Henrik Ibsen: Comprehensive Research and Study Guide [Library Binding]

Harold Bloom (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0791052397 | ISBN-13: 978-0791052396 | Publication Date: September 1999

Some argue Ibsen reinvented theater. Examine his Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, When We Dead Awaken, and Peer Gynt.

This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School; preeminent literary critic of our time. Titles present the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from The Odyssey through modern literature reflecting a variety of schools of criticism. Texts also contain critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index, and an introductory essay by Bloom.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 120 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea House Publications (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791052397
• ISBN-13: 978-0791052396
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,384,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb introduction to one of the best playwrights, August 13, 2010

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Israel Drazin (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Henrik Ibsen: Comprehensive Research and Study Guide (Library Binding)

This is part of a large series of short books by Professor Bloom on dramatists, novelists, poets, and short story writers. This volume contains an introduction by Bloom, a biography of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, a listing of Ibsen's plays, and books about him. The bulk of the volume focuses on four of his famous plays, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, When We Dead Awaken, and Peer Gynt. The discussions about the plays include an extensive summary of the play, a description of the plays' principle characters, and between five and eight critical analyses by experts on the plays. These quotes are usually one or two pages long.

The analyses by the experts usually differ from each other resulting in the reader obtaining a multi-dimensional insight of thought-provoking ideas, ideas that conjure up our own thoughts about the plays. For example, Arthur Miller focuses on Ibsen's portrayal of the evolutionary aspects of life; George Bernard Shaw on Ibsen challenging the misguided ill-conceived "ideals" of his age; Janet Garton on the impact upon Ibsen of the Norwegian tales entitled Trolls, inner shadow figures that combine a playful nature with a demonic urge to destroy; Helge Rnning about Ibsen and European politics, including his anger against the Norwegians that prompted him to leave his birthplace for Italy, and yet he wrote about his country; Michael Meyer on the influences of hypnotism on his plays and how his own ideas about himself affected the characters that he portrayed; and Vigis Ystad about the psychology of these characters and how they interacted with one another.