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Situation and Character in Till Damaskus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Carl E. W. L. Dahlström
Carl E. W. L. Dahlström*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Extract

In this paper, I am analyzing Strindberg's trilogy To Damascus with regard to two basic elements—situation and character. Through this study, as well as others in kind, I hope that eventually a literary æsthetic may be evolved. The final purpose, of course, is the attainment of æsthetic judgment in literature.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , September 1938 , pp. 886 - 902
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1938

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References

1 For texts, see the following: (a) the original Swedish, under title Till Damaskus, edited by John Landquist, in Samlade skrifter, Vol. xxix (Stockholm: Bonnier, 1922); (b) the German translation by Emil Schering, under title Nach Damaskus (München: Georg Müller, 1926); (c) the English translation by Sam Davidson, under title “To Damascus,” Poet Lore Magazine (Boston: Bruce Humphries, 1933, 1934, 1935).

The first part of the trilogy was written during 1897–98, and published in 1898; the second part, written and published in 1898; the third part, written during 1900–04 and published in 1904. According to the editor of the collected works, John Landquist, the first part was produced in 1900; but the second and third parts had not been produced at the time of the appearance of Till Damaskus in the Samlade skrifter (1922). In 1927 I attended a performance of the third part in a Stockholm theatre; and, if I remember rightly, this was not the première. Regarding the above dates, see Landquist's notes to Vol. xxix, pp. 365–371; see also, Martin Lamm, Strindberg's dramer (Bonnier: Stockholm, 1926), ii, 51, 70, 255. Hereinafter, roman numerals without other qualification in text or note will refer to volume number in Strindberg's Samlade skrifter.

2 See C. E. W. L. Dahlström, “An Introduction to the Critical Appreciation of Literature,” Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, xix (1933, published 1934), 507–524.

3 Les trente-six situations dramatiques. Published serially in the Mercure de France during 1894; as a volume at the end of the same year (Paris: Mercure de France); nouvelle édition, 1912; troisième édition, 1924. See also C. E. W. L. Dahlström, “The Analysis of Literary Situation,” PMLA, li (1936), 872–889.

4 Op. cit., third edition, p. 200.

5 Ibid., p. 197.

6 Ibid., p. 172.

7 By this term and other forms that may be constructed on it (egoïcism, egoïcisl, egoïcal, egoïcally) I hope to avoid the limitations inherent in such words as egoistic and egotistic. The egoïc pertains to the force of the self as distinct from the other four forces above listed. It may thus include aspects of self-love but cannot be so limited.

8 PMLA, l (1935), 615–629.—Dr. Wenger also read a paper at the Cincinnati meeting of the M.L.A., December 30, 1935, under the title, The Portraiture of Transmuting Characters in Contemporary Literature, very pertinent inasmuch as it reveals the kind of dramatis persona employed in certain types of modern literature.

9 PMLA, l, 617.—In the study of character, notealso the works of Georges Polti. In Les trente-six situations dramatiques, he says: “… les personnages … ne sont … que ce qu'ils font” (3rd edition, p. 206). Also, in L'art d'inventer les personnages, he declares: “Le ‘caractère’ n'est que l'impression sur autrui (qui nous la reflète et nous en persuade), produite par une ou quelques-unes de nos actions—entreprises, intentions devinées ou supposées, apologies, théories, etc.—manifestées une fois pour toutes ou répétées dans des formes assez analogues.” (Paris: Fernand Aubier, 1930), p. 40. First edition, 1912.

10 Hereinafter, the terms literary figures, personages, and dramatis persona will be employed for the general denomination of persons embodied in literary works. The words character and personality will no longer be considered either generic or interchangeable, for each will bear the limitations of its own definition.

