August Strindberg (1849–1912) kept a diary from February 1896 in Paris until the summer of 1908 in Stockholm. He referred to his diary from this period as his Occult Diary.
The diary initiates the reader into the writer’s inner world during a crucial transitional period in his personal and literary life. It documents his readings and observations and gives important clues and information about an ongoing process of artistic reorientation.
August Strindberg used the diary to decipher the world as he experienced it. He was exploring new ways of looking at, interpreting, and writing about nature, science, art, the occult, and his fellow human beings. He read and reread his own notations, adding new interpretations, and deleting others. He also drew on the diary as material for creative expression, transforming isolated events and observations into groundbreaking works of literature.
The Occult Diary is published here in its entirety in English translation for the first time, in a final revision by Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams and with an introduction by Per Stam.
A key resource for international Strindberg scholars and theater professionals
The Occult Diary is a key resource for international Strindberg scholars and theater professionals and more broadly for scholars focusing on drama, theater history, stage performance, and literary currents at the turn of the previous century.
The editors and other contributors to the book:
- Editors: Per Stam, Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams and Gunnel Engwall
- Translation from Swedish: Karin Petherick
- Revision: Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams and Anders Hallengren
- Editor of the English translation: Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams
- Introduction and index: Per Stam
- Introduction translated by Rochelle Wright
- Layout: Ilaria Tedde
Read The Occult Diary for free now
At the Stockholm University Press website you can download an ePub or pdf-file that allows you to read the book online or access it on multiple devices. You may also order a print copy of the book through the website: https://doi.org/10.16993/bcb
Critical Editions in Culture and Aesthetics
This English version of August Strindberg’s The Occult Diary Paris 1896 – Stockholm 1908 is the first volume in the new Stockholm University Press’ book series Critical Editions in Culture and Aesthetics (CEiCA) (ISSN 2004-5050).
Stockholm University Press Blog 