IBSEN'S HEROINES

by Lou Andreas SalomÉ ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 1986

Ibsen could hardly ask for more than to have SalomÉ (1861-1937), the most unconventional free spirit among 19th-century women--the intimate of Friedrich Nietzsche, Rainer Mafia Rilke and--later--Sigmund Freud--who supported herself writing essays, novels, and theater articles, write a book about six of his leading heroines. Translated and introduced by Mandel, this is the book's first appearance in English. SalomÉ published her survey in 1892, when she was 31, and Ibsen himself welcomed every page of it. The Ibsen heroines covered are Nora from A Doll's House, Mrs. Alving from Ghosts, Hedwig from The Wild Duck, Rebecca from Rosmersholm, Ellida from The Lady from the Sea, and Hedda, of course. Unfortunately, he had not yet written The Master Builder with its leading lady, perverse young Hilde Wangel, though Lou might well not have warmed to her, as she fails also to warm to Hedda. SalomÉ, as did Shaw in The Quintessence of Ibsenism, recognized that while the Norwegian dramatist was a great celebrity, few people knew what his plays were about. So she and Shaw both stuck close to telling the stories of the plays, following Ibsen's technique ""of slowly revealing the lives of men and women corseted by societal conventions and their responses to demands for conformity, duties and responsibilities."" Even so, Ibsen himself resisted any formula in writing his plays and insisted always that his characters grow from observed life, not as cogs for propaganda. SalomÉ found Ibsen an absolute master at drawing women, and saw that Ibsen intended his male characters to be as enchained by society's constraints as his heroines. She sees the women whole, as organisms within a poetic context of each play's seasons, metaphors, lighting and staging, and writes about them as crisply or as evasively as they are presented in the plays. She is most direct about Nora, most evocative about the phantasmal waverings of Ellida, the lady from the sea. A brilliant reminder of Ibsen's variety with his heroines, if annoyingly clotted at times. But you really must read the plays first.

Pub Date: April 12, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Black Swan (P.O. Box 327, Redding Ridge, CT 06876)

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION