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A review by msand3
The Father by August Strindberg
3.0
2.5 stars. It has been about fifteen years since I first read The Father, and I like it even less now than I did in my early-20s. The critical introduction claims repeatedly that the play isn’t melodramatic, and that only “surface” readings/viewings would lead to such a conclusion by missing the “complexity” of the characterizations of Captain and Laura.
Oh, nonsense!
You don’t even have to read much about Strindberg’s life to see that this was a highly autobiographical lashing out at all the dramatist’s own fears, anxieties, and hang-ups, which is what made me ambivalent about the play when I first read it. Years later, knowing the background of his marriage, misogyny, and mental instability, I find the play even more distasteful and histrionic on second reading. This drama gives us more insight into Strindberg’s own fragile masculinity than it does into psychology, marriage, gender roles, or ontology.
Oh, nonsense!
You don’t even have to read much about Strindberg’s life to see that this was a highly autobiographical lashing out at all the dramatist’s own fears, anxieties, and hang-ups, which is what made me ambivalent about the play when I first read it. Years later, knowing the background of his marriage, misogyny, and mental instability, I find the play even more distasteful and histrionic on second reading. This drama gives us more insight into Strindberg’s own fragile masculinity than it does into psychology, marriage, gender roles, or ontology.