11 Op. cit., p. 618.

12 Ibid., p. 619.

13 For critical opinions and analyses of the trilogy, see especially the following studies. Carl David Marcus, August Strindbergs Dramatik (München: Georg Müller, 1918), pp. 231–289. Nils Erdmann, August Strindberg, Die Geschichte einer kämpfenden und leidenden Seele (Leipzig: Haessel, 1924), pp. 709–725. Martin Lamm, Strindbergs dramer (Stockholm: Bonnier, 1924, 1926), ii, 52–76, 255–259. C. E. W. L. Dahlström, “August Strindberg, the Father of Dramatic Expressionism,” Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, x (1928, published 1929), 261–272; also, Strindberg's Dramatic Expressionism (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1930), 119–158. A. Jolivet, Le Théatre de Strindberg (Paris: Boivin & Cie, 1931), pp. 233–251, 307–316. Sam Davidson, Introduction to his English translation of To Damascus, Poet Lore (1933).

14 We probably should add dadaism and surrealism, to say nothing of the forms of automaticism not included in the terms mentioned.

15 One should distinguish between the expressionists among the artists and their critics, and those among the philosophers. The latter are to be associated primarily with Croce and his æsthetics of intuition; see his “Intuition and Expression” in Melvin M. Rader's anthology, A Modern Book of Esthetics (New York: Henry Holt, 1935), pp. 159–178. Regarding the art movement, see my exposition of expressionism in Part One of Strindberg's Dramatic Expressionism (pp. 3–82). It seems quite clear that Croce derived his æsthetics from Vico; moreover, it is equally apparent that expressionism in art is indigenous to the Teutonic north, especially Germany. There is need for a study of expression in æsthetics and expressionism in art in order that we may arrive at a comprehension of their similarities as well as their divergences.

16 This was not, of course, Strindberg's first attempt (see xviii, 452–458; xxiii, 103–105). Again, when Marcus says, “Drei sind die Etappen des Dramas: die Tragödie der Antike, das Drama Shakespeares, die Schauspiele Ibsens und Strindbergs—die Dramen der Götter, der Könige und der Bürger” (op. cit., 435), he quite fails to comprehend the essential contribution of Strindberg: the drama of the soul, or psyche. Strindberg exploits gods, kings, and commoners, it is true; but he is invariably intrigued by their reactions as psyches.

17 Anarchie im Drama, 3. erweiterte Auflage (Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurter Verlags-Anstalt A. G., 1925), p. 165.

18 Op. cit., p. 238.

19 Op. cit., ii, 58.—For the author, of course, there was no uncertainty. Likewise the critic harbors no doubt, for he knows that the dramatis personœ are creations of the Unknown.

20 “Författaren har i detta drömspel med anslutning till sit förra drömspel ‘Till Damaskus’ sökt härma drömmens osammanhängande men skenbart logiska form.” Strindberg's memorandum to A Dream Play, xxxvi, 215.

21 Those interested more in the psychological nature of the Unknown and the author than in the æsthetic analysis, should turn to the works of Sigismund Rahmer and Karl Jaspers. The former published in 1907 (München: E. Reinhardt) a volume under title August Strindberg, eine pathologische Studie; in 1926, Jaspers published the second and enlarged edition of his work, Strindberg und van Gogh, Versuch einer pathographischen Analyse unter vergleichender Heranziehung von Swedenborg und Hölderlin (Berlin: Julius Springer). Note also the title of McGill's biography: August Strindberg, the Bedeviled Viking (New York: Brentano's, 1930). Also Axel Johan Uppvall, August Strindberg, A Psychoanalytic Study with Special Reference to the Œdipus Complex (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1920).

22 Op. cit., pp. 9–10.

23 Ibid., p. 15.

24 Note the references to the Powers:xxix, (Part One) 14, 29, 45, 48, 51, 58, 65, 77, 82, 89, 101, 102, 103; (Part Two) 143, 144, 147, 153, 160, 168–169, 174, 195, 197, 205, 214, 217, 223, 234; (Part Three) 273, 308, 323, 358.

25 Apropos of the name The Unknown Fredrik Böök says, “hjälten heter Den Okände, därför att han förlorat kontrollen över sitt jag….” Sveriges moderna litteratur (Stockholm: P. A. Norstedt & Söner, 1921), p. 335.

26 The rôles also cany symbolical import. See Dahlström, Strindberg's Dramatic Expressionism, pp. 122, 126.

27 See especially xxix, 57–58, 172–174.

28 Ibid., p. 14.

29 Ibid., p. 54.

30 xxix, 57–58.

