This is the first comprehensive photographic biography of Sweden’s most influential author and playwright. Strindberg expert Björn Meidal, ably assisted by photographer Bengt Wanselius, presents a unique account of August Strindberg and his life in this magnificent volume featuring over five hundred contemporary photographs from Strindberg’s many worlds – Stockholm, the archipelago, Berlin, Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and all the places that helped to shape the internationally famed writer and dramatist.
Through fifteen lavishly designed chapters we follow Strindberg’s life and creative processes, his encounters with loves, friends and enemies, and his extensive travels round Europe. Björn Meidal’s learned but accessible text is laced with humour as he describes Strindberg’s career, extravagant personality and multi-faceted body of work. The many pictures allow the reader to step right into Strindberg’s time.
Björn Meidal, Professor of Literature at Uppsala University in Sweden, is one of the world’s most highly qualified Strindberg scholars. He has been involved in many research projects and been Visiting Professor at a variety of institutions including Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C., the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the University of Maryland, USA and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
Bengt Wanselius is well known for his images of theatre and dance; in his fifteen years as in-house photographer for the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm he has documented many Swedish productions and a large number visiting from abroad. He is also one of Sweden’s most experienced picture editors, and was awarded the prestigious August Prize for his substantial work, The Ingmar Bergman Archives.
Strindberg died on 14 May 1912, an anniversary that will be commemorated in many ways around the globe. In Sweden, an exhibition partly based on the book will be held at the Photographic Museum in Stockholm, in collaboration with the Strindberg Museum.