Strindberg

August Strindberg

1849: Born in Stockholm shortly after father's bankruptcy

1871: The Outlaw produced and honored by king

1873/1878/1880: Master Olof

1874: Assistant librarian at Royal Library in Stockholm

1877: Marries Siri von Essen, who divorces for his sake

1879: The Red Room (novel)

1883: Leaves Sweden for France, Switzerland, and Germany

1884-86: Marriages (short stories)

1887: The Father (Fadren)

1888: Miss Julie

1892: Divorce from first wife

1893: Marries Austrian Frida Uhl and divorces her shortly thereafter

1895-1906: So-called Inferno period (studies occult and Swedenborg)

1897: Returns to Sweden

1901: Marries actress Harriet Bosse

1906: Dies of stomach cancer

The Father and Miss Julie in Context

1848	Revolutions in Europe
1853	Wagner begins The Ring cycle of operas
1862	Hugo's novel, Les Miserables
1874	Beginnings of Impressionism in painting
1887	Strindberg's The Father; motion picture camera invented
1888	Miss Julie
1898	Freud's Interpretation of Dreams
1899	Van Gogh and Gauguin paintings exhibited in Paris; first German expressionistic gathering
1908	Strindberg's The Ghost Sonata
1919	Brecht's first play, Baal, appears in Berlin

Vocabulary:

*asterixed terms are explained in the Explanatory Notes and are quite useful (see p. 286)

Njöd (pronounced noyd, like annoyed) means satisfied, and is a typical soldier's name

Omphale = queen who punished Hercules for making her his slave; she took away his masculine attributes (club and lion skin) and made him spin wool for her. See the Explanatory notes, p. 290

"two bumps" and "horns" (46) refer to being cuckolded. A cuckold is a derisive term for a man whose wife is cheating on him. (See also SHAKES. Oth. IV. i. 211). The cuckold bird, like the cuckoo, lays its eggs in other birds' baskets, and so the cuckold must ostensibly raise another man's children. A cuckold fish has horn-like protusions, and often saying a man has horns refers to the shame he bears owing to an unfaithful wife who brings another man's children into a marriage.

Discussion Questions

ACTS I - II

1. What does it mean to be a "father" in the opening scene (Njöd, Captain, Pastor)?

2. What characterizes the “Captain” as a captain? In what ways does he act (or fail to act) with authority, as a military leader?

3. What’s the significance of the Captain’s study of rocks, the nurse’s religious practices, and the grandmother’s belief in spirits?

4. What are the Freudian motifs in the play?

5. What is the significance of the SETTING?

Final Scene

a. Does the Captain have a deathbed conversion?

b. Does faith / religion or reason / science prevail?

c. What do the final lines mean?

d. Now that you’re read three examples of Naturalist drama, what would you say is the aim of it?

Gender Battle

Strindberg presents Laura and the Captain’s conflict as a gender battle (sometimes literally). What are each of their complaints against the other? In order to avoid gender bias in your own conclusion, list the complaints each character has according to the opposite of your gender. So if you’re a guy, argue why Laura is in the right here; if you’re a woman, argue why Captain [Adolf] is in the right. For Laura’s case, consider pages 6, 10, 11, 21, 36, and 39 in particular; for the Captain, consider pages 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 35, and 50.

Creative activity—Write a scene for our Naturalist drama, The Mother

To start—Choose a “Stock” character from Naturalist Drama and reflect on the major characteristics of your role:

- Mother / wife

- Father / husband

- Daughter

- Nurse

- Doctor

- Pastor

- Visiting female friend

- Male rival to husband

Then write a dramatic scene together. As normally 2, or at most 3, characters are on the Naturalist stage at once, you might a) either divide yourselves into two groups and scenes scenes or b) ‘write’ your roles in terms of offstage presence or activity.

You will also need to decide what particular social issue(s) the dramatic scene should be about (e.g., unwanted pregnancy, fraud, adultery, syphilis, etc.)