August Strindberg (1849-1912) is considered Sweden's greatest author. Although his reputation outside Sweden rests on his plays, in Sweden he is equally important for his stories, novels, poetry, and autobiographical works.

August Strindberg was born on Jan. 22, 1849, in Stockholm. His father, although poor, came from a good family; his mother had been a servant. Family life was disharmonic; Strindberg felt he had been an unwanted child, and he suffered as well from the class distinction between his parents. He began writing plays while a student at Uppsala University. His first mature play, Master Olof (1872), written when he was 23 years old, is considered Sweden's first great drama. It was rejected by the Royal Dramatic Theater because of its "irreverent"--that is, realistic--treatment of Swedish national heroes and because it was written in prose, unthinkable for tragedy at the time. The play gives an excellent picture of Strindberg's radical intellectual...