



Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org
(From images made available by the Google Books Project)





PLAYS

BY

AUGUST STRINDBERG


FOURTH SERIES


    THE BRIDAL CROWN
    THE SPOOK SONATA
    THE FIRST WARNING
    GUSTAVUS VASA


TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

EDWIN BJOeRKMAN

AUTHORIZED EDITION

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1916




CONTENTS

    INTRODUCTION
    THE BRIDAL CROWN
    THE SPOOK SONATA
    THE FIRST WARNING
    GUSTAVUS VASA
    MUSICAL APPENDIX TO "THE BRIDAL CROWN"




INTRODUCTION


The province of Dalecarlia has often been called the heart of Sweden.
It is a centrally located inland province, said to contain a sample
of everything the country can offer in the way of natural beauty. For
centuries it played a remarkable part in Swedish history, taking the
leadership time and again in the long struggle to rid the nation of a
perverted and abused union with Denmark and Norway. It has preserved
the original stock, the original language, and the original customs
of the race as no other province. The dialects used in Dalecarlia are
among the most difficult to understand for outsiders and have an air of
antiquity that irresistibly leads the thought back to old Norse. The
picturesque costumes characteristic of the different parishes are still
in use, and one of these--that of Raettvik--has almost become _the_
national costume of Sweden.

The people are simple and shrewd, stem and kindly, energetic and
obstinate,