Plays by August Strindberg, Second series

"Plays by August Strindberg, Second Series" by August Strindberg is a collection of dramatic works written during the late 19th century. This series includes plays that explore complex themes of morality, relationships, and societal challenges, featuring notable characters such as Maurice, a playwright, and Jeanne, his mistress, as they navigate the intricacies of love, ambition, and ethical dilemmas in the backdrop of Paris. At the start of the works, particularly in "There Are Crimes and Crimes," we meet Maurice and Jeanne as they wait in a cemetery, revealing the emotional tensions surrounding their relationship and the impending success or failure of Maurice's latest play. Their daughter, Marion, plays a significant role in the emotional landscape, highlighting parental responsibilities and the undercurrents of guilt that plague Maurice. The opening scenes set the stage for a deeper exploration of themes concerning the fragility of happiness, the weight of expectations, and the often harsh judgments of society that will unfold as the narrative progresses. As characters grapple with their destinies, they are drawn into a whirlwind of events entwined with existential themes and moral quandaries. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography, history, cultural analysis, and politics during his career, which spanned four decades. A bold experimenter and iconoclast throughout his life, he explored a wide range of dramatic methods and purposes, from naturalistic tragedy, monodrama, and historical plays to his anticipations of expressionist and surrealist dramatic techniques. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed innovative forms of dramatic action, language, and visual composition. He is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature and his The Red Room (1879) has frequently been described as the first modern Swedish novel. In Sweden, Strindberg is known as an essayist, painter, poet, and especially novelist and playwright, but in other countries he is known mostly as a playwright.