152-571: Johan August Strindberg ( / ˈ s t r ɪ n ( d ) b ɜːr ɡ / ; Swedish: [ˈǒːɡɵst ˈstrɪ̂nːdbærj] ; 22 January 1849 – 14 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright , novelist , poet , essayist , and painter . A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography , history, cultural analysis , and politics during his career, which spanned four decades. A bold experimenter and iconoclast throughout his life, he explored
304-667: A millennium ago . These people include the Swedish-speakers in mainland Finland – speaking a Swedish dialect commonly referred to as Finland Swedish (finlandssvenska which is part of the East-Swedish dialect group) and the almost exclusively Swedish-speaking population of Åland speaking in a manner closer to the adjacent dialects in Sweden than to adjacent dialects of Finland Swedish. Estonia also had an important Swedish minority which persisted for about 650 years on
456-530: A prow in both ends ( longships ). Which kings ( kuningaz ) ruled these Suiones is unknown, but Norse mythology presents a long line of legendary and semi-legendary kings going back to the last centuries BC. As for literacy in Sweden itself, the runic script was in use among the south Scandinavian elite by at least the second century AD, but all that has survived from the Roman Period is curt inscriptions on artefacts, mainly of male names, demonstrating that
608-468: A stomach cancer (early signs of which had been felt in 1908). The final weeks of his life were painful. He had long since become a national celebrity, even if highly controversial, and when it became clear that he was seriously ill the daily papers in Stockholm began reporting on his health in every edition. He received many letters and telegrams from admirers across the country. He died on 14 May 1912 at
760-411: A Fool), and Inferno remain among his most celebrated novels, representing different genres and styles. He is often, though not universally, viewed as Sweden's greatest author, and taught in schools as a key figure of Swedish culture. The most important contemporary literary award in Sweden, Augustpriset , is named for Strindberg. The Swedish composer Ture Rangström dedicated his first Symphony, which
912-501: A Servant , Strindberg describes a childhood affected by "emotional insecurity, poverty, religious fanaticism and neglect". When he was seven, the family moved to Norrtullsgatan on the northern, almost-rural, periphery of the city. A year later they moved near Sabbatsberg, where they stayed for three years before returning to Norrtullsgatan. He attended a harsh school in Klara for four years, an experience that haunted him in his adult life. He
1064-418: A collection of short stories, Getting Married , that presented women in an egalitarian light and for which he was tried for and acquitted of blasphemy in Sweden. Two groups "led by influential members of the upper classes, supported by the right-wing press" probably instigated the prosecution; at the time, most people in Stockholm thought that Queen Sophia was behind it. By the end of that year Strindberg
1216-410: A collection of short stories, Legends , and a semi-dramatic novella, Jacob Wrestling (both printed in the same book 1898). Both volumes aroused curiosity and controversy, not least due to the religious element; earlier, Strindberg had been known to be indifferent or hostile to religion and especially priests, but now he had undergone some sort of conversion to a personal faith. In a postscript, he noted
1368-476: A contempt for official institutions. Returning to the university for what would be his final term in the spring, he left on 2 March 1872, without graduating. In Town and Gown (1877), a collection of short stories describing student life, he ridiculed Uppsala and its professors. Strindberg embarked on his career as a journalist and critic for newspapers in Stockholm. He was particularly excited at this time by Henry Thomas Buckle 's History of Civilization and
1520-465: A desire to make literature akin to a science. Following the inner turmoil that he experienced during the "Inferno crisis", he wrote an important book in French, Inferno (1896–7), in which he dramatised his experiences. He also exchanged a few cryptic letters with Friedrich Nietzsche . Strindberg subsequently ended his association with Naturalism and began to produce works informed by Symbolism . He
1672-514: A few northern German territories: Swedish Pomerania , Bremen-Verden and Wismar . The Swedish armies may have destroyed up to 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages and 1,500 towns in Germany , one-third of all German towns. In the middle of the 17th century Sweden was the third largest country in Europe by land area, only surpassed by Russia and Spain. Sweden reached its largest territorial extent under
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#17327905383831824-451: A fiscal crisis in the early 1990s. Sweden's GDP declined by around 5%. In 1992, there was a run on the currency, with the central bank briefly increasing interest to 500%. The response of the government was to cut spending and institute a multitude of reforms to improve Sweden's competitiveness, among them reducing the welfare state and privatising public services and goods. Much of the political establishment promoted EU membership, and
1976-505: A flow of resurgent inspiration, writing almost twenty new plays (many in a historical setting) between 1898 and 1902. His new works included the so-called Vasa Trilogy: The Saga of the Folkungs (1899), Gustavus Vasa (1899), and Erik XIV (1899) and A Dream Play (written in 1901, first performed in 1907). Strindberg was pivotal in the creation of chamber plays . Max Reinhardt was a big supporter of his, staging some of his plays at
2128-541: A fund-raiser for a special "people's award". Nathan Söderblom (friend of Strindberg since the mid-90s years in Paris, a prominent theologian and later to become archbishop of Sweden) was noted as a donor, and both he and Strindberg came under attack from circles close to the conservative party and the church. In total 45,000 Swedish crowns were collected, by more than 20,000 donors, most of whom were workers. Albert Bonniers förlag , who had already published much of his work over
2280-564: A genial enfant terrible of Swedish literature, transformed, eventually, into the role of a sort of ill-tempered towering giant of Swedish public life. Strindberg was a prolific letter-writer, whose private communications have been collected in several annotated volumes. He often voiced political views privately to friends and literary acquaintances, phrased in a no-holds-barred jargon of scathing attacks, drastic humor, and flippant hyperbole. Many of his most controversial political statements are drawn from this private correspondence. Influenced by
2432-399: A letter to Josephson: "My interest in the theatre, I must frankly state, has but one focus and one goal – my wife's career as an actress"; Josephson duly cast her in two roles the following season. Having returned to Kymmendö during the summer of 1882, Strindberg wrote a collection of anti-establishment short stories, The New Kingdom . While there, to provide a lead role for his wife and as
2584-423: A literary one, and began to write about non-literary subjects. When he was 37, he began The Son of a Servant , a four-part autobiography. The first part ends in 1867, the year he left home for Uppsala. Part two describes his youth up to 1872. Part three, or The Red Room , describes his years as a poet and journalist; it ends with his meeting Siri von Essen . Part four, which dealt with the years from 1877 to 1886,
2736-527: A matter of weeks, he sent a copy to Émile Zola for his approval, though Zola's reaction was lukewarm. The drama revolves around the conflict between the Captain, a father, husband, and scientist, and his wife, Laura, over the education of their only child, a fourteen-year-old daughter named Berta. Through unscrupulous means, Laura gets the Captain to doubt his fatherhood until he suffers a mental and physical collapse. While writing The Father , Strindberg himself
2888-472: A modern parliamentary democracy, achieved by the time of World War I. As the Industrial Revolution progressed during the 20th century, people gradually began moving into cities to work in factories and became involved in socialist unions. A communist revolution was avoided in 1917, following the re-introduction of parliamentarism , and the country saw comprehensive democratic reforms under
