Read more
Strindberg - Other Sides: Seven Plays presents fresh translations based upon the new national Swedish edition of Strindberg's works, hewing close to Strindberg's techniques of «scoring» his scripts for actors and directors. The plays are illuminated in introductory essays revaluating Strindberg's role in transforming theatre (and art) with his extraordinary new forms. The Ghost Sonata is a keystone in the construction of the expressionist theatre; in The Pelican Strindberg goes «over the top» with his own form of psychological drama until it soars beyond the realm of realism; The Dance of Death is a battle of the sexes rendered absurd, as a series of games played against the void; and Carl XII is an epic play portraying the last months of the king who brought Sweden's history as a great power to an end. Three one-acts from the late 1880s foreshadow the striking ambiguity of Strindberg's later works.
List of contents
Contents: The Ghost Sonata - The Pelican - Carl XII - The Dance of Death - The Stronger - Pariah - Simoom.
Report
«Joe Martin's new volume of selected plays of August Strindberg fills a gaping hole in available English-language editions of one of the most influential modern dramatists. Martin has written a superlative balanced introduction that offers many new insights into the complex life and works of the strange genius who stands at the wellspring of naturalism, expressionism and the theatre of Brecht (as Martin convincingly argues for the history plays), and the absurd. This edition contains fine new actor-friendly translations of no less than seven key works of contemporary drama...» (Peter Steinberg, Head, Department of Germanic Studies, University of British Columbia)
«Strindberg was...'a man who knew a thousand arts'... His translator Joe Martin is not far behind him in versatility. Martin's experience as a scholar, playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, theatre director and producer is a perfect fit, as he presents 'other sides' of Strindberg to a North American public... These 'other sides' have not only to do with the selection of plays, but also the generous commentaries concerning the background, form, content and reception of the works which Martin includes here. At the heart of this effort lies the intention to understand and explain the remarkable synthesis of the later Strindberg's work: the dialectic between religious mysticism and political radicalism.» (From the Foreword by Björn Meidal, Author of 'From Prophet to People's Tribune: Strindberg and the Strindberg Feud)
