August Strindberg

August Strindberg wrote in a wide variety of styles ranging from naturalism to the symbolism and expressionism of his later work. Early in his career he became aware of the new "realism" behind the work of Henrik Ibsen, and attempted to respond to Ibsen with his own vision of the cosmos - a form of realism known as naturalism. His best-known work is Miss Julie (1888) which is often cited as a classic work of naturalism and relates the story of a doomed aristocrat and her sexual relationship with her servant. In Miss Julie, as in many of his plays, Strindberg explores sex and the conflicts between men and women. He is often accused of hostility or even hatred towards women - an attitude that some critics attribute to Strindberg's unpleasant personal relationships. Insanity also figured largely in his personal life, as he suffered several breakdowns and periods of almost sociopathic behavior.

Strindberg is often used as a poster-child for naturalism, and if Miss Julie were his only work, such a description would be perfectly accurate. Miss Julie demonstrates the naturalistic idea that human beings are strictly products of the forces surrounding them - that "free will" and "choice" are illusions. But Strindberg's later plays such as A Dream Play (1901) are more experimental, which is why many of them are not as well-known or widely produced. His later work was an inspiration to many avant-garde artists who would follow him.