Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1912-05-23
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+ SWEDEN. +


August Strindberg, Sweden's foreA
most man of letters. died of cancer at
Stockholm Tuesday. May IA.
S%trindbergA recently celebrated his
sixty-third birthday and the day was
made an occasion Of national rejoicing.
The great dramatist must have smiled
grimly at the evidences he saw about
him of popular approval, for his life
had been one unremitting struggle.
S%trindberg, like Ibsen, first found ac-
c~eptance not at home, but in the other
countries OF Europe. II was only after
his reputation had been built up
abroad hat his own people took him
TO their hearts.
S%trindberg was born at Stockholm
on Jan. %, 1S49. His father was a
small tradesman who had lost his
business before August was born, m
who was attempting to make a living
SIS a steamship agent. Prosperity did
not come TO him easily in the new
trade and the boys early years were
passed in poverty. August waged an
almost continuous warfare with his
parents and the rest of the family.
At eighteen he entered the univer-
sity at Upsala. He was SO poor that
he could buy nc books, nor even wood
for a fire. Returning to Stockholm
be began to teach in one Of the pub
tic schools. He then felt for the first
time the need of self-expression. He
turned first to verse, but he failed re-
pcatedly until one day, "in a sort of
trance, he found himself shaping
words into measured lines and 1t sud-
denly dawned on him that he had &C
complished the feat held beyond him."
rays Edwin Bjorkman, his translator.
His first work for the stage was a
comedy, concerning which nothing is
now known. Then he wrote a brief
play with the Danish sculptor, Thor
yaldsen, as the central figure. 1t failed
with critics and public, but brought
its author the financial support of
King Charles XIV. Thus encouraged,
he returned to the university with the
thought of taking his degree, but in
stead he neglected his studies and
lead everything not required in the
course.
After he left the university he stud
led medicine, tried the stage as an
actor, conducted "a trade journal and
scrubbed for obscure newspapers. His
first big success was the Scarlet
Room" a novel published in 1879.
Then followed in succession a number
of works which established his repu-
tation throughout Europe. Among his
better known works are Marriage"
"The Dance of Death" and THE Com
rades."
In 1891 occurred the dissolution of
Strindberg's first marriage. The feel
ings that were called up in him by
that unhappy break are reflected in a
one-act play called THE Link He
married a second time in Berlin, but
the marriage lasted only a few years.
In 1897 he returned to Sweden, where
he contracted a third marriage in
1901. This last, like the other two,
ended d~isastrously three years later.
The last years of his unhappy life
were passed quietly enough in Stock
holm.
4. 4. =
The Swedish government is backing
the Olympic games that are to take
place in Stockholm next July. The
Swedes are not doing things by halves
either, but are making careful prepare
tions, and are not overlooking any de-
tails. This is also the first time since
the original games in ancient Greece
that a government stands sponsor for
them. The government has not alone
provided the great stadium in which
the games are to take place, but ii
will superintend the games through a
committee appointed for this purpose
and will also foot all the bills.
Says a Swedish correspondent: Sven
Hedin has again come before the pub
lie because OF a pamphlet of warning
against German aggression he has
issued which has struck such a popu-
lar chord that over one million copies
have already been distributed.