Overview

'Continuously rewarding...the model of what a biography of a great writer should be' Dennis Potter, The Times. Generally acknowledged as the founder of modern prose drama, Henrik Ibsen is now regarded as the first major innovative modern dramatist. Creating new attitudes to theatre, he is credited with being one of the first to write about ordinary people in prose, abandoning traditional theatrical effects in favour of a new style of performance. Michael Meyer is the world authority on Ibsen, and this highly acclaimed biography is regarded as the definitive life of the founding genius of modern European theatre.

Full Product Details

9780750937382

Table of Contents

Reviews

Widely acclaimed when first published, this detailed and authoritative biography places Ibsen ('Freud's darling playwright') firmly in context as a major European dramatist. Formative factors in his life, including the role of Norway itself, hidden demons and public passions, and his development as a man and a writer, are covered extensively; copious extracts from Ibsen's letters, poems, speeches and articles are also included. The judgements of his contemporaries and of posterity underline the revolutionary contribution to drama made by Ibsen's realistic and epic plays about recognizable human beings and his rich, complex, objective writing. An enlightening read and a must for any serious theatregoer (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Michael Meyer is well known as a translator of Ibsen and Strindberg, and his translations of Ibsen are widely regarded as definitive. This Ibsen biography won the Whitbread Biography Award in 1971.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available