THE GREATEST WORKS OF HENRIK IBSEN [Authoritative and Unabridged Nook Edition] Greatest Playwright Since Shakespeare IBSEN incl. Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Master Builder and More!

by Henrik Ibsen, The Complete Works Collection (Editor), A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen

Overview

THE GREATEST WORKS OF HENRIK IBSEN
[Authoritative and Unabridged Nook Edition]

Greatest Playwright Since Shakespeare IBSEN

Incl. Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Master Builder and More!


EXCERPT FROM A DOLL'S HOUSE

"Mrs. Linde:
And since then have you never told your secret to your husband?

Nora:
Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has such strong opinions about these things! And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now.

Mrs. Linde:
Do you mean never to tell him about it?

Nora (meditatively, and with a half smile.):
Yes — some day, perhaps, after many years, when I am no longer as nice-looking as I am now. Don't laugh at me! I mean, of course, when Torvald is no longer as devoted to me as he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have palled on him; then it may be a good thing to have something in reserve —(Breaking off,) What nonsense! That time will never come. Now, what do you think of my great secret, Christine? Do you still think I am of no use? I can tell you, too, that this affair has caused me a lot of worry. It has been by no means easy for me to meet my engagements punctually. I may tell you that there is something that is called, in business, quarterly interest, and another thing called payment in instalments, and it is always so dreadfully difficult to manage them. I have had to save a little here and there, where I could, you understand. I have not been able to put aside much from my housekeeping money, for Torvald must have a good table. I couldn't let my children be shabbily dressed; I have felt obliged to use up all he gave me for them, the sweet little darlings!

Mrs. Linde:
So it has all had to come out of your own necessaries of life, poor Nora?

Nora:
Of course. Besides, I was the one responsible for it. Whenever Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent more than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things. Thank Heaven, any clothes look well on me, and so Torvald has never noticed it. But it was often very hard on me, Christine — because it is delightful to be really well dressed, isn't it?

Mrs. Linde:
Quite so.

Nora:
Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at night. Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.

Mrs. Linde:
How much have you been able to pay off in that way?

Nora:
I can't tell you exactly. You see, it is very difficult to keep an account of a business matter of that kind. I only know that I have paid every penny that I could scrape together. Many a time I was at my wits' end. (Smiles.) Then I used to sit here and imagine that a rich old gentleman had fallen in love with me —"


TABLE OF CONTENTS

CATILINE: A DRAMA IN THREE ACTS
THE WARRIOR'S BARROW: A DRAMATIC POEM IN ONE ACT
LADY INGER OF OSTRAT
THE FEAST AT SOLHAUG
OLAF LILJEKRANS: A PLAY IN THREE ACTS
THE VIKINGS OF HELGELAND
LOVE'S COMEDY: PLAY IN THREE ACTS
PEER GYNT
PILLARS OF SOCIETY: A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS.
A DOLL'S HOUSE
GHOSTS: A DOMESTIC TRAGEDY IN THREE ACTS
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE: A PLAY IN FIVE ACTS
THE WILD DUCK
ROSMERSHOLM: A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS
THE LADY FROM THE SEA
HEDDA GABLER
THE MASTER BUILDER
LITTLE EYOLF
JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN
WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014639156
Publisher:	The Complete Works Collection
Publication date:	06/05/2012
Series:	The Complete Works Collection , #54
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Henrik Ibsen (20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder.

Several of his plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when European theater was required to model strict mores of family life and propriety. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many façades, revealing much that was disquieting to many contemporaries. It utilized a critical eye and free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. The poetic and cinematic play Peer Gynt, however, has strong surreal elements.

Ibsen is often ranked as one of the truly great playwrights in the European tradition. He influenced other playwrights and novelists such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, James Joyce, and Eugene O'Neill. Many critics consider him the greatest playwright since Shakespeare.

Ibsen wrote his plays in Dano-Norwegian (the common written language of Denmark and Norway)[5] and they were published by the Danish publisher Gyldendal. Although most of his plays are set in Norway—often in places reminiscent of Skien, the port town where he grew up—Ibsen lived for 27 years in Italy and Germany, and rarely visited Norway during his most productive years. Born into a merchant family connected to the patriciate of Skien, his dramas were shaped by his family background. He was the father of Prime Minister Sigurd Ibsen.

Editorial Reviews

A profound poetic dramatist—the best since Shakespeare.

Richard Hornby