Norvik press

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SWEDISH LITERATURE

THE DEFENCE OF A MADMAN 

Translated by Carol Sanders and Janet Garton 

978-1-909408-15-9          330 PAGES          PAPERBACK          £11.95

August Strindberg’s autobiographical novel written in the 1880s is a lightly 

fictionalized account of his life from 1874 to 1887, and especially of his first 

marriage to Siri von Essen. Written in the first person, it purports to be a vehicle 

for explaining to himself his role in the relationship from its ecstatic beginnings 

to its catastrophic conclusion. 

Strindberg wrote this novel in French in 1887-88 as Le Plaidoyer d’un Fou. His 

original manuscript, which had been thought lost, came to light in the 

University of Oslo in 1973. This is the first English translation of  Strindberg’s 

original text.

TSCHANDALA

Translated by Peter Graves

978-1-870041-71-3          133 PAGES          PAPERBACK          £8.95

This historical novella, depicting the conflict that arises when a university 

academic rents rooms in a dilapidated manor house managed by a dis-

reputable gipsy, allows Strindberg to explore ideas drawn from Nietzsche and 

Social Darwinism, and to explore his own prejudices under the guise of a 

thoroughly gothic narrative. 

August Strindberg

ESZTER SZALCZER

WRITING DAUGHTERS:  

AUGUST STRINDBERG’S OTHER VOICES

978-1-870041-70-6         254 PAGES         PAPERBACK        £14.95 

This books looks at a previously neglected aspect of August Strindberg’s life 

and work: his daughters, both fictional and real, and their relationship to 

writing – both their father’s and their own. 

‘It was to be the opposite of the French tradition of the novelist-

observer reporting elegantly on the human condition, the reverse 

of a neat encapsulation of experience ’...

 

 

Sue Prideaux,  TLS

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9

SWEDISH LITERATURE

August Strindberg

FREDDIE ROKEM

STRINDBERG’S SECRET CODES

978-1-870041-55-3           224 PAGES        PAPERBACK         £14.95

The searching essays in this book seek to uncover the hidden secrets of 

Strindberg’s codes as a writer. Freddie Rokem explores the unconscious 

processes of Strindberg’s plays, and compares his complex project with the 

work of Ibsen and Freud.

STUDIES IN STRINDBERG

Michael Robinson (ed.)

978-1-909188-02-0              204 PAGES          PAPERBACK          £10.00

978-1-909408-02-9  (USA)                                                                                                                                                

This volume of essays sets Strindberg’s accomplishments as a dramatist 

against his achievements in other fields, as an autobiographer, novelist, 

essayist, painter, letter writer and theatre director.

 

MICHAEL ROBINSON

STRINDBERG AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY

978-1-909188-01-3             224 PAGES          PAPERBACK          £10.00

978-1-909408-01-2 (USA)

  

The myth which any writer generates about his own experiences will always 

leave a distinctive stamp on his work. In the case of Strindberg – a consummate 

creator as well as a player of roles – a sense of the configuration of that myth 

is of crucial importance for a proper understanding of the author’s achievement.

‘one of the most important works in the growing corpus of 

Strindberg research in recent years’  

Scandinavica

'By shifting the main emphasis from the life to the text and the 

writing, Robinson is able to bring out new aspects of the interplay 

between text and life’.  

Edda

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10

ELIN WÄGNER

PENWOMAN

Translated by Sarah Death

978-1-870041-74-4      224 PAGES      PAPERBACK      £9.95

 

Penwoman is the classic novel about the Swedish women’s suffrage movement 

which also explores a range of other issues affecting the situation of women in 

Sweden, from the role of paid worker to matters of morality, eroticism 

and love. 

SWEDISH LITERATURE

HJALMAR SÖDERBERG

SHORT STORIES

Translated by Carl Lofmark

978-1-909408-32-6      155 PAGES      PAPERBACK      £11.95

'Marvellous little pieces … full of wise and witty thoughts about 

religion and other forms of nonsense, and they have been efficiently 

translated and informatively introduced'. 

Rationalist Review

HJALMAR SÖDERBERG

MARTIN BIRCK'S YOUTH

Translated by Tom Ellett

978-1-870041-57-7      150 PAGES      PAPERBACK      £8.95

 

Hjalmar Söderberg's second novel from 1901 traces the development of the 

title character from an idyllic Stockholm childhood to maturity as an 

introspective outsider, critical of society.

VICTORIA BENEDICTSSON

MONEY

Translated by Sarah Death

978-1-870041-85-0      202 PAGES      PAPERBACK      £9.95

Selma Berg is forced to abandon dreams of art school when she is married at 16 

to a much older man. Shocked by her wedding night and the mercenary nature 

of the marriage transaction, she is thrown into a life of idle but wretched luxury. 

Finally, with her cousin Richard’s help, she risks everything to find her way to a 

more independent life.

Elin Wägner • Hjalmar Söderberg   

Victoria Benedictsson

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