August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright. Additionally, he wrote fiction and cultural criticism, and he also painted, working prolifically throughout his life. His work earned him a reputation as the most important figure in the development of modern Swedish literature. He is well-known for taking established forms and expanding on them in innovative and experimental ways.
Born in Stockholm to a maid and a shipping agent, Strindberg was raised in an impoverished and highly religious household, in which his intellectual precociousness was not valued or appreciated by his working parents. After studying chemistry at the Institute of Technology, Strindberg went to Uppsala University,...