August Strindberg belongs to the same generation of authors as the Russian Chekhov and the Norwegian Ibsen. Strindberg stands at the crossroads of such decisive influences as those of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Schiller, Zola, Byron, or Freud’s precursors such as Bernheim. He absorbed the aesthetic trends of his time, particularly naturalism. He is also a virtuoso painter, closely related to Edward Munch. All his writings bear witness to his life and bear the traces of his crises, his struggles, his revolts against a society of rigid conformism. Through his struggles, he extracts from himself a dark work that explores the distress of modern man. Kafka, the expressionists, and many contemporary authors strongly claim his legacy. Franz Kafka: “I feel better because I read Strindberg. I don’t read him to read him, but to snuggle up to his chest… The huge Strindberg. This rage, these pages won with the strength of the fist… ” Four of his short stories are presented in this audiobook : The German Lieutenant; Unwelcome; Over-refinement; Paul & Peter.
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