II.

Early Works

Strindberg's early works, mostly novels and plays, are strongly naturalistic, written in revolt against the prevailing romanticism of Swedish literature. Although plays by Strindberg were produced in the early 1870s, it was not until the publication of the novel Röda rummet (1879; The Red Room, translated 1913) that he achieved fame. The work trenchantly satirizes the institutions and conditions of Sweden in the late 1870s. The most important plays of Strindberg's early naturalistic period are Fadren (1887; The Father, 1907), a domestic tragedy detailing one of Strindberg's favorite themes, the inherent cruelty of the marriage relationship; Fröken Julie (1888; Miss Julie, 1913), a poignant study of the ill-fated sexual encounter between an ambitious footman and a neurotic count's daughter; and Den Starkare (1889; The Stronger, 1912), a one-act play about two women, one of whom silently listens to the other's compulsive confession. Miss Julie was made into a successful motion picture (1951) by the Swedish director Alf Sjöberg, an opera (1965) by the American composer Ned Rorem, and a ballet (1950) by the Swedish choreographer Birgit Cullberg.