3040-600: A more chamber-oriented and sparse style of dramatic writing and production. In time for the theatre's opening, Strindberg wrote four chamber plays: Thunder in the Air, The Burned Site, The Ghost Sonata , and The Pelican ; these were generally not a success with audiences or newspaper critics at the time but have been highly influential on modern drama (and soon would reach wider audiences at Reinhardt's theatre in Berlin and other German stages). Strindberg had very specific ideas about how
3192-450: A nihilist, a republican, anything that is anti-reactionary!... I want to turn everything upside down to see what lies beneath; I believe we are so webbed, so horribly regimented, that no spring-cleaning is possible, everything must be burned, blown to bits, and then we can start afresh... Strindberg and Siri's daughter Karin was born on 26 February 1880. Buoyant from the reception of The Red Room , Strindberg swiftly completed The Secret of
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#17327905383833344-476: A number of plays. It was at this time that he first learnt about the ideas of Charles Darwin . He co-founded the Rune Society, a small literary club whose members adopted pseudonyms taken from runes of the ancient Teutonic alphabet – Strindberg called himself Frö (Seed), after the god of fertility. After abandoning a draft of a play about Eric XIV of Sweden halfway through in the face of criticism from
3496-504: A performance of The Pelican it was a rather large hit. Strindberg used a minimal technique, as was his way, by only having a back drop and some sea shells on the stage for scene design and props. Strindberg was much more concerned with the actors portraying the written word than the stage looking pretty. The theatre ran into a financial difficulty in February 1908 and Falck had to borrow money from Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke , who attended
3648-476: A period where "terms like anarchism, socialism, and communism were alternately used as synonyms and as different terms." Swedish people Swedes ( Swedish : svenskar ), or Swedish people , are an ethnic group native to Sweden , who share a common ancestry, culture , history and language . They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries , in particular Finland where they are an officially recognized minority, with Swedish being one of
3800-537: A prison cell, and then I want to scream so that walls and ceilings would fly apart, and I have so much to scream about, and therefore I remain silent." As a result of an argument in January 1876 concerning the inheritance of the family firm, Strindberg's relationship with his father was terminated (he did not attend his funeral in February 1883). From the beginning of 1876, Strindberg and Siri began to meet in secret, and that same year Siri and her husband divorced. Following
3952-626: A production of Miss Julie and wrote to Strindberg for permission. In September 1906 he staged the first Swedish production of Miss Julie . August Falck, played Jean and Manda Bjorling played Julie. In 1909, Strindberg thought he might get the Nobel Prize in Literature , but instead lost to Selma Lagerlöf , the first woman and first Swede to win the award. The leader of the Social Democrat Youth Alliance started
4104-625: A reply to Henrik Ibsen 's A Doll's House (1879), he also wrote Sir Bengt's Wife , which opened on 25 November 1882 at the New Theatre. He moved to Grez-sur-Loing , just south of Paris, France, where Larsson was staying. He then moved to Paris , which they found noisy and polluted. Income earned from Lucky Peter's Journey enabled him to move to Switzerland in 1883. He resided in Ouchy , where he stayed for some years. On 3 April 1884, Siri gave birth to their son, Hans. In 1884 Strindberg wrote
4256-598: A sequel volume of stories, though some were quite different in tone from those of the first. Another collection of stories, Utopias in Reality , was published in September 1885, though it was not well received. In 1885, they moved back to Paris. In September 1887 he began to write a novel in French about his relationship with Siri von Essen called The Defence of a Fool . In 1887, they moved to Issigatsbühl, near Lindau by Lake Constance . His next play, Comrades (1886),
4408-442: A shy voice, "This is for your mother - it's to settle an old debt". When the children returned to Helsinki, Siri was surprised to hear that she had been included, but accepted the money and told them in a voice that was, according to her daughter Karin, both proud and moved, "I shall accept it, receiving it as an old debt". The debt was less financial than mental and emotional; Strindberg knew he had sometimes treated her unfairly during
4560-500: A successful audition that December, Siri became an actress at the Royal Theatre . They married a year later, on 30 December 1877; Siri was seven months pregnant at the time. Their first child was born prematurely on 21 January 1878 and died two days later. On 9 January 1879, Strindberg was declared bankrupt. In November 1879, his novel The Red Room was published. A satire of Stockholm society, it has frequently been described as
4712-600: A time, my god, alongside Nietzsche". A multi-faceted author, Strindberg's novel The Red Room (1879) made him famous. His early plays belong to the Naturalistic movement. His works from this time are often compared with the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen . Strindberg's best-known play from this period is Miss Julie . Among his most widely read works is the novel The People of Hemsö . Strindberg wanted to attain what he called "greater Naturalism". He disliked
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4864-627: A tutor for the children of two well-known physicians in Stockholm. He first left Uppsala in 1868 to work as a schoolteacher, but then studied chemistry for some time at the Institute of Technology in Stockholm in preparation for medical studies, later working as a private tutor before becoming an extra at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm. In May 1869, he failed his qualifying chemistry examination which in turn made him uninterested in schooling. Strindberg returned to Uppsala University in January 1870 to study aesthetics and modern languages and to work on
5016-429: A wide range of dramatic methods and purposes, from naturalistic tragedy , monodrama , and historical plays to his anticipations of expressionist and surrealist dramatic techniques. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed innovative forms of dramatic action, language, and visual composition. He is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature and his The Red Room (1879) has frequently been described as
5168-486: A wreath for the bier. Tennessee Williams , Edward Albee , Maxim Gorky , John Osborne , and Ingmar Bergman are among the many artists who have cited Strindberg as an influence. Eugene O'Neill , upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature, dedicated much of his acceptance speech to describing Strindberg's influence on his work, and referred to him as "that greatest genius of all modern dramatists." Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges said of Strindberg: "[he] was, for
5320-442: Is Swedish ( svenska [ˈsvɛ̂nːska] ) a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is, to a considerable extent, mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with spoken Danish (see especially " Classification "). Along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish
5472-757: Is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era . It is the largest of the North Germanic languages by numbers of speakers. Standard Swedish , used by most Swedish people, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from
5624-576: Is considered one of the pioneers of the modern European stage and Expressionism . The Dance of Death , A Dream Play , and The Ghost Sonata are well-known plays from this period. His most famous and produced plays are Master Olof , Miss Julie , and The Father . Internationally, Strindberg is chiefly remembered as a playwright, but in his native Sweden his name is associated no less with novels and other writings. Röda rummet (The Red Room), Hemsöborna (The People of Hemsö), Giftas (Getting Married), En dåres försvarstal (The Confession of
5776-577: Is sometimes considered as the foundation of modern Sweden . Shortly afterwards he rejected Catholicism and led Sweden into the Protestant Reformation . Economically, Gustav Vasa broke the monopoly of the Hanseatic League over Swedish Baltic Sea trade. The Hanseatic League had been officially formed at Lübeck on the sea coast of Northern Germany in 1356. The Hanseatic League sought civil and commercial privileges from
