Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The Scandinavian Drama - August Strindberg - Countess Julie
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
60 Strindberg
of Jean was molded in the relentless school
of necessity, in which only those survive who have
the determination to act in time of danger. For
as Jean says,
"
Miss Julie, I see that you are un
happy, I know that you are suffering, but I cannot
understand you. Among my kind there is no non
sense of this sort. We love as we play when
work gives us time. We haven t the whole day
and night for it as you."
Here we have the key to the psychology of
the utter helplessness and weakness of the Julie
type, and of the brutality of the Jeans. The one,
the result of an empty life, of parasitic leisure, of
a useless, purposeless existence. The other, the
effect of too little time for development, for ma
turity and depth; of too much toil to permit the
growth of the finer traits in the human soul.
August Strindberg, himself the result of the
class conflict between his parents, never felt at
home with either of them. All his life he was
galled by the irreconcilability of the classes; and
though he was no sermonizer in the sense of offer
ing a definite panacea for individual or social ills,
yet with master touch he painted the degrading
effects of class distinction and its tragic antago
nisms. In
"
Countess Julie
"
he popularized one
of the most vital problems of our age, and gave
to the world a work powerful in its grasp of ele
mental emotions, laying bare the human soul be-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
