'Joan Templeton's Ibsen's Women is a book to contend with. Templeton is a major Ibsen scholar, and her reading of Ibsen is broad-gauged and inclusive ... She exposes the shibboleths and blindspots of mainstream Ibsen criticism, shows how persistently and tendentiously Ibsen has been misread ... A tonic revaluation of what a major dramatist actually wrought ... A delight to read.' Arnold Weinstein, Scandinavian Studies
'Ibsen's Women marks a paradigm shift in Ibsen scholarship, moving 'the woman question' from the marginal category of 'as aspect of' to the core of the dramatic oeuvre ... This is dazzling close reading, sophisticated, rigorous, poetically informed, surprising, in short, artful. Templeton's command of her material is masterly ... A powerful book. The critical canon must make way for it.' Mary Kay Norseng, Ibsen News and Comment
'Why is A Doll's House not dated? This is one of the questions Joan Templeton answers in this very important book ... Her style is witty and graceful and blessedly free of modish critical jargon. Her text is aimed at a wide variety of readers: the undergraduate, the 'general reader', and the serious student of modern drama ... Copious and fascinating footnotes.' Barry Jacobs, The Boston Review of Books
'A goldmine of information ... The scope and wide-ranging coverage of this book makes it indispensable reading for anybody wishing to teach or write about Ibsen.' Toril Moi, Ibsen Studies
'An excellent study.' The Norton Anthology of World Literature
Product Description
This is the first comprehensive study of the women in Ibsen's plays and their relationship to the women in the life and career of the playwright. Through close critical readings of the Ibsen texts, as well as the examination of such primary sources as letters and personal papers, Joan Templeton discovers how the important figures in his life (his family, wife, and the actresses themselves) influenced and informed the powerful and inspiring characters he created. Templeton also explores the importance of the early plays and their impact on the later works, and establishes some general patterns in Ibsen's general representation of women.
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