5928-482: Is usually credited for introducing Christianity in 829, but the new religion did not begin to fully replace paganism until the 12th century. During the 11th century, Christianity became the most prevalent religion, and from 1050 Sweden is counted as a Christian nation. The period between 1100 and 1400 was characterized by internal power struggles and competition among the Nordic kingdoms. Swedish kings also began to expand
6080-676: The Anglo-Saxon elite had extensive contacts with Swedish elite. In the sixth century Jordanes named two tribes, which he calls the Suehans and the Suetidi , who lived in Scandza . The Suehans, he says, have very fine horses just as the Thyringi tribe ( alia vero gens ibi moratur Suehans, quae velud Thyringi equis utuntur eximiis ). The Icelander Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) wrote of
6232-662: The Battle of Narva in 1700, one of the first battles of the Great Northern War , the Russian army was so severely decimated that Sweden had an open chance to invade Russia. However, Charles did not pursue the Russian army, instead turning against Poland–Lithuania and defeating the Polish king Augustus II and his Saxon allies at the Battle of Kliszow in 1702. This gave Russia time to rebuild and modernize its army. After
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6384-670: The Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate . It was abandoned c. AD 975 , around the same time Sigtuna was founded as a Christian town some 35 km to the northeast. It has been estimated that the population in Viking Age Birka was between 500 and 1000 people. Archaeological finds indicate that Birka was still wealthy in the 9th and 10th centuries. Thousands of graves, coins, jewelry and other luxury items have been found there. St. Ansgar
6536-668: The England Runestones . The last major Swedish Viking expedition appears to have been the ill-fated expedition of Ingvar the Far-Travelled to Serkland , the region south-east of the Caspian Sea . Its members are commemorated on the Ingvar Runestones , none of which mentions any survivor. What happened to the crew is unknown, but it is believed that they died of sickness. It is not known when and how
6688-679: The Geats to the south. It is believed that Swedish Vikings and Gutar mainly travelled east and south, going to Finland, the Baltic countries, Russia, Belarus , Ukraine the Black Sea and further as far as Baghdad . Their routes passed through the Dnieper down south to Constantinople , on which they did numerous raids. The Byzantine Emperor Theophilos noticed their great skills in war and invited them to serve as his personal bodyguard, known as
6840-684: The Nordic Bronze Age which was followed by the Pre-Roman Iron Age . Like other North Germanic peoples , Swedes likely emerged as a distinct ethnic group during this time. Swedes enters written proto-history with the Germania of Tacitus in 98 AD. In Germania 44, 45 he mentions the Swedes ( Suiones ) as a powerful tribe ( distinguished not merely for their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets ) with ships that had
6992-634: The Pitted Ware culture . Prior to the first century AD there is no written evidence and historiography is based solely on various forms of archeology . The Proto-Germanic language is thought to have originated in the arrival of the Battle Axe culture in Scandinavia and the Germanic tribal societies of Scandinavia were thereafter surprisingly stable for thousands of years. The merger of the Battle Axe and Pitted Ware cultures eventually gave rise to
7144-681: The Royal Theatre convinced him to put on a new play for its sixtieth birthday. He wrote The Last of the Knights (1908), Earl Birger of Bjälbo (1909), and The Regents (1909). His other works, such as Days of Loneliness (1903), The Roofing Ceremony (1907), and The Scapegoat (1907), and the novels The Gothic Rooms (1904) and Black Banners Genre Scenes from the Turn of the Century , (1907) have been viewed as precursors to Marcel Proust and Franz Kafka . August Falck, an actor, wanted to put on
7296-541: The Uppsala University , where he began on 13 September. Strindberg spent the next few years in Uppsala and Stockholm, alternately studying for examinations and trying his hand at non-academic pursuits. As a young student, Strindberg also worked as an assistant in a pharmacy in the university town of Lund in southern Sweden. He supported himself in between studies as a substitute primary-school teacher and as
7448-732: The Visigoths and the Ostrogoths , and established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy respectively. Crimean Gothic communities appear to have survived intact in the Crimea until the late-18th century. The Swedish Viking Age lasted roughly between the eighth and 11th centuries. During this period, it is believed that the Swedes expanded from eastern Sweden and incorporated
7600-512: The varangian guard . The Swedish Vikings, called " Rus " are also believed to be the founding fathers of Kievan Rus . The Arabic traveller Ibn Fadlan described these Vikings as following: I have seen the Rus as they came on their merchant journeys and encamped by the Itil . I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blond and ruddy; they wear neither tunics nor caftans, but
7752-472: The 'kingdom of Sweden' was born, but the list of Swedish monarchs is drawn from the first kings who ruled both Svealand (Sweden) and Götaland (Gothia) as one province with Erik the Victorious . Sweden and Gothia were two separate nations long before that into antiquity. It is not known how long they existed, but Beowulf described semi-legendary Swedish-Geatish wars in the sixth century. During
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#17327905383837904-612: The 1809 loss of eastern Sweden to Russia which became the highly autonomous Grand Principality of Finland in Imperial Russia . In interest of reestablishing Swedish dominance in the Baltic Sea, Sweden allied itself against its traditional ally and benefactor, France, in the Napoleonic Wars . Sweden's role in the Battle of Leipzig gave it the authority to force Denmark-Norway, an ally of France, to cede Norway to
8056-514: The 1890s, he espoused conservative and religious views that alienated many former supporters. He resumed his attacks on conservative society with great vigor in the years immediately preceding his death. Strindberg's opinions were typically stated with great force and vitriol, and sometimes humorously over-stated. He was involved in a variety of crises and feuds, skirmishing regularly with the literary and cultural establishment of his day, including erstwhile allies and friends. His youthful reputation as
8208-691: The American military in Iraq. Sweden also has a long history of participating in international military operations, including most recently, Afghanistan , where Swedish troops are under NATO command, and in EU sponsored peacekeeping operations in Kosovo , Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Cyprus . Sweden held the chair of the European Union from 1 July to 31 December 2009. The native language of nearly all Swedes
8360-637: The Casino Theatre in Copenhagen. It enjoyed a successful run for 11 days after which it toured the Danish provinces. Before writing Creditors , Strindberg completed one of his most famous pieces, Miss Julie . He wrote the play with a Parisian stage in mind, in particular the Théâtre Libre , founded in 1887 by André Antoine . In the play he used Charles Darwin 's theory of survival of
8512-505: The Centre Party). Between 1870 and 1914, Sweden began developing the industrialized economy that exists today. Strong grassroots movements sprung up in Sweden during the latter half of the 19th century ( trade unions , temperance groups, and independent religious groups), creating a strong foundation of democratic principles. In 1889 The Swedish Social Democratic Party was founded. These movements precipitated Sweden's migration into
8664-459: The Guild , an historical drama set in Uppsala at the beginning of the 15th century about the conflict between two masons over the completion of the city cathedral, which opened at the Royal Theatre on 3 May 1880 (his first première in nine years); Siri played Margaretha. That spring he formed a friendship with the painter Carl Larsson . A collected edition of all of Strindberg's previous writings
8816-545: The Holy Roman states. Gustav Adolphus planned to become the new Holy Roman Emperor , ruling over a united Scandinavia and the Holy Roman states, but he died at the Battle of Lützen in 1632. After the Battle of Nördlingen , Sweden's only significant military defeat of the war, pro-Swedish sentiment among the German states faded. These German provinces excluded themselves from Swedish power one by one, leaving Sweden with only
