Ghosts
Ibsen, Henrik, 1828-1906
English
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Below is a summary of Ghosts
GHOSTS
by Henrik Ibsen
Translated, with an Introduction, by William Archer
INTRODUCTION.
The winter of 1879-80 Ibsen spent in Munich, and the greater part
of the summer of 1880 at Berchtesgaden. November 1880 saw him back
in Rome, and he passed the summer of 1881 at Sorrento. There,
fourteen years earlier, he had written the last acts of _Peer
Gynt_; there he now wrote, or at any rate completed, _Gengangere_.
It was published in December 1881, after he had returned to Rome.
On December 22 he wrote to Ludwig Passarge, one of his German
translators, "My new play has now appeared, and has occasioned a
terrible uproar in the Scandinavian press; every day I receive
letters and newspaper articles decrying or praising it. ... I
consider it utterly impossible that any German theatre will accept
the play at present. I hardly believe that they will dare to play
it in the Scandinavian countries for some time to come." How
rightly he judged we shall see anon.
In the newspapers there was far more obloquy than praise. Two men,
however, stood by him from the first: Bjornson, from whom he had
been practically estranged ever since _The League of Youth_, and
Georg Brandes. The latter published an article in which he declared
(I quote from memory) that the play might or might not be Ibsen's
greatest work, but that it was certainly his noblest deed. It was,
doubtless, in acknowledgment of this article that Ibsen wrote to
Brandes on January 3, 1882: "Yesterday I had the great pleasure of
receiving your brilliantly clear and so warmly appreciative review
of _Ghosts_. ... All who read your article must, it seems to me,
have their eyes opened to what I meant by my new book--assuming,
that is, that they have any _wish_ to see. For I cannot get rid of
the impression that a very large number of the false interpretations
which have appeared in the newspapers are the work of people who
know better. In Norway, however, I am willing to believe that the
stultification has in most cases been unintentional; and the reason
is not far to seek. In that country a great many of the critics are
theologians, more or less disguised; and these gentlemen are, as a
rule, quite unable to write rationally about creative literature.
That enfeeblement of judgment which, at least in the case of the
average man, is an inevitable consequence of prolonged occupation
with theological studies, betrays itself more especially in the
judging of human character, human actions, and human motives.
Practical business judgment, on the other hand, does not suffer
so much from studies of this order. Therefore the reverend
gentlemen are very often excellent members of local boards;
but they are unquestionably our worst critics." This passage is
interesting as showing clearly the point of view from which
Ibsen conceived the character of Manders. In the next paragraph
of the same letter he discusses the attitude of "the so-called
Liberal press"; but as the paragraph contains the germ of _An
Enemy of the People_, it may most fittingly be quoted in the
introduction to that play.
Three days later (January 6) Ibsen wrote to Schandorph, the Danish
novelist: "I was quite prepared for the hubbub. If certain of our
Scandinavian reviewers have no talent for anything else, they have
an unquestionable talent for thoroughly misunderstanding and
misinterpreting those authors whose books they undertake to judge. ...
They endeavour to make me responsible for the opinions which
certain of the personages of my drama express. And yet there is not
in the whole book a single opinion, a single utterance, which can
be laid to the account of the author. I took good care to avoid
this. The very method, the order of technique which imposes its
form upon the play, forbids the author to appear in the speeches of
his characters. My object was to make the reader feel that he was
going through a piece of real experience; and nothing could more
effectually prevent such an impression than the intrusion of the
author's private opinions into the dialogue. Do they imagine at
home that I am so inexpert in the theory of drama as not to know
this? Of course I know it, and act accordingly. In no other play
that I have written is the author so external to the action, so
entirely absent from it, as in this last one."
"They say," he continued, "that the book preaches Nihilism. Not at
all. It is not concerned to preach anything whatsoever. It merely
points to the ferment of Nihilism going on under the surface, at
home as elsewhere. A Pastor Manders will always goad one or other
Mrs. Alving to revolt. And just because she is a woman, she will,
when once she has begun, go to the utmost extremes."
Towards the end of January Ibsen wrote from Rome to Olaf Skavlan:
"These last weeks have brought me a wealth of experiences, lessons,
and discoveries. I, of course, foresaw that my new play would call
forth a howl from the camp of the stagnationists; and for; this I
care no more than for the barking of a pack of chained dogs. But
the pusillanimity which I have observed among the so-called
Liberals has given me cause for reflection. The very day after my
play was published the _Dagblad_ rushed out a hurriedly-written
article, evidently designed to purge itself of all suspicion of
complicity in my work. This was entirely unnecessary. I myself am
responsible for what I write, I and no one else. I cannot possibly
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