Agnes Broomé

The Nordic Research Network (NRN) began as a forum for UK- based early career researchers to share their work with peers in a convivial intellectual environment. As a multi-disciplinary gathering, the regular conference provides an opportunity for scholars in all areas of Nordic research to keep up with the diverse subjects and projects being pursued by colleagues across the country. The third conference was attended by researchers from a range of British institutions and took place at UCL over two days on the 5th and 6th of September 2013. Each year since its inauguration, the NRN conference has grown and evolved; this marks the first time the conference proceedings have been published. The conference has provided many new scholars with their first opportunity to introduce their research to the academic community. This book, similarly, gives a number of early career researchers a chance to see their work in print and reach a wider audience. The papers, organised into thematic chapters, reflect and showcase the diversity of subject areas, approaches, and methodologies of the Nordic Studies postgraduate research community. Together, they help illuminate larger questions of how cultural, social, and historical identities are mediated through literature, historical narratives, films, and architecture.

To most English-language readers and theatre goers, Strindberg is mainly known for naturalistic plays such as 'Miss Julie' and 'The Father', but the dramatic production of Sweden's national playwright is infinitely richer and more extensive than these would suggest. This volume presents four of Strindberg's lesser known one act plays, 'The Bond', 'Facing Death', 'The Outlaw' and 'Simoom', written between 1871 and 1892, which showcase Strindberg's remarkable range. 'The Bond' and 'Facing Death', which fall at the end of the time span, are familiarly naturalistic plays set in contemporary European settings which demonstrate Strindberg's provocative engagement with contentious issues of his day. The early experiment 'The Outlaw', however, takes place in the frigid landscapes of the Viking north, drawing heavily on the style of Icelandic sagas. In Simoom, written in 1889, a practically gothic narrative transports us to the scorching deserts of French colonised Algeria, allowing us to observe the beginnings of Strindberg's experimental, mystical phase which culminated in 'A Dream Play'. Different as the four plays are, however, when read together they form a thematic unity, revealing the beating heart of Strindberg's creativity, the issue at the core of his writing: love as a war eternally waged man and woman, husband and wife, children and parents and individuals and society. The four plays were translated from the Swedish by Agnes Broomé, Anna Holmwood, John K Mitchinson, Mathelinda Nabugodi, Anna Tebelius and Nichola Smalley.