8968-661: The King of Sweden on 14 January 1814 in exchange for northern German provinces, at the Treaty of Kiel . The Norwegian attempts to keep their status as a sovereign state were rejected by the Swedish king, Charles XIII . He launched a military campaign against Norway on 27 July 1814, ending in the Convention of Moss , which forced Norway into a personal union with Sweden under the Swedish crown, which lasted until 1905. The 1814 campaign
9120-561: The Kingdom of Sweden had a much larger territory, especially during "The Era of Great Power" ( Swedish Empire ) in 1611–1718. Finland was a part of Sweden until 1809. Since there was no separate Finnish nationality at those times, it is not unusual that sources predating 1809 refer both to Swedes and Finns as "Swedes". This is particularly the case with New Sweden , where some of the Swedish settlers were of Finnish origin. Questionnaire surveys of Swedish embassies conducted by Swedes Worldwide,
9272-663: The Kleines Theatre in 1902 (including The Bond , The Stronger , and The Outlaw ). Once Otto Brahm relinquished his role as head as of the Deutsches Theatre , Reinhardt took over and produced Strindberg's plays. In 1903, Strindberg planned to write a grand cycle of plays based on world history, but the idea soon faded. He had completed short plays about Martin Luther , Plato , Moses , Jesus Christ , and Socrates . He wrote another historical drama in 1908 after
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#17327905383839424-670: The Modern Theatre", in which he disassociated himself from naturalism, arguing that it was petty and unimaginative realism. His sympathy for Nietzsche's philosophy and atheism in general was also on the wane. He entered the period of his "Inferno crisis", in which he had psychological and religious upheavals that influenced his later works. August Strindberg's Inferno is his personal account of sinking deeper into some kind of madness, typified by visions and paranoia. In Strindberg och alkoholen (1985), James Spens discusses Strindberg's drinking habits, including his liking for absinthe and its possible implications for Strindberg's mental health during
9576-508: The Occult". In 1898 he returned to play-writing with To Damascus , which, like The Great Highway (1909), is a dream-play of spiritual pilgrimage. His A Dream Play (1902) – with its radical attempt to dramatize the workings of the unconscious by means of an abolition of conventional dramatic time and space and the splitting, doubling, merging, and multiplication of its characters – was an important precursor to both expressionism and surrealism. He also returned to writing historical drama,
9728-414: The Red Room in Bern's Restaurant . Early in the summer of 1875, he met Siri von Essen , a 24-year-old aspiring actress who, by virtue of her husband, was a baroness – he became infatuated with her. Strindberg described himself as a "failed author" at this time: "I feel like a deaf-mute," he wrote, "as I cannot speak and am not permitted to write; sometimes I stand in the middle of my room that seems like
9880-651: The Rune Society, on 30 March he completed a one-act comedy in verse called In Rome about Bertel Thorvaldsen , which he had begun the previous autumn. The play was accepted by the Royal Theatre , where it premièred on 13 September 1870. As he watched it performed, he realised that it was not good and felt like drowning himself, though the reviews published the following day were generally favourable. That year he also first read works of Søren Kierkegaard and Georg Brandes , both of whom influenced him. Taking his cue from William Shakespeare , he began to use colloquial and realistic speech in his historical dramas, which challenged
10032-449: The Scandinavian Experimental Theatre in Copenhagen, where Siri became manager. He asked writers to send him scripts, which he received from Herman Bang , Gustav Wied and Nathalia Larsen. Less than a year later, with the theatre and reconciliation short lived, he moved back to Sweden while Siri moved back to her native Finland with the children. While there, he rode out the final phase of the divorce and later used this agonizing ordeal for
10184-434: The Swedish Empire, Sweden was a very poor and scarcely populated country on the fringe of European civilization, with no significant power or reputation. Sweden rose to prominence on a continental scale during the tenure of king Gustavus Adolphus , seizing territories from Russia and Poland–Lithuania in multiple conflicts, including the Thirty Years' War . During the Thirty Years' War, Sweden conquered approximately half of
10336-413: The Swedish economy had deteriorated. It became the lifetime task of Charles' son, Charles XI , to rebuild the economy and refit the army. His legacy to his son, the coming ruler of Sweden Charles XII , was one of the finest arsenals in the world, a large standing army and a great fleet. Sweden's largest threat at this time, Russia, had a larger army but was far behind in both equipment and training. After
10488-468: The Swedish involvement in rescue missions at the internment camps and partly because Sweden served as a haven for refugees, primarily from the Nordic countries and the Baltic states . Nevertheless, internal and external critics have argued that Sweden could have done more to resist the Nazi war effort, even if risking occupation although doing so would likely have resulted in even greater number of casualties and prevented many humanitarian efforts. Sweden
10640-453: The Swedish referendum passed with 52% in favour of joining the EU on 13 November 1994. Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995. After over 200 years of neutrality, Sweden joined NATO on 7 March 2024, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine . Sweden has had extensive cooperation with other European countries in the area of defence technology and defence industry. Among others, Swedish companies export weapons that are used by
10792-454: The Swedish-controlled territory in Finland, creating conflicts with the Rus who no longer had any connection with Sweden. Except for the province of Skåne , on the southernmost tip of Sweden which was under Danish control during this time, feudalism never developed in Sweden as it did in the rest of Europe. Therefore, the peasantry remained largely a class of free farmers throughout most of Swedish history. Slavery (also called thralldom )
10944-728: The United States. In the early 20th century, more Swedes lived in Chicago than in Gothenburg (Sweden's second largest city). Most Swedish immigrants moved to the Midwestern United States , with a large population in Minnesota , with a few others moving to other parts of the United States and Canada. Despite the slow rate of industrialization into the 19th century, many important changes were taking place in
11096-480: The age of 63. Strindberg was interred at Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm. He had given strict instructions concerning his funeral and how his body should be treated after death: only members of his immediate family were allowed to view his body, there would be no autopsy, no photographs were taken, and no death mask was made. Strindberg had also requested that his funeral should take place as soon as possible after his death to avoid crowds of onlookers. However,
11248-506: The agrarian economy because of innovations and the large population growth. These innovations included government-sponsored programs of enclosure , aggressive exploitation of agricultural lands, and the introduction of new crops such as the potato. Because the Swedish peasantry had never been enserfed as elsewhere in Europe, the Swedish farming culture began to take on a critical role in the Swedish political process, which has continued through modern times with modern Agrarian party (now called
11400-412: The auditorium, which was decorated in a deep-green tone. The ceiling lighting was a yellow silk cover which created an effect of mild daylight. The floor was covered with a deep-green carpet, and the auditorium was decorated by six ultra modern columns with elaborate up-to-date capitals. Instead of the usual restaurant Strindberg offered a lounge for the ladies and a smoking-room for the gentlemen. The stage
11552-569: The basis of The Bond and the Link (1893). Strindberg also became interested in short drama, called Quart d'heure. He was inspired by writers such as Gustave Guiche and Henri de Lavedan. His notable contribution was The Stronger (1889). As a result of the failure of the Scandinavian Experimental Theatre, Strindberg did not work as a playwright for three years. In 1889, he published an essay entitled "On Modern Drama and