31 Ibid., 14, 69, 88. See also 279, 309, 314, 320 in Part Three.

32 Ibid., 8, 26, 27, 93.

33 Ibid., 45–16.

34 Ibid., 60, 73.

35 Ibid., 14, 15, 27, 47–52, 77.

36 Ibid., 40–45, 126–132.

37 Ibid., 69–71, 76–78.

38 xxix, 46.

39 Ibid., 84–88.

40 Ibid., 88.

41 Ibid., 118.

42 The illusion is created of the Unknown seated on a bench under a tree throughout the course of 114 pages of the text. See xxix, 19 and 133.

43 xxix, 20–21.

44 Ibid.: (Part One) 15, 21, 27, 30, 31, 37, 45, 52, 64, 93, 119, 124; (Part Two) 193, 209, 223, 231–232; (Part Three) 284, 292, 293, 313, 325, 353, 357, 363.

45 Ibid., 21.

46 Ibid., 88.

47 Ibid., 52.—Even though the Emancipator is revealed as an evil force at times (see 27, 52, 93) he is also depicted in a Christlike manner (119).

48 Except for the appearance of the Lady.

49 xxix, 24–26.

50 Cæsar, the insane man, is a clear-cut index to disintegration. There is possibly an allusion to Nietzsche (see Erdmann, op. cit., p. 711; and Dahlström, op. cit., p. 123), but by and large the reference is to the Unknown's intellectual dissolution.

51 xxix, 24–28. Compare also with 8, 9, 22.

52 Ibid., 18, 26–29, 120. See also Dahlström, op. cit., p. 127.

53 Ibid., 17.

54 Ibid.: (Part One) 15, 20, 28, 33, 40, 50, 89, 98, 123, 129, 130; (Part Two) 159, 166, 169, 180, 184, 215, 219, 226, 228, 234; (Part Three) 294.

55 The asylum scene is a kind of climax in Part One (xxix, 88–97) in which there is a complete assembly of character rôles and their supernumeraries. See also Jolivet, op. cit., p. 244.

56 Note Lamm, op. cit., II, 53. “Först efter författandet av andra delen av Till Damaskus gjorde Strindberg verkligen ett nytt steg till förverkligande av sina klosterplaner, i det att han under några dagar såsom gäst besökte Maredsou i Belgien. Han vantrivdes emellertid där och tyckes sedermera ej ha gjort några allvarligare försök att taga kåpan, ehuru han i sina brev då och då fantiserar därom.”

57 See xxix, 29–30, 53.—The Unknown and the Lady feel that doom has already been pronounced upon them.

58 Ibid., 175.

59 Note, for example, xxix, 15, 27, 119.

60 Note the following reference to a treatise by Hubert Klees: “… das Ziel des Helden ist entweder die Realisierung des Wertvollen oder der Sturz der Wertewelt.” Emma von Ritoók, “Die Wertsphäre des Tragischen,” Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, xxix (1935), 231.

61 xxix, 182–201.

62 Ibid., 204.

63 Ibid., 206.

64 Ibid., 157.

65 Ibid., 208–221.

66 Ibid., 235.

67 Ibid., 209, 211, 212, 217.

68 Ibid., 199.

69 Ibid., 141–142.

70 Ibid., 92–93.

71 See Strindberg's memorandum to A Dream Play, xxxvi, 215: “Allt kan ske, allt är mögligt och sannolickt.”

72 Our surprise, of course, is chiefly aesthetic. Between the writing of Part Two and the completing of the trilogy, Strindberg had married a third time and likewise divorced. There is little question but that this experience is exploited for Part Three.

73 See-note 31 above.

74 Op. cit., ii, 257.

75 xxix, 321–325.

76 Ibid., 247–255.

77 Ibid., 255.

78 Ibid., 325.

79 Ibid., 341.

80 Ibid., 286.

81 Ibid., 347–348.

82 Ibid., 223.

83 Ibid., 287, 292.

84 Ibid., 362.

85 Op. cit., ii, 257.

86 xxix, 315.

87 xxix, 305.

88 xxic, 362–363.