Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works
A major biography of Henrik Ibsen—one of the most important figures in modern drama—evoked through a biographical reading of his plays
 
“An exhaustive examination of Ibsen's life and work by a major scholar of Scandinavian literature, Ibsen's Kingdom is the fullest analysis of Ibsen as a ‘poet of paradoxes.’”—Joan Templeton, author of Ibsen's Women
 
“[An] exemplary biography of the so-called Norwegian sphinx.”—Choice
 
Nineteenth-century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen achieved unparalleled success in his lifetime and remains one of the most important figures in modern drama. The culmination of a lifetime of scholarship, Evert Sprinchorn’s ambitious biography constructs Ibsen’s life through a biographical reading of his plays. It presents provocative and insightful analyses of Ibsen’s works, placing them and their author within the social, political, and intellectual foment of nineteenth-century Europe. Sprinchorn captures for readers what it is that made these plays genius, and how Ibsen’s works attained their influential place not only in the field of drama, but in a wide intellectual sphere across Europe and the world. This sweeping new look at Ibsen’s plays is informative and useful as well as absorbing and thought-provoking. It will captivate anyone interested in the history of drama and the foundations of modernism.
1136701273
Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works
A major biography of Henrik Ibsen—one of the most important figures in modern drama—evoked through a biographical reading of his plays
 
“An exhaustive examination of Ibsen's life and work by a major scholar of Scandinavian literature, Ibsen's Kingdom is the fullest analysis of Ibsen as a ‘poet of paradoxes.’”—Joan Templeton, author of Ibsen's Women
 
“[An] exemplary biography of the so-called Norwegian sphinx.”—Choice
 
Nineteenth-century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen achieved unparalleled success in his lifetime and remains one of the most important figures in modern drama. The culmination of a lifetime of scholarship, Evert Sprinchorn’s ambitious biography constructs Ibsen’s life through a biographical reading of his plays. It presents provocative and insightful analyses of Ibsen’s works, placing them and their author within the social, political, and intellectual foment of nineteenth-century Europe. Sprinchorn captures for readers what it is that made these plays genius, and how Ibsen’s works attained their influential place not only in the field of drama, but in a wide intellectual sphere across Europe and the world. This sweeping new look at Ibsen’s plays is informative and useful as well as absorbing and thought-provoking. It will captivate anyone interested in the history of drama and the foundations of modernism.
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Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works

Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works

by Evert Sprinchorn
Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works

Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works

by Evert Sprinchorn

Hardcover

$45.00 
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Overview

A major biography of Henrik Ibsen—one of the most important figures in modern drama—evoked through a biographical reading of his plays
 
“An exhaustive examination of Ibsen's life and work by a major scholar of Scandinavian literature, Ibsen's Kingdom is the fullest analysis of Ibsen as a ‘poet of paradoxes.’”—Joan Templeton, author of Ibsen's Women
 
“[An] exemplary biography of the so-called Norwegian sphinx.”—Choice
 
Nineteenth-century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen achieved unparalleled success in his lifetime and remains one of the most important figures in modern drama. The culmination of a lifetime of scholarship, Evert Sprinchorn’s ambitious biography constructs Ibsen’s life through a biographical reading of his plays. It presents provocative and insightful analyses of Ibsen’s works, placing them and their author within the social, political, and intellectual foment of nineteenth-century Europe. Sprinchorn captures for readers what it is that made these plays genius, and how Ibsen’s works attained their influential place not only in the field of drama, but in a wide intellectual sphere across Europe and the world. This sweeping new look at Ibsen’s plays is informative and useful as well as absorbing and thought-provoking. It will captivate anyone interested in the history of drama and the foundations of modernism.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300228663
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 01/26/2021
Pages: 688
Product dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.69(d)

About the Author

Evert Sprinchorn is a senior scholar of Scandinavian literature and drama and nineteenth-century intellectual history. He is professor emeritus in the drama department at Vassar College and the author of Strindberg as Dramatist, among other books.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

Part 1 The third kingdom

A Contrary Spirit 9

A Divided Soul 16

The Apprentice 31

The Failure 41

God's Stepchild 54

Purity of Heart 64

Peer Gynt 81

Peer Gynt Meets Hegel 92

Falling Out with Bjornson 102

Falling In with Brandes 111

The League of Youth 122

Particular Interests 135

Old Debts Repaid 143

Ibsen in Command 155

Those Little Devils 171

Anti-Brand 179

The Prudent Revolutionary 189

Emperor and Galilean 199

Ibsen the Mystic 214

Julian as Ibsen 220

Concordance of Opposites 227

Another Triumph 235

Part 2 The divided kingdom

Changing Times 243

The Problem Play 256

Pillars of Society 261

The Road to A Doll's House 268

The Women Behind the Play 275

The Well-Made Play Transformed 284

The Ghosts at Rosenvold 295

Syphilis, the Unmentionable Disease 307

Public Enemy 320

The Slain Pegasus 334

The Wild Duck 345

The Past Recaptured 359

The Depths of the Sea 369

A Visit to Norway 382

Rosmersholm 395

After Rosmersholm 412

The Lady from the Sea 423

The Immoralists 438

The Unspoken Hedda 456

Part 3 The lost kingdom

World Fame 473

New Directions 485

Who Is Hilda? 490

The Story of Solness 501

The Man Behind the Mask 505

The Return of Nora 508

Solness as Superman 514

Conquering France 516

Little Eyolf 522

John Gabriel Borkman 535

Foldal and Hinkel 545

Seventieth-Birthday Celebrations 557

A Dramatic Epilogue 564

The Last Years 575

Notes 581

Bibliography 631

Credits 647

Index 649

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