In 1907, However, he was considered to have the experience made him increasingly Strindberg launched the Intimate Theater promise as a writer. He worked for a mentally unstable and paranoid. in Stockholm together with the actor while as a journalist at Dagens Nyheter, Strindberg’s persecution complex August Falck. He returned to writing so- Sweden’s largest morning newspaper, also consumed his marriage which had cial criticism and got caught up in what and as an assistant librarian at the Royal become increasingly strained. Strind- became known as the Strindberg Feud. Library in Stockholm. berg’s marital crisis coincided with the (See page 4.) It was around this time that he met Siri rise of the women’s movement, and von Essen, his first wife. She was a mar- this most likely is partly the basis for Illness and death ried, upper-class Swedish-speaking Finn his scornful view of women. During the final years of his life, Strind- with acting ambitions. Their love was berg lived in an apartment in central stormy, veering between lust and hatred. The Inferno crisis Stockholm that is now a museum. The After many ups and downs, the couple Strindberg divorced in 1891 and actress Fanny Falkner, his last great love, married in 1877. moved to Berlin, where he embarked lived in the same building. On 14 May on a brief marriage to the Austrian 1912, August Strindberg died, prob- Literary breakthrough and exile journalist Frida Uhl. The couple had ably of stomach cancer. Some 60,000 In 1879, Strindberg’s satirical novel a daughter but soon separated, and people joined his funeral procession. The Red Room was published. It was his Strindberg moved to Paris. There he The newspapers that had once been so literary breakthrough. Encouraged by entered a period of his life in which he critical of him now ran glowing obituar- this success, he continued to write, and was tormented by invisible enemies ies – an irony of fate for a writer who had his works often attacked the authorities and hallucinations, the so-called Infer- spent his entire life opposing the estab- in Sweden. no crisis. During this time, he also be- lishment. n 2 | FACTS ABOUT SWEDEN | AUGUST STRINDBERG sweden.se P H O T O: GOMER S wah N An outdoor production of The People of Hemsö, Strindberg’s own adaptation of one of his most widely read books. STRINDBERG’S LITERARY LEGACY Over four decades, Strindberg wrote some 120 works, about half of them plays. He also wrote a large number of newspaper articles, scientific essays and thousands of letters. Strindberg is best known as a dramatist, Several of Strindberg’s plays were first marked, ‘I must be a European first before with his plays still performed on stages performed in Denmark, Germany and my word will count in Sweden!’ around the world. For instance, a major Austria. It was only after the German- Strindberg considered his plays his Strindberg festival was held in China in speaking countries had embraced him most important means of expression. He 2005, and in the summer of 2011 his play that Swedes began to show an interest. wrote some 60 plays in different genres The Pelican was performed in Beijing. Strindberg was a cosmopolite. He and styles. No other playwright over the Strindberg’s plays have influenced spent a third of his life in Germany, past 100 years has been as innovative in writers and directors including Edward France, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria as many different genres. Albee, Tennessee Williams, Franz Kafka, where he was able to absorb intellectual Eugene O’Neill and Ingmar Bergman, to trends. A number of his works were origi- Historical dramas name but a few. nally written in French. As Strindberg re- Most of Strindberg’s earliest efforts were P H O T O: S T PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY RIND B Strindberg expressed himself in Swedish archipelago. His works explored photojournalism, ER more than words. His creativity became darker over time, with the made cloud studies and ex- GS also encompassed painting and open sea a recurring theme. perimented with color pho- MU S photography. He painted exten- tography. Today there are on- EE As a teenager Strindberg devel- T sively during several periods of ly about 60 Strindberg photos oped an interest in photography, his life. For a while he even tried in existence. at first as a purely scientific -ex to make a living from painting periment but then with more pur- while based in Paris. He tended Strindberg dressed as a Russian pose and bolder ideas. He took to focus on nature, especially the pictures of himself and his family, nihilist, self-portrait, Gersau, Switzerland,1886. 3 | FACTS ABOUT SWEDEN | AUGUST STRINDBERG sweden.se P H THE STRINDBERG FEUD O T O: S T RIND In 1910, Strindberg started one B of the biggest cultural debates ER GS Sweden has ever seen, the MU Strindberg Feud. It started out as S EE an attack on the prevailing literary T powers. What was initially purely a literary debate soon moved on- to suffrage, national defense and the role of the Swedish Academy. The Strindberg Feud lasted for more than two years and still had not ended with Strindberg’s death in 1912. TAKING ON STRINDBERG Danish actress Ghita Nørby (1935–) ‘We’ve performed The Dance of Death for over a year now and have had 136 sold-out houses. That’s a long time to dance with Strindberg with Karin, Greta and Hans, three of his children from his first marriage, in Strindberg. He’s incredibly diffi- cult. It’s like a test at the most ad- 1886. vanced level. He goes straight to historical dramas, a popular genre in the one-act play.