“I dream, therefore I exist.”
In this video I will be talking about what is considered the first modern Swedish novel,
The Red Room by August Strindberg. He’s often called the father of modern Swedish literature.
August Strindberg (1849-1912) was a progressive
intellectual and saw the society of the Swedish elites as corrupt, reactionary and stale. He
loved France and even wrote some of his works in French and was friends with Emile Zola.
Later he became an atheist and fell in love with Nietzsche’s work. During this period he wrote
mostly in the naturalist tradition, which had been popularised by Zola. At the time realism
and romanticism were the dominant literary forms. Realism is the objective approach
that focused on telling stories as it was without judging the conduct of the characters.
A good example is Madame Bovary. Flaubert tells the story of Emma’s affairs and
addiction to shopping without condemning or praising her. Romanticism, on the other hand,
focused on the emotional, intuitive and impulsive side of human experience and opposed modernity,
cities in favour of nature. Naturalism is somewhere in between. It employed a scientific
approach to literature, but also wanted to change society for better. August Strindberg wanted class
and gender equality. Here is a quote: “I am a socialist, a nihilist, a republican, anything
that is anti-reactionary!... I want to turn everything upside down to see what lies beneath;
I believe we are so webbed, so horribly regimented, that no spring-cleaning is
possible, everything must be burned, blown to bits, and then we can start afresh...”
Later, he experienced madness and paranoia perhaps due to his love for absinth,
the green fairy as it is known, but also he was persecuted for his views on women,
later accused by women as he attacked marriage as an institution. Here is a quote: “If you are
afraid of loneliness, don't get married”. Another quote: “Love between a man and woman is war.” His
personal life, too, took a turn. He got divorced from his wife Sir and turned that into a novel.
He went through a period of religious mysticism. He believed that he was a medium for messages from
some supernatural powers. This religious return had a profound influence on his later writing.
He took up painting and produced some great art too. After this experience he became
more sober and returned to Stockholm and established a minimalistic theatre which
was a success. By the end of this life he had become a national celebrity in Sweden. He died
aged 63. Jorge Luis Borges called him his god alongside Nietzsche.
The Red Room with the Swedish title “Röda Rummet” was published in 1879. I read the
1913 English translation by Ellie Schleussner.
Okay, let me briefly summarise the novel. Arvid Falk the protagonist is in fact
a young August Strindberg, disguised as a civil servant who hates his job,
the terrible bureaucracy and the slog of working in an office. He asks himself the question:
What does his life mean? He doesn't have an answer. He quits his job, and returns to his elder
brother whom he thinks has cheated him out of the inheritance. But he is too timid to confront him,
instead takes refuge among a group of poor artists who meet regularly in a the red room
of a restaurant to talk politics, art, and everything in between, hence the title the
Red Room. It might also hint at the socialist tone of the novel, perhaps alluding to the colour red
as the socialist colour, I am not sure. But they are not socialists in a revolutionary sense.
They are idealists who worry more about Aristotle than their dinner.
As the story progresses Arvid tries to be a writer. We meet other Swedes, politicians,
publishers, philanthropists and the theatre elites of Stockholm who show common traits
such as corruption, deception and hypocrisy. Like a Darwinian social world. Poverty on the
one hand and a corrupt elites who are blind to the inequality and injustice on the other.
The group of artists try to make sense of all these as they struggle with poverty.
Some commit suicide but most of them appear to accept the society as it is without managing
to make any dent in the system. The failure of the Paris Commune, a communist revolution
in Paris in 1871 can be felt in Stockholm in the disappointment and pessimism among the characters.
By the end they all end up being what you might characterise in a modern sense as reformed
of their early revolutionary ideas. Arvid gets married and finds a job at a school.
In a sense he is rehabilitated into the society he deeply hated.
Strindberg was famous for fictionalising his real life, it’s based on his own life experiences.
First thing you notice, Sweden wasn’t a comfortable place to live back in 19th
century. Poverty was a harsh reality in a cold country. The tough environment meant
that all the characters at the end somehow reconcile their lofty ideas
of change with the reality of life. Now you call it Nordic pragmatism.
One might say that the seeds of a social welfare system that we commonly associate
with the Nordic countries were sewn, perhaps not directly as a result of this novel,
but by the later generations of Swedes who were perhaps influenced by Strindberg.
There are some funny scenes in the novel. There is also an episode about how advertising manufacture
literature, so an American capitalist produce literature by heavily advertising about an
unknown author to propel him into a stardom. Today that’s how literature is created. Mostly anyway.
The novel starts off really well. You might think it’s a tale of two brothers.
Or a group of friends. Then it becomes the tale of Stockholm. The story of Sweden. Young,
idealistic men going through an idealistic phase. Driven out by what they see as nasty real world
but slowly they too accept it. It’s not a page turner for sure. I think its value is not in
its storytelling or plot but as a great mirror of Sweden at the end of 19th century. It’s like
the picture of Sweden before the welfare system, and the fair and affluent country it is today,
Strindberg is perhaps one of those people whose sharp criticism of the inequality and hypocrisy may have had a huge influence in shaping
Sweden later on. Here is a quote: “I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who
haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.” I think he was talking about Politicians, elites,
aristocrats who hide behind the police and soldiers or who shape institutions that protect
them and their interests. Thank you for watching.