11704-521: The beginning of the end for the Swedish Empire. Charles XII attempted to invade Norway 1716; however, he was shot dead at Fredriksten fortress in 1718. The Swedes were not militarily defeated at Fredriksten, but the whole structure and organization of the Norwegian campaign fell apart with the king's death, and the army withdrew. Forced to cede large areas of land in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, Sweden also lost its place as an empire and as
11856-631: The coast and isles . Smaller groups of historical descendants of 18th–20th-century Swedish emigrants who still retain varying aspects of Swedish identity to this day can be found in the Americas (especially Minnesota and Wisconsin ; see Swedish Americans ) and in Ukraine. Currently, Swedes tend to emigrate mostly to the Nordic neighbour countries (Norway, Denmark, Finland), English speaking countries (United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand), Spain, France and Germany. Historically,
12008-727: The convention that they should be written in stately verse. During the Christmas holiday of 1870–71, he rewrote a historical tragedy, Sven the Sacrificer , as a one-act play in prose called The Outlaw . Depressed by Uppsala, he stayed in Stockholm, returning to the university in April to pass an exam in Latin and in June to defend his thesis on Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger 's Romantic tragedy Earl Haakon (1802). Following further revision in
12160-586: The disastrous Battle of Kircholm being one of the highlights. One-third of the Finnish population died in the devastating famine that struck the country in 1696. Famine also hit Sweden, killing roughly 10% of Sweden's population. The Swedes conducted a series of invasions into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , known as the Deluge . After more than half a century of almost constant warfare,
12312-524: The dominant state on the Baltic Sea. With Sweden's lost influence, Russia emerged as an empire and became one of Europe's dominant nations. As the war finally ended in 1721, Sweden had lost an estimated 200,000 men, 150,000 of those from the area of present-day Sweden and 50,000 from the Finnish part of Sweden. In the 18th century, Sweden did not have enough resources to maintain its territories outside Scandinavia, and most of them were lost, culminating with
12464-599: The earliest known original area inhabited by their linguistic ancestors, is in the country of Sweden, situated on the eastern side of the Scandinavian Peninsula and the islands adjacent to it, situated west of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe . The Swedish-speaking people living in near-coastal areas on the north-eastern and eastern side of the Baltic Sea also have a long history of continuous settlement, which in some of these areas possibly started about
12616-595: The early stages of the Viking Age, a centre of trade in northern Europe developed at Birka on the island of Björkö , not far from where Stockholm was later constructed, in mid-latitude Sweden. Birka was founded around 750 AD as a trading port by a king or merchants trying to control trade. Birka was the Baltic link in the Dnieper Trade Route through Ladoga ( Aldeigja ) and Novgorod ( Holmsgard ) to
12768-511: The economic life of that city and made the port city of Stockholm into the leading commercial and industrial city of Sweden. Under the Hanseatic trade two-thirds of Stockholm's imports consisted of textiles and one third of salt. Exports from Sweden consisted of iron and copper. However, the Swedes began to resent the monopoly trading position of the Hansa (mostly German citizens) and to resent
12920-501: The established accomplishments of Henrik Ibsen 's prose problem plays while rejecting their use of the structure of the well-made play – responded to the call-to-arms of Émile Zola 's manifesto "Naturalism in the Theatre" (1881) and the example set by André Antoine 's newly established Théâtre Libre (opened 1887). In Miss Julie , characterisation replaces plot as the predominant dramatic element (in contrast to melodrama and
13072-514: The exception of the Winter War when it declared itself non-belligerant . It's neutrality during the rest of the war has also been disputed. Sweden was under German influence for much of the war, as ties to the rest of the world were cut off through blockades. The Swedish government felt that it was in no position to openly contest Germany, and therefore made some concessions. Sweden also supplied steel and machined parts to Germany throughout
13224-512: The expository character backgrounds that characterise the work of Henrik Ibsen and rejected the convention of a dramatic " slice of life " because he felt that the resulting plays were mundane and uninteresting. Strindberg felt that true naturalism was a psychological "battle of brains": two people who hate each other in the immediate moment and strive to drive the other to doom is the type of mental hostility that Strindberg strove to describe. He intended his plays to be impartial and objective, citing
13376-414: The fact that the peasantry had traditionally been free meant that more of the economic benefits flowed back to them rather than going to a feudal landowning class. This was not the case in other countries of Europe like Poland where the peasantry was still bound by serfdom and a strong feudalistic land owning system. During the 17th century Sweden emerged as a European great power . Before the emergence of
13528-577: The first century AD. The term is believed to have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European reflexive pronominal root, *s(w)e , as the Latin suus . The word must have meant "one's own (tribesmen)". The same root and original meaning is found in the ethnonym of the Germanic tribe Suebi , preserved to this day in the name Swabia . Like other Scandinavians , Swedes descend from the presumably Indo-European Battle Axe culture and also
13680-589: The first modern Swedish novel. In Sweden, Strindberg is known as an essayist, painter, poet, and especially novelist and playwright, but in other countries he is known mostly as a playwright. The Royal Theatre rejected his first major play, Master Olof , in 1872; it was not until 1881, when he was thirty-two, that its première at the New Theatre gave him his theatrical breakthrough. In his plays The Father (1887), Miss Julie (1888), and Creditors (1889), he created naturalistic dramas that – building on
13832-460: The first modern Swedish novel. While receiving mixed reviews in Sweden, it was acclaimed in Denmark, where Strindberg was hailed as a genius. As a result of The Red Room , he had become famous throughout Scandinavia. Edvard Brandes wrote that the novel "makes the reader want to join the fight against hypocrisy and reaction." In his response to Brandes, Strindberg explained that: I am a socialist,
13984-613: The first volume of Georg Brandes' Main Currents of Nineteenth-Century Literature . From December 1874, Strindberg worked for eight years as an assistant librarian at the Royal Library . That same month, Strindberg offered Master Olof to Edvard Stjernström (the director of the newly built New Theatre in Stockholm), but it was rejected. He socialised with writers, painters, journalists, and other librarians; they often met in
14136-475: The fittest and dramatized a doomed sexual encounter that crosses the division of social classes. It is believed that this play was inspired by the marriage of Strindberg, the son of a servant, to an aristocratic woman. In the essay On Psychic Murder (1887), he referred to the psychological theories of the Nancy School , which advocated the use of hypnosis. Strindberg developed a theory that sexual warfare
14288-548: The genre with which he had begun his play-writing career. He helped to run the Intimate Theatre from 1907, a small-scale theatre in Stockholm, modeled on Max Reinhardt 's Kammerspielhaus , that staged his chamber plays (such as The Ghost Sonata ). Strindberg was born on 22 January 1849 in Stockholm, Sweden, the third surviving son of Carl Oscar Strindberg ( a shipping agent ) and Eleonora Ulrika Norling (a serving-maid). In his autobiographical novel The Son of
14440-439: The globe, entered a period of economic decline and upheaval, following the oil embargoes of 1973–74 and 1978–79. In the 1980s pillars of Swedish industry were massively restructured. Shipbuilding was discontinued, wood pulp was integrated into modernized paper production, the steel industry was concentrated and specialized, and mechanical engineering was robotized. Between 1970 and 1990 the overall tax burden rose by over 10%, and
14592-533: The growth was low compared to other countries in Western Europe. The marginal income tax for workers reached over 80% . Eventually government spent over half of the country's gross domestic product . Sweden GDP per capita ranking declined during this time. A bursting real estate bubble caused by inadequate controls on lending combined with an international recession and a policy switch from anti-unemployment policies to anti-inflationary policies resulted in
14744-480: The history of the 1871 Paris Commune , the young Strindberg had embraced the view that politics was the art of the upper class to keep the lower class under itself. Early works like the Red Room or Master Olof took aim at public hypocrisy, royalty, and organized religion. He was, at this time, an outspoken socialist , mainly influenced by anarchist or libertarian socialist ideas. However, Strindberg's socialism
14896-584: The impact of Emanuel Swedenborg on his current work. "The Powers" were central to Strindberg's later work. He said that "the Powers" were an outside force that had caused him his physical and mental suffering because they were acting in retribution to humankind for their wrongdoings. As William Blake , Ralph Waldo Emerson , Honoré de Balzac , and William Butler Yeats had been, he was drawn to Swedenborg 's mystical visions, with their depictions of spiritual landscape and Christian morality. Strindberg believed for
15048-425: The income they felt they lost to the Hansa. Consequently, when Gustav Vasa or Gustav I broke the monopoly power of the Hanseatic League he was regarded as a hero to the Swedish people. History now views Gustav I as the father of the modern Swedish nation. The foundations laid by Gustav would take time to develop. Furthermore, when Sweden did develop and freed itself from the Hanseatic League and entered its golden era,
15200-517: The inferno period. On midsummer's day, 1891, while staying with Siri and her close friend, the Danish woman Marie Caroline David, on the island Runmarö , in the Stockholm Archipelago , Strindberg suspected Siri was having a long-term affair with David, and he violently assaulted her, precipitating the end of the marriage. After his disenchantment with naturalism, Strindberg had a growing interest in transcendental matters. Symbolism
15352-428: The iron would be shipped abroad. A large number of children inherited the Swedish crown over the course of the kingdom's existence. King Christian II of Denmark ordered a massacre in 1520 of Swedish nobles at Stockholm. This came to be known as the " Stockholm blood bath " and stirred the Swedish nobility to new resistance and, on 6 June (now Sweden's national holiday) in 1523, they made Gustav Vasa their king. This
15504-533: The joint Liberal-Social Democrat cabinet of Nils Edén and Hjalmar Branting , with universal and equal suffrage to both houses of parliament enacted for men in 1918 and for women in 1919. The reforms were widely accepted by King Gustaf V , who had previously ousted Karl Staaff 's elected Liberal government in the Courtyard Crisis because of differences in defence policy. Sweden remained officially neutral during World War I and most of World War II, with
15656-526: The last of which is probably the best-known statement of the principles of the theatrical movement. During the 1890s he spent significant time abroad engaged in scientific experiments and studies of the occult. A series of apparent psychotic attacks between 1894 and 1896 (referred to as his " Inferno crisis") led to his hospitalization and return to Sweden. Under the influence of the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg , he resolved after his recovery to become "the Zola of
15808-451: The later years of their marriage and at their divorce trial. In 1912, she would pass away only a few weeks before him. In 1907, Strindberg co-founded The Intimate Theatre in Stockholm, together with the young actor and stage director August Falck. His theatre was modeled after Max Reinhardt 's Kammerspiel Haus. Strindberg and Falck had the intention of the theatre being used for his plays and his plays only, Strindberg also wanted to try out
15960-613: The men wear a garment which covers one side of the body and leaves a hand free. Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife, and keeps each by him at all times. The swords are broad and grooved, of Frankish sort. The adventures of these Swedish Vikings are commemorated on many runestones in Sweden, such as the Greece Runestones and the Varangian Runestones . There was also considerable participation in expeditions westwards, which are commemorated on stones such as
16112-536: The mid-1890s, and perhaps that he temporarily experienced insanity. Others, including Evert Sprinchorn and Olof Lagercrantz , believed that he intentionally turned himself into his own guinea pig by doing psychological and drug-induced self-experimentation. He wrote on subjects such as botany , chemistry , and optics before returning to literature with the publication of Inferno (1897), a (half fictionalized) account of his "wilderness years" in Austria and Paris, then
16264-630: The next year; Larsson provided illustrations. At Strindberg's insistence, Siri resigned from the Royal Theatre in the spring, having become pregnant again. Their second daughter, Greta, was born on 9 June 1881, while they were staying on the island of Kymmendö . That month, a collection of essays from the past 10 years, Studies in Cultural History , was published. Ludvig Josephson (the new artistic director of Stockholm's New Theatre ) agreed to stage Master Olof , eventually opting for
16416-517: The officer corps. After that, he grew very critical of Rousseau and turned to Friedrich Nietzsche 's philosophies, which emphasized the male intellect. Nietzsche's influence can be seen in The Defence of a Fool (1893), Pariah (1889), Creditors (1889), and By the Open Sea (1890). Another change in his life after the trial is that Strindberg decided he wanted a scientific life instead of
16568-658: The official languages of the country, and with a substantial diaspora in other countries, especially the United States . The English term "Swede" has been attested in English since the late 16th century and is of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German origin. In Swedish , the term is svensk , which is from the name of svear (or Swedes), the people who inhabited Svealand in eastern central Sweden , and were listed as Suiones in Tacitus ' history Germania from
16720-463: The older rural dialects still exist, the spoken and written language is uniform and standardized. Some dialects differ considerably from the standard language in grammar and vocabulary and are not always mutually intelligible with Standard Swedish. These dialects are confined to rural areas and are spoken primarily by small numbers of people with low social mobility . Though not facing imminent extinction , such dialects have been in decline during
16872-413: The only way to prevent famine and rebellion; over 1% of the population emigrated annually during the 1880s. Nevertheless, Sweden remained poor, retaining a nearly entirely agricultural economy even as Denmark and Western European countries began to industrialize. Many looked towards America for a better life during this time. It is believed that between 1850 and 1910 more than one million Swedes moved to
17024-428: The past century, despite the fact that they are well researched and their use is often encouraged by local authorities. According to recent genetic analysis, both mtDNA and Y chromosome polymorphisms showed a noticeable genetic affinity between Swedes and other Germanic ethnic groups. Paternally , through their Y-DNA haplogroups , the Swedes are quite diverse and show strongly of Haplogroup I1d1 at over 40% of
17176-410: The peasantry and some became laborers in the towns. Still, Sweden remained a poor and economically backward country in which barter was the means of exchange. For instance, the farmers of the province of Dalsland would transport their butter to the mining districts of Sweden and exchange it there for iron, which they would then take down to the coast and trade the iron for fish they needed for food while
17328-661: The people of south Scandinavia spoke Proto-Norse at the time, a language ancestral to Swedish and other North Germanic languages . The migration age in Sweden is marked by the extreme weather events of 535–536 which is believed to have shaken Scandinavian society to its core. As much as 50% of the population of Scandinavia is thought to have died as a result and the emerging Vendel Period shows an increased militarization of society. Several areas with rich burial gifts have been found, including well-preserved boat inhumation graves at Vendel and Valsgärde , and tumuli at Gamla Uppsala . These were used for several generations. Some of
