In the history of modern theatre, Ibsen is one of the dominating figures. The sixteen chapters of this 1994 Companion explore his life and work, providing an invaluable reference work for students. In chronological terms they range from an account of Ibsen's earliest pieces, through the years of rich experimentation, to the mature 'Ibsenist' plays that made him famous towards the end of the nineteenth century. Among the thematic topics are discussions of Ibsen's comedy, realism, lyric poetry and feminism. Substantial chapters account for Ibsen's influence on the international stage and his challenge to theatre and film directors and playwrights today. Essential reference materials include a full chronology, list of works and essays on twentieth-century criticism and further reading.

In the history of modern theatre, Ibsen is one of the dominating figures. The sixteen chapters of this 1994 Companion explore his life and work, providing an invaluable reference work for students. In chronological terms they range from an account of Ibsen's earliest pieces, through the years of rich experimentation, to the mature 'Ibsenist' plays that made him famous towards the end of the nineteenth century. Among the thematic topics are discussions of Ibsen's comedy, realism, lyric poetry and feminism. Substantial chapters account for Ibsen's influence on the international stage and his challenge to theatre and film directors and playwrights today. Essential reference materials include a full chronology, list of works and essays on twentieth-century criticism and further reading.

“G. Wilson Knight approaches Ibsen in substantially the same way he approaches Shakespeare. By weaving a fabric of countless quotations from the plays, he attempts primarily to reconstruct Ibsen’s vision rather than to judge it. What emerges most clearly from his examination are Ibsen’s dominant themes. Knight sees Ibsen’s ‘emphasis on vocation, on the instinctive will, forcing persons to self-realization.’ He sees what, for Ibsen, the struggle for self-realization is: a struggle against ‘convention, hypocrisy, sexual passion, marriages of expedience, a corrupt press, and vested interests; and, hardest of all, the past, either of society or of oneself, which may involve guilt and hamper freedom.’ Each of Ibsen’s plays deals centrally with the protagonist’s search for (or avoidance of) his own destiny, which is to find and realize himself. What Knight sees beyond this quest itself and the specific obstacles to its fulfillment is the grandeur with which Ibsen envisioned that fulfillment. The man who achieved self-realization was of the race of new supermen, a genius whose full destiny, in Knight’s words, ‘will be to surpass art, strive for a wholeness including love, touch the occult, and challenge death.’ To Ibsen, self-realization was the only way of resolving the great ‘discords of human nature and human society.’ It was the means for attaining ‘his dream of a new nobility.’” — Irving Deer, Modern Drama

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Poetry by Henrik Ibsen - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Ibsen includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘The Poetry by Henrik Ibsen - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Ibsen’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

This book, first published in 1950, could best be described as a combination of literary, psychological and social criticism. Considerable space is allotted to the personal inner drama of Ibsen, which provides not only a clue to his art but shows how most of his themes inevitably grew out of the other. The author also explores some of those factors which make Ibsen of interest to the generation that were facing the social and spiritual havoc of the post-war period. This book will be of interest to students of literature and theatre.

Reproduction of the original: Henrik Ibsen by Ina Ten Eyck Firkins