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.

Author: Evert Sprinchorn
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 01/26/2021
Pages: 688
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.47lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.60w x 1.80d
ISBN13: 9780300228663
ISBN10: 030022866X
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Entertainment & Performing Arts
- Literary Criticism | Drama
- History | Modern | 19th Century

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.