17480-504: The population tested in different studies, followed by R1a1a and R1b1a2a1a1 with over 20% each and haplogroup N1c1 with over 5% at different regional variance. The rest are within haplogroups J and E1b1b1 and other less common ones. Maternally , through their mtDNA haplogroups , the Swedes show very strongly of haplogroup H at 25–30%, followed by haplogroup U at a 10% or more, with haplogroup J and T , K at around 5% each. The largest area inhabited by Swedes, as well as
17632-805: The première of The Pelican . The theatre eventually went bankrupt in 1910, but did not close until Strindberg's death in 1912. The newspapers wrote about the theatre until its death. Strindberg died shortly after the first staging of one of his plays in the United States — The Father opened on 9 April 1912 at the Berkeley Theatre in New York, in a translation by painter and playwright Edith Gardener Shearn Oland and her husband actor Warner Oland . They jointly published their translations of his plays in book form in 1912. During Christmas 1911, Strindberg became sick with pneumonia and he never recovered completely. He also began to suffer more clearly from
17784-537: The princes and royalty of the countries and cities along the coasts of the Baltic Sea. In exchange they offered a certain amount of protection. Having their own navy the Hansa were able to sweep the Baltic Sea free of pirates. The privileges obtained by the Hansa included assurances that only Hansa citizens would be allowed to trade from the ports where they were located. They also sought agreement to be free of all customs and taxes. With these concessions, Lübeck merchants flocked to Stockholm, Sweden and soon came to dominate
17936-425: The prose version – the five-hour-long production opened on 30 December 1881 under the direction of August Lindberg to favourable reviews. While this production of Master Olof was his breakthrough in the theatre, Strindberg's five-act fairy-tale play Lucky Peter's Journey , which opened on 22 December 1883, brought him his first significant success, although he dismissed it as a potboiler . In March 1882 he wrote in
18088-423: The rest of his life that the relationship between the transcendental and the real world was described by a series of "correspondences" and that everyday events were really messages from above of which only the enlightened could make sense. He also felt that he was chosen by Providence to atone for the moral decay of others and that his tribulations were payback for misdeeds earlier in his life. Strindberg had spent
18240-466: The riches were probably acquired through the control of mining districts and the production of iron. The rulers had troops of mounted elite warriors with costly armour. Graves of mounted warriors have been found with stirrups and saddle ornaments of birds of prey in gilded bronze with encrusted garnets. The Sutton Hoo helmet very similar to helmets in Gamla Uppsala, Vendel and Valsgärde shows that
18392-430: The rule of Charles X after the treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The foundation of Sweden's success during this period is credited to Gustav I 's major changes on the Swedish economy in the 16th century, and his introduction of Protestantism . In the 17th century, Sweden was engaged in many wars, for example with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with both sides competing for territories of today's Baltic states , with
18544-461: The same height. Originating in semi-legendary Scandza (believed to be somewhere in modern Götaland , Sweden), a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the second century AD. They reaching Scythia on the coast of the Black Sea in modern Ukraine, where Goths left their archaeological traces in the Chernyakhov culture . In the fifth and sixth centuries, they became divided as
18696-558: The sixth-century Swedish king Adils (Eadgils) that he had the finest horses of his days. The Suehans supplied black fox-skins for the Roman market. Then Jordanes names the Suetidi which is considered to be the Latin form of Svitjod . He writes that the Suetidi are the tallest of men—together with the Dani , who were of the same stock. Later he mentions other Scandinavian tribes as being of
18848-495: The success of invading Poland, Charles decided to make an invasion attempt of Russia which ended in a decisive Russian victory at the Battle of Poltava in 1709. After a long march exposed to cossack raids, Russian Tsar Peter the Great 's scorched-earth techniques and the extremely cold winter of 1709 , the Swedes stood weakened with a shattered morale and enormously outnumbered against the Russian army at Poltava. The defeat meant
19000-453: The summer, The Outlaw opened at the Royal Theatre on 16 October 1871. Despite hostile reviews, the play earned him an audience with King Charles XV , who supported his studies with a payment of 200 riksdaler . Towards the end of the year Strindberg completed a first draft of his first major work, a play about Olaus Petri called Master Olof . In September 1872, the Royal Theatre rejected it, leading to decades of rewrites, bitterness, and
19152-423: The tail end of 1896 and most of 1897 in the university town of Lund in southern Sweden, a sojourn during which he made a number of new friendships, felt his mental stability and health improving and also firmly returned to literary writing; Inferno, Legends and Jacob Wrestling were written there. In 1899, he returned permanently to Stockholm, following a successful production there of Master Olof in 1897 (which
19304-410: The theatre would be opened and operated. He drafted a series of rules for his theatre in a letter to August Falck: 1. No liquor. 2. No Sunday performances. 3. Short performances without intermissions. 4. No calls. 5. Only 160 seats in the auditorium. 6. No prompter. No orchestra, only music on stage. 7. The text will be sold at the box office and in the lobby. 8. Summer performances. Falck helped to design
19456-403: The war. However, Sweden supported Norwegian resistance, and in 1943 helped rescue Danish Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps . Sweden also supported Finland in the Winter War with volunteers and materiel . Toward the end of the war, Sweden began to play a role in humanitarian efforts and many refugees, among them many Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe, were saved partly because of
19608-540: The well-made play) and the determining role of heredity and the environment on the "vacillating, disintegrated" characters is emphasized. Strindberg modeled his short-lived Scandinavian Experimental Theatre (1889) in Copenhagen on Antoine's theatre and he explored the theory of Naturalism in his essays "On Psychic Murder" (1887), "On Modern Drama and the Modern Theatre" (1889), and a preface to Miss Julie ,
19760-444: The workers' organisations requested that the funeral should take place on a Sunday to make it possible for working men to pay their respects, and the funeral was postponed for five days, until Sunday, 19 May. According to Strindberg's last wish, the funeral procession was to start at 8am, again to avoid crowds, but large groups of people were nevertheless waiting outside his home as well as at the cemetery, as early as 7am. A short service
19912-505: The years, paid him 200,000 Swedish crowns for the publishing rights to his complete works; the first volumes of the edition would appear in print in 1912, a few months before his death. He invited his first three children (now, like their mother, living in Finland) to Stockholm and divided the money into five shares, one for each child, one for Siri (absent), and the last one for himself. In setting apart one share for Siri, Strindberg noted, in
20064-457: Was 13, and although his grief lasted for only three months, in later life he came to feel a sense of loss and longing for an idealized maternal figure. Less than a year after her death, his father married the children's governess , Emilia Charlotta Pettersson. According to his sisters, Strindberg came to regard them as his worst enemies. He passed his graduation examination in May 1867 and enrolled at
20216-451: Was banned by his publishers and was not published until after his death. The three missing years, 1875–1877, were the time when Strindberg was wooing von Essen and their marriage; entitled He and She , this portion of his autobiography was not printed until 1919, after his death. It contains the love letters between the two during that period. In the later half of the 1880s Strindberg discovered Naturalism . After completing The Father in
20368-471: Was conducted by Nathan Söderblom by the bier in Strindberg's home, in the presence of three of Strindberg's children and his housekeeper, after which the coffin was taken outside for the funeral procession. The procession was followed by groups of students, workers, members of Parliament and a couple of cabinet ministers, and it was estimated that up to 60,000 people lined the streets. King Gustaf V sent
