Lot 56
Strindberg Refers to Till Damascus and Answers 29 Personal Questions (1849-1912) Swedish writer, playwright, and painter; one of the founders of modern theatre, especially important in the movement of expressionism. Autograph Letter Signed to Danish art critic and author Georg Brochner, in Swedish, one page, 5" x 4½", Lund, 27 May 1899. With an Autograph Document 14½" x 8¾", in Swedish, no date (1899). Both very fine; both with English translations.
The letter refers to Part I of the dramatic trilogy Till Damascus, written in the years 1898-1904. In part: "Hereby the requested improvements. Alas, I have also made a few additions. The piece I expecially wanted to have played was Damascus, since it is new…." The letter is affixed at the top edge to a folded 14¾" x 9" page which contains 29 questions put to Strindberg by Brochner, in Brochner's hand. The answers Strindberg gives, on a separate page, reveal important insights into Strindberg, the man and the writer. The first question is, "What is the main trait in your character?" and Strindberg answers, "This strange blending of the deepest melancholy and the most astonishing light-heartedness." Other questions ask about Strindberg's favorite musical compositions (Beethoven's Sonatas), paintings (Théodore Rousseau's "Paysages Intimes" and several by Bõcklin), books (he names several authors, including Chateaubriand, Swedenborg, Victor Hugo, Dickens, Kipling, etc.), as well as the characteristics Strindberg most values in a man (absence of narrow-mindedness) and in a woman (motherliness), his favorite occupation (writing dramas), his favorite English writer (Dickens) and painter (Turner), the social reform he would most like to see accomplished (disarmament), the greatest happiness he could imagine (to be nobody's enemy and to have no enemies), and his motto (Speravit infestis--"He was hopeful in adversity," from Horace).
Strindberg's responses to Brochner's questions were not published until the day of Strindberg's funeral, appearing in the Svenska Dagbladet on 28 February 1912 (a clipping of this article is present). Michael Myer's authoritative biography of Strindberg gives an account of this document. The Royal Library in Stockholm has a manuscript of the English translation of Strindberg's answers in an unidentified hand, which Strindberg altered and copied; however, the document presented here is Strindberg's original manuscript with his response to Brochner's questions.
Estimated Value $3,000 - 5,000.
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| Realized $3,910 |
