Multi-talented and restless as he was, August Strindberg (1849-1912) never limited himself to only one trade. In his life he was active as painter, photographer, natural scientist, and sinologist, but his lasting worldwide fame is based on his writing that was too controversial in his own country – Sweden – to earn him one of the early Nobel Prizes in Literature as many expected abroad at the time. Today the author is best known for his more than 60 plays of which a considerable number keeps being performed regularly on stages around the globe. And yet, they are only part of a much larger and more versatile œuvre. August Strindberg also wrote poems, essays, autobiographical works, narrations… and last but not least, ten novels that were mostly acclaimed by critics outside Sweden. One of these novels is By the Open Sea that first appeared in print in 1890.Read more » (external link to Lagraziana's Kalliopeion)
I can see that the writing and the psychological study would be worth reading but I fear I would become too angry and disgusted at the misogyny to get through it. I did enjoy your review.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Strindberg's rather negative opinion of women is hard to bear... and as a depressing novel without happy ending (I think that I can say as much without spoiling the read) it isn't much fun, either. Nonetheless, a good book from the late nineteenth century.
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