Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
(Kbh.) Gyldendal (1962) 284 s. Tranebog T95
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: Fans of well-honed satire will enjoy The Red Room, August Strindberg's no-holds-barred send-up of the pretensions of Swedish high society in the late nineteenth century. Earnest government worker Arvid Falk leaves his old life behind and tries to make a splash as a writer, but as he begins to spend more time with various elite and exclusive cliques, he becomes all the more disillusioned..
User reviews
LibraryThing member Petroglyph
Röda rummet (or in translation The red room; I read this in Swedish) is one of the biggest classics of Swedish literature.
A funny, satirical look at 19thC bourgeois attitudes, The red room presents a loosely-connected group of counter-cultural artistic types and has them confront their
Strindberg wrote funny observations of people and attitudes, and the situations he throws at his characters are frequently entertainingly absurd. Unfortunately, The red room will go no further: the book is more a loose collection of scenes featuring one or more of the main characters than a plotted novel, and I found its satire had a hard time rising above the level of the individual scene. Early chapters are great, but the lack of a solid central plot makes its flightiness annoying.
And then there’s the fact that the book is now (in 2017) almost 140 years old (it appeared in 1879): I found myself unable to appreciate it as a satire, but could only read it as poking fun at the mores of a society that no longer exists -- a historical artefact more than a novel.
So yeah. I’m glad I read this, but I won’t be reading it again.
A funny, satirical look at 19thC bourgeois attitudes, The red room presents a loosely-connected group of counter-cultural artistic types and has them confront their
Show More
counter-cultural and progressive ideals with those of conservative, mainstream society. Most of them are poor (well, poor bourgeois types), making ends meet by pawning each other’s possessions and taking on hack work that’s beneath their dignity. Their goal is to be recognized as master-level artists by the stodgy mainstream, without having to give up their anti-mainstream ideals. Strindberg wrote funny observations of people and attitudes, and the situations he throws at his characters are frequently entertainingly absurd. Unfortunately, The red room will go no further: the book is more a loose collection of scenes featuring one or more of the main characters than a plotted novel, and I found its satire had a hard time rising above the level of the individual scene. Early chapters are great, but the lack of a solid central plot makes its flightiness annoying.
And then there’s the fact that the book is now (in 2017) almost 140 years old (it appeared in 1879): I found myself unable to appreciate it as a satire, but could only read it as poking fun at the mores of a society that no longer exists -- a historical artefact more than a novel.
So yeah. I’m glad I read this, but I won’t be reading it again.
Show Less
LibraryThing member myrie
real good. very nice analytical irony and sarcasm. great language! fun. firery.
Language
Original language
Swedish
Original publication date
1879
Physical description
284 p.; 18.4 cm
Local notes
Omslag: Paul Høyrup
Omslaget viser en statelig ejendom set udefra. Et af værelserne er markeret med rødt
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra svensk "Röda rummet" af Sven Lange
Gyldendals Tranebøger, bind 95
Gutenberg, bind 37039
Omslaget viser en statelig ejendom set udefra. Et af værelserne er markeret med rødt
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra svensk "Röda rummet" af Sven Lange
Gyldendals Tranebøger, bind 95
Gutenberg, bind 37039
Similar in this library
Pages
284
DDC/MDS
| 839.73 |