Strindberg and Lagerkvist

Abstract

HERE ONE OF THE BEST-KNOWN living Swedish dramatists, Pär Lagerkvist, comments on his compatriot, August Strindberg, and gives some indication both of the scope and significance of Strindberg's dramatic production and of the influence Strindberg has exerted over the younger playwright. Strindberg himself would no doubt have approved of Lagerkvist's words, for at one stage in his career he considered himself Sweden's first naturalistic playwright, while after the Inferno crisis he attempted to create something new in drama. In 1888 he despatched the manuscript of Fröken Julie to Bonniers with a covering letter in which he proclaimed his playas "the first naturalistic tragedy in the history of Swedish drama," and certainly it embodies the main characteristics associated with naturalism. The plot is based on a true story which Strindberg develops into a 'case history' in the true Zola manner. He applies Taine's doctrine of the three main factors which govern human destiny: la race, le milieu and le moment. For Strindberg, la race implies, in the case of Miss Julie, the aristocracy, le milieu is the Swedish estate where the action takes place, and le moment embraces the points he mentions in his preface, mainly the unreal atmosphere of a Swedish midsummer eve, Julie'S physical condition, the fact that her engagement had just been broken off, and the additional fact that her father happened to be away from home.