Strindberg and the Western Canon

Throughout August Strindberg's writing career, he was known for his restless engagement with the literary canon. As a writer, librarian, cultural scholar, polemicist, and amateur researcher, Strindberg frequently cited a variety of sources from both historical and contemporary contexts. He was known for including certain authors in his work while excluding others, actively reassessing the limits of aesthetics and culture as the twentieth century approached. Despite living in self-imposed exile, he remained deeply engaged with cosmopolitan intellectual circles, which suggests a complex relationship with literary and cultural norms. The interplay between local and global cultures is a defining characteristic of Strindberg's body of work, positioning him as a prominent figure among European writers often analyzed within the framework of Weltliteratur.