Four Major Plays, Volume I (Signet Classics) [Paperback]

Henrik Ibsen (Author), Joan Templeton (Afterword), Rolf Fjelde (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0451530225 | ISBN-13: 978-0451530226 | Publication Date: June 6, 2006

Four Major Plays: Volume I
A Doll House
The Wild Duck
Hedda Gabler
The Master Builder

Among the greatest and best known of Ibsen’s works, these four plays brilliantly exemplify his landmark contributions to the theater: his realistic dialogue, probing of social problems, and depiction of characters’ inner lives as well as their actions. Rich in symbolism and often autobiographical, each of these dramas deals convincingly and provocatively with such universal themes as greed, fear, and sexual hostility, and confronts the eternal conflict between reality and illusion. These Rolf Fjelde translations have been widely acclaimed as the definitive versions of the major works of the father of modern theater.

Translated and with a Foreword by Rolf Fjelde
and a New Afterword by Joan Templeton

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Henrik Ibsen was born of well-to-do parents at Skien, a small Norwegian coastal town, on March 20, 1828. In 1836 his father went bankrupt, and the family was reduced to near poverty. At the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to an apothecary in Grimstad. In 1850 Ibsen ventured to Christiania—present-day Oslo—as a student, with the hope of becoming a doctor. On the strength of his first two plays he was appointed “theater-poet” to the new Bergen National Theater, where he wrote five conventional romantic and historical dramas and absorbed the elements of his craft. In 1857 he was called to the directorship of the financially unsound Christiania Norwegian Theater, which failed in 1862. In 1864, exhausted and enraged by the frustration of his efforts toward a national drama and theater, he quit Norway for what became twenty-seven years of voluntary exile abroad. In Italy he wrote the volcanic Brand (1866), which made his reputation and secured him a poet’s stipend from the government. Its companion piece, the phantasmagoric Peer Gynt, followed in 1867, then the immense double play, Emperor and Galilean (1873), expressing his philosophy of civilization. Meanwhile, having moved to Germany, Ibsen had been searching for a new style. With The Pillars of Society he found it; this became the first of twelve plays, appearing at two-year intervals, that confirmed his international standing as the foremost dramatist of his age. In 1900 Ibsen suffered the first of several strokes that incapacitated him. He died in Oslo on May 23, 1906.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Signet Classics (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451530225
• ISBN-13: 978-0451530226
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( I ) > Ibsen, Henrik
  • #5 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
  • #6 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Scandinavian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling classics, May 18, 2006

By 

Simon (Brampton, ON) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Major Plays: Volume 1: A Doll House; The Wild Duck; Hedda Gabler; The Master Builder (Signet Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

I had to read A Doll House and the Wild Duck for one of my classes, and this was the edition recommended to us by the professor. I was so caught up in Ibsen that I went back and read Hedda Gabler and Master Builder in my spare time, and was not disappointed.

For those who are not familar with Ibsen, his plays are studies of human interaction and psychology, and this collection slants towards the tragic (meaning that it's not quite over until someone dies). There's certain patterns readers will notice, how characters lives are inter-connected by past secrets or relations they haven't been quite honest about, and how a character's unfulfilled life is linked to past actions and someone else's meddling hand. But it's all very compelling, and once you've gotten the names straight and how everyone is related to each other, you're sucked into the drama of these lives.

Of course if you don't like your modern drama depressing then this might not be for you. But any serious playwright/drama student needs to read Ibsen, and this is a fine place to start.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, November 15, 2011

By 

Alan - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Four Major Plays, Volume I (Signet Classics) (Paperback)

I had to purchase this book for English class since we were covering Ibsen's major works. The one we focused on was A Doll's House and the major conflict most students have is the translation. Rolf Fjelde translated this version; my teacher recommends him and so do I in contrast with any other translator. The book came as promised in new condition, without a scratch to be seen. I'm completely satisfied with the delivery and condition of the book and I enjoyed reading A Doll's House. For students who are looking for a bundle of Ibsen's works, look no further as this is the perfect one. It has four of his major works, including A Doll's House, as previously emphasized and it's the best translation out there.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hedda Gabler, February 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Four Major Plays: Volume 1: A Doll House; The Wild Duck; Hedda Gabler; The Master Builder (Signet Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Hedda gabler is a tale of a woman in the victorian ages. She was recently married to a man who considered writing a book "The Brabant in the middle ages" an exiting topic. She is torn between the role she must portray and the role she wants. The play shows the fall from grace and the decline of Hedda Gablers power. It is a powerful play and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Anyone who read the play and wants to help me with a staging essay. [e-mail]