Miss Julie and Its Preface: The Foundation of a Critical Conflict Essay

From its first publication and performance, August Strindbergs play girl Julie has been the source of hypercritical controversy and debate. Written in the span of little more than unitary month in the summer of 1888, the play was banned or censor throughout Europe in the late Nineteenth Century. Because it dealt with situations and attitudes deemed morally or socially offensive (the daughter of an aristocrat seduces her fathers valet, and he, in turn, coerces her to commit suicide) the initial negative reaction to the play was rooted in generalized, fanatical, self blameless outrage and did not seek to deal with or engage the text in any specific manner. Instead, turn tail Julie was a convenient target, characteristic of all that was corrupting and dangerous in an increasingly progressive world. By the early Twentieth Century, however, more focused moral and artistic critiques were leveled at Strindbergs self proclaimed naturalistic tragedy, a discussion that continues to th rive flush today. Though some of the moral and social issues may have muddled their radical edge in later decades, there is still an ongoing, lively, and deeply divided debate. This is not to suggest that these modern critical concerns have tough superior or even different links with the past or to this piece of literature. On the contrary, I would submit that Strindberg himself, as a literary critic of his own work, established (consciously or unconsciously) the fundamental guidelines and ground rules for the interpretive controversies that have followed. By creating a dynamic tension between his theoretical, essentially pragmatic intentions in his put in to Miss Julie and his creative achievements in Miss Julie itself, Strindbergs e... ...wledge our inquiry provides centers around the critical orientation of each voice sounded in the debate. Works Cited Henderson Archibald. European Dramatists. Cincinnati Stewart and Kidd Co., 1913. Heller, Otto. Prophets of Dissent. Po rt Washington, NY Kennikat Press, 1918. Sprinchorn, Evert. Strindberg as Dramatist. New Haven Yale UP, 1982. Strindberg, August. Preface to Miss Julie. Michael Meyer trans., 1888. Rpt. in Strindberg Plays One. Michael Meyer trans. Reading, UK Cox and Wyman Ltd., 1993. ---. Miss Julie. Michael Meyer trans., 1888. Rpt. in Strindberg Plays One. Michael Meyer trans. Reading, UK Cox and Wyman Ltd., 1993. Tornqvist, Egil and Jacobs, Barry. Strindbergs Miss Julie A Play and Its Transpositions. Norwich Norvik, 1988. Williams, Raymond. Drama From Ibsen to Brecht. New York Oxford UP, 1968.