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Historical events that may have impacted their writing
Movements, particularly naturalism and the rise of realism in literature. -
World events and politics
Similar to the historical events that may have impacted August Strindberg's writing topic. The only difference is the changing roles of women in industrialized societies. All it did was in influence August Strindberg's life, work, and worldview. -
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Siblings
His siblings were Carl Axel Strindberg; Oscar Strindberg, August Strindberg; Eleonora Elisabet Strindberg, Anna Maria Philip, Lovisa Eleonora Nora Strindberg, Elisabeth Strindberg; Johan Olof Strindberg and Emil Strindberg. -
Fun facts about August Strindberg
Strindberg aspired to be a ‘universal genius.’ He wrote books about the history of Sweden and Stockholm, immersed himself in the Chinese language and culture, and experimented with occultism and alchemy. He was also a self-taught expressionistic painter. Strindberg achieved worldwide fame as a novelist and dramatist. -
Basic information of August Strindberg
Born Jan 22, 1849, in Stockholm, Sweden, into a middle-class family of ten, August was the fourth son of Carl Oskar Strindberg and Eleonora Ulrika Norling. -
Music he listened to
August Strindberg was influenced by the music of composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Schubert, Schumann, Grieg, and Peterson-Berger. Also, what first caught his attention was the sound of swinging wine sacks, to name a tavern. -
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Places he lived
August lived in Stockholm for 13 years. Also, it is the capital of Sweden. Sweden most of his life. He lived in Lund for two years. He lived in Paris for five years. His final home was at 85 Drottninggatan in Stockholm, where he lived from 1908 to 1912. -
Augusts Parents
Carl Oskar Strindberg was a bankrupt aristocrat who worked as a steamship agent, and Eleonora Ulrika Norling was a former waitress. Sadly, Eleonora later dies due to tuberculosis, and Carl marries the housekeeper, Emilia Pettersson. -
Rough childhood
His childhood was full of emotional insecurity, poverty, his grandmother’s religious fanaticism, and neglect, as he relates in his remarkable autobiography Tjänstekvinnans son (1886–87; The Son of a Servant, 1913). -
Religion
He was initially Lutheran as a child because of his grandma. He later became an atheist but also experimented with nature worship and occultism. The reason he turned to atheism was because of his disillusionment with organized religion, particularly Lutheranism, and his personal experiences, including a blasphemy trial and subsequent introspection on his beliefs. -
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His studies
He began his aesthetics and modern language studies at the University of Uppsala. He joins the actor training program at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm and appears in several small roles. He becomes an assistant librarian at the Royal Library. He resigns from his post at the Royal Library. -
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People who influenced their writing
Various people and ideas influenced Strindberg's work, including his childhood experiences, readings, and studies. Strindberg's early work was influenced by Zola's Naturalism and Brandes' call for Social Realism. His interest influenced Strindberg's later work in the occult, magic, and the unconscious mind. Strindberg's childhood experiences, including poverty, neglect, and emotional insecurity, influenced his work greatly. -
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Other works of August Strindberg
The Red Room: (1879) A satire of Stockholm society that some consider the first modern Swedish novel.
The Son of a Servant: (1886) A semi-autobiographical novel about a boy growing up in a working-class family in 19th century Sweden.
The Father: (1887) It is about the struggle between parents over the future of their child; resulting in the mother, using her cunning manipulative skills, subduing and finally destroying the father. -
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Children
Karin Smirnov, Greta Strindberg, Hans Strindberg, Kerstin Strindberg, and Anne-Marie Hagelin. -
The photo of his children
The photo of his children -
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Important productions
The Father, Miss Julie, Creditors, The Father at the Freie Bühne in Berlin, Miss Julie at the Freie Bühne in Berlin, The Dance of Death, A Dream Play, Miss Julie at the Kleines Theater in Berlin, and The Ghost Sonata. -
Health issues
August had many internal conflicts that led to his mental breakdown in the 1890s. He suffered from symptoms of severe writer's block, hallucinations, paranoid episodes, severe depression, and many more mental disorders. This time in his life would be known as the inferno crisis. He was also an alcoholic and, later on in his life, developed stomach cancer. Stomach cancer occurs when cells in the stomach lining develop abnormal growth and divide uncontorllaby. -
His art
August Strindberg was an expressionist artist. Expressionists emphasize emotion and spirituality and often feature distorted forms and intense colors.
The Town is an oil painting—no specific day or month. -
Marriages
Siri von Essen: (1877–1891) Finnish actress who gave birth to Karin, Greta, and Hans.
Frida Uhl: (1893–1897) Austrian writer and translator gave birth to Kerstin.
Harriet Bosse: (1901–1904), a Swedish-Norwegian Actress, gave birth to Anne. -
Awards the playwright was honored with
August Strindberg was awarded an Anti-Nobel Prize in 1912 and is the namesake of the August Prize, a literary award in Sweden. He got the Anti-Nobel prize after a public collection started supporting Strindberg, who had been denied the Nobel Prize by the Swedish Academy for seven years. He was recognized as an influential writer who wrote over 60 plays and 30 works of fiction, autobiography, history, cultural analysis, and politics. -
Death
He died in Stockholm at sixty-three, and he died of stomach cancer. August Strindberg's funeral was held on Sunday, May 19, 1912, in Stockholm, Sweden. An estimated 60,000 people attended the funeral. -
How august Strindberg Influenced theater
Psychological themes, Strindberg's plays explored complex psychological themes and power dynamics.
Symbolism, Strindberg's use of symbolism and autobiographical elements added depth to his works.
Expressionism, Strindberg's later plays, such as To Damascus, A Dream Play, and The Ghost Sonata, led to the
Thus, he influenced theater in many ways, as stated beforehand, and many more. -
My sources
britannica.com
munchmuseet.no
geni.com
sparknotes.com
imdb.com
wikipedia.org
mubi.com
old.capricemusic.se
gw.geneanet.org