20520-654: Was experiencing marital problems and doubted the paternity of his children. He also suspected that Ibsen had based Hjalmar Ekdal in The Wild Duck (1884) on Strindberg because he felt that Ibsen viewed him as a weak and pathetic husband; he reworked the situation of Ibsen's play into a warfare between the two sexes. From November 1887 to April 1889, Strindberg stayed in Copenhagen . While there he had several opportunities to meet with both Georg Brandes and his brother Edvard Brandes . Georg helped him put on The Father , which had its première on 14 November 1887 at
20672-462: Was finished in 1914, to August Strindberg in memoriam . An acerbic polemicist who was often vehemently opposed to conventional authority , Strindberg was difficult to pigeon-hole as a political figure. Through his long career, he penned scathing attacks on the military , the church , and the monarchy . For most of his public life, he was seen as a major figure on the literary left and a standard-bearer of cultural radicalism , but, especially from
20824-596: Was his first in a contemporary setting. After the trial he evaluated his religious beliefs, and concluded that he needed to leave Lutheranism , though he had been Lutheran since childhood; and after briefly being a deist , he became an atheist . He needed a credo and he used Jean-Jacques Rousseau nature worshiping, which he had studied while a student, as one. His works The People of Hemsö (1887) and Among French Peasants (1889) were influenced by his study of Rousseau. He then moved to Germany, where he fell in love with Chancellor Otto von Bismarck 's Prussia status of
20976-415: Was in a despondent mood: "My view now is," he wrote, "everything is shit. No way out. The skein is too tangled to be unravelled. It can only be sheared. The building is too solid to be pulled down. It can only be blown up." In May 1885 he wrote: "I am on my way to becoming an atheist ." In the wake of the publication of Getting Married , he began to correspond with Émile Zola . During the summer he completed
21128-419: Was inspired by the loss of his children in his divorce. He also completed one of his few comedies, Playing with Fire (1893), and the first two parts of his post-inferno trilogy To Damascus (1898–1904). In 1892, he experienced writer's block, which led to a drastic reduction in his income. Depression followed as he was unable to meet his financial obligations and to support his children and former wife. A fund
21280-528: Was just beginning at this time. Verner von Heidenstam and Ola Hanson had dismissed naturalism as "shoemaker realism" that rendered human experience in simplistic terms. This is believed to have stalled Strindberg's creativity, and Strindberg insisted that he was in a rivalry and forced to defend naturalism, even though he had exhausted its literary potential. These works include: Debit and Credit (1892), Facing Death (1892), Motherly Love (1892), and The First Warning (1893). His play The Keys of Heaven (1892)
21432-611: Was moved to the school in Jakob in 1860, which he found far more pleasant, though he remained there for only a year. In the autumn of 1861, he was moved to the Stockholm Lyceum , a progressive private school for middle-class boys, where he remained for six years. As a child he had a keen interest in natural science, photography, and religion (following his mother's Pietism ). His mother, Strindberg recalled later with bitterness, always resented her son's intelligence. She died when he
21584-405: Was not common in Sweden, and what slavery there was tended to be driven out of existence by the spread of Christianity, the difficulty in obtaining slaves from the lands east of the Baltic Sea, and by the development of cities before the 16th century Indeed, both slavery and serfdom were abolished altogether by a decree of King Magnus IV Eriksson in 1335. Former slaves tended to be absorbed into
21736-443: Was not motivated by carnal desire but by relentless human will. The winner was the one who had the strongest and most unscrupulous mind, someone who, like a hypnotist, could coerce a more impressionable psyche into submission. His view on psychological power struggles may be seen in works such as Creditors (1889), The Stronger (1889), and Pariah (1889). In 1888, after a separation and reconciliation with Siri von Essen, he founded
21888-454: Was officially a neutral country and remained outside NATO or Warsaw pact membership during the Cold War , but privately Sweden's leadership had strong ties with the United States and other western governments. Following the war, Sweden took advantage of an intact industrial base, social stability and its natural resources to expand its industry to supply the rebuilding of Europe. Sweden
22040-634: Was part of the Marshall Plan and participated in the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ). During most of the post-war era, the country was governed by the Swedish Social Democratic Party largely in cooperation with trade unions and industry. The government actively pursued an internationally competitive manufacturing sector of primarily large corporations. Sweden, like countries around
22192-503: Was published under the title Spring Harvest . From 1881, at the invitation of Edvard Brandes , Strindberg began to contribute articles to the Morgenbladet , a Copenhagen daily newspaper. In April he began work on The Swedish People , a four-part cultural history of Sweden written as a series of depictions of ordinary people's lives from the 9th century onwards, which he undertook mainly for financial reasons and which absorbed him for
22344-476: Was re-staged in 1899 to mark Strindberg's fiftieth birthday). He had the desire to become recognized as a leadíng figure in Swedish literature, and to put earlier controversies behind him, and felt that historical dramas were the way to attain that status. Though Strindberg claimed that he was writing "realistically", he freely altered past events and biographical information, and telescoped chronology (as often done in most historical fiction): more importantly, he felt
22496-558: Was set up through an appeal in a German magazine. This money allowed him to leave Sweden and he joined artistic circles in Berlin. Otto Brahm 's Freie Bühne theatre premiered some of his famous works in Germany, including The Father , Miss Julie , and Creditors . Similar to 20 years earlier when he frequented The Red Room, he now went to the German tavern The Black Porker. Here he met a diverse group of artists from Scandinavia, Poland, and Germany. His attention turned to Frida Uhl , who
22648-519: Was the last war in which Sweden participated as a combatant. There was a significant population increase during the 18th and 19th centuries, which the writer Esaias Tegnér in 1833 attributed to "peace, vaccine , and potatoes ". Between 1750 and 1850, the population in Sweden doubled. Sweden was hit by the last natural caused famine in Europe, the Famine of 1867-69 killed thousands in Sweden. According to some scholars, mass emigration to America became
22800-481: Was twenty-three years younger than Strindberg. They were married in 1893. Less than a year later, their daughter Kerstin was born and the couple separated, though their marriage was not officially dissolved until 1897. Frida's family, in particular her mother, who was a devout Catholic, had an important influence on Strindberg, and in an 1894 letter he declared "I feel the hand of our Lord resting over me." Some critics think that Strindberg suffered from severe paranoia in
22952-607: Was undogmatic and rooted in a ruthless critique of state, church, school, press, and economy in which he aimed at pitting the people against kings, economists, priests, and merchants. A small example from this period is his Little Catechism for the Underclass . He read widely among progressive thinkers, including Cabet , Fourier , Babeuf , Saint-Simon , Proudhon , and Owen , whom he referred to as "friends of humanity and sharp thinkers." "Strindberg adopted ideas from everyone," writes Jan Olsson, who notes that Strindberg lived in
23104-484: Was unusually small, only 6 by 9 metres. The small stage and minimal number of seats was meant to give the audience a greater feeling of involvement in the work. Unlike most theatres at this time, the Intima Teater was not a place in which people could come to socialize. By setting up his rules and creating an intimate atmosphere, Strindberg was able to demand the audience's focus. When the theatre opened in 1907 with
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