Each of the plays in this volume arrived onstage to loud cries of derision and bafflement. In some cases they were deemed downright dangerous, incurring the wrath of the censors and the morals police. In others, they were satirized into submission: one London response to the erotic violence of Hedda Gab/erwas a racy burlesque titled"Go A Hedda." After watching The Master Builder, some reviewers decided, charitably enough, that Ibsen's characters, and the author himself, must simply be insane. As one critic wrote, unconsciously echoing Hedda Gabler's Judge Brack, there could be no other explanation, since "people simply don't do such things."

Each of the plays in this volume arrived onstage to loud cries of derision and bafflement. In some cases they were deemed downright dangerous, incurring the wrath of the censors and the morals police. In others, they were satirized into submission: one London response to the erotic violence of Hedda Gab/erwas a racy burlesque titled"Go A Hedda." After watching The Master Builder, some reviewers decided, charitably enough, that Ibsen"s characters, and the author himself, must simply be insane. As one critic wrote, unconsciously echoing Hedda Gabler"s Judge Brack, there could be no other explanation, since "people simply don"t do such things." At the same time, Ibsen won fervent admirers who were willing to risk their money, reputations, and professional lives to translate and produce his works. Some of these included writers who would themselves become famous, notorious, or both, including August Strindberg, Henry James, George Bernard Shaw, and James Joyce.

INTRODUCTION

CHRONOLOGY OF HENRIK IBSEN"S

LIFE AND WORK

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF IBSEN"S PLAYS

A DOLL"S HOUSE

THE WILD DUCK

HEDDA GABLER

THE MASTER BUILDER

NOTES

INTERPRETIVE NOTES

CRITICAL EXCERPTS

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE

INTERESTED READER