Modern Drama by Women 1880s-1930s

Katherine E. Kelly

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• ISBN:
  9781134802371
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre

Modern Drama by Women 1880s-1930s offers the first direct evidence that women playwrights helped create the movement known as Modern Drama.
It contains twelve plays by women from the Americas, Europe and Asia, spanning a national and stylistic range from Swedish realism to Russian symbolism. Six of these plays are appearing in their first English-language translation.
Playwrights include:
* Anne-Charlotte Leffler Edgren (Sweden)
* Amelai Pincherle Rosselli (Italy)
* Elsa Berstein (Germany)
* Elizabeth Robins (Britain)
* Marie Leneru (France)
* Alfonsina Storni (Argentina)
* Hella Wuolijoki (Finland)
* Hasegawa Shigure (Japan)
* Rachilde (France)
* Zinaida Gippius (Russia)
* Djuna Barnes (USA)
* Marita Bonner (USA)
This groundbreaking anthology explodes the traditional canon. In these plays, the New Woman represents herself and her crises in all of the styles and genres available to the modern dramatist. Unprecedented in diversity and scope, it is a collection which no scholar, student or lover of modern drama can afford to miss.

1

Anne Charlotte Leffler Edgren, 1849–92

True Women

Sweden

Introduction
by Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey

In retrospect, the “modern breakthrough” in Scandinavia emerges as dominated by Ibsen and Strindberg. In the 1880s, however, the horizon was dotted with a number of lesser luminaries who, for a time at least, shone as brightly. Many of them were women. That they, like many other Scandinavian writers of the decade, borrowed some of their light from the major stars—Ibsen, Strindberg, and Björnson—was perhaps unavoidable. Particularly Ibsen's pervasive influence can hardly be overrated: even Strindberg—see, e.g., his satiric short story “A Doll's House”—picked up themes, ideas, and types from Ibsen. Female writers responded especially warmly to Ibsen's idealism and found their own careers as artists legitimized by his emancipatory arguments. One Swedish female writer whose dialogue with Ibsen positioned her in the thick of the 1880s’ debate was Anne Charlotte Leffler Edgren. (Born Leffler and married Edgren, she is nevertheless often referred to as Edgren Leffler rather than Leffler Edgren. Following her second marriage, her full name became Anne Charlotte Leffler, Duchess of Cajanello.)

These women writers’ clear indebtedness to Ibsen has sometimes been seen as a kind of female plagiarism, an expression of dependency and insufficiency. What has often been ignored—by male critics—is that some of the clearest invocations of Ibsen are responses, not echoes; challenges, not endorsements. Ibsen's female characters, particularly Nora, served these writers as models to be partly destroyed in a subversive dialogue with the master, ending in the construction of other, more “realistic” or pragmatic characters. (Leffler, and others with her, criticized Ibsen for being so “unrealistic” as to send his totally unprepared Nora out into the world, thus setting her up for failure rather than freedom.) Examples of direct responses to Ibsen are Leffler's short story “Tvifvel” (Doubts) (1882) and Alfhild Agrell's drama Räddad (Saved) (1882).

Typically, female writers of the 1880s chose as their vehicle the short story, the impressionistic sketch from everyday life, or—if more daring—the realistic drama. Anything to do with the theater—writing plays, having one's plays performed, appearing on stage—was of dubious respectability. On the other hand, nothing could confer instant notoriety or guarantee popular attention quite like being performed on one of the major stages of Stockholm, Copenhagen, Bergen, or Christiania. In order to, as the Danish critic Georg Brandes exhorted, “submit problems to debate,” one could do worse than turn playwright.

Anne Charlotte Leffler, Duchess of Cajanello. Photograph provided courtesy of the Royal Library, Stockholm, Sweden.

Life

Born in 1849 into a cultured, tolerant Stockholm family of high achievers, Anne Charlotte Leffler was encouraged in her early writing efforts by her family—in 1869 her father published her first short stories, penned under the name “Carlot.” But a conventional marriage, respectful but sexless, nearly derailed her writing career. On the other hand, her privileged social position and location in the capital gave her the opportunity in the 1880s to play hostess to “Young Sweden,” the leading literary movement of the day. Anne Charlotte became a fixed point on their firmament, admired and respected. Although some of the fulsome praise from this circle may have been due to Anne Charlotte's social position and strong personality, she still showed to advantage compared with the circle's other female writers like Stella Kleve and Alfhild Agrell. As Ernst Ahlgren — pseudonym for the author Victoria Benedictsson from southern Sweden—said about Anne Charlotte upon visiting Stockholm: “There is something free, refreshing, and courageous about her that attracts. What a shame that she is rich!”

But her full potential she did not begin to fulfill until, at 39, she met the Neapolitan mathematician Pasquale del Pezzo, Duke of Cajanello, obtained a divorce from her husband, married the Duke, and settled in Italy. Passionate love, second marriage and the birth of a much-longed-for son (at the age of 42) introduced a richer, more nuanced emotional register into her writings. The titles of her last collection of short stories, published in 1889, read like prophetic shorthand notations for her personal odyssey: “Narrow Horizon,” “Travel Abroad,” “Marriage for Love,” “About Marriage,” “A Miracle,” and “Equality.”

What she might have accomplished with her new-found worldview and fulfillment we can only guess: she died in 1892 at the age of 43, of appendicitis.

Career

One of the most acknowledged women in the Swedish “modern breakthrough,” Anne Charlotte Leffler was translated into Dano-Norwegian, English, German, Russian, and Italian. Ingeborg Nordin Hennel argues that Leffler's debt to Ibsen represented neither weakness nor subversion but a deliberate tactic in order to be heard. A desire to be heard prompted also Leffler's first plays Skådespelerskan (The Actress) (1873) and Pastorsadjunkten (The Curate) (1876), both anonymously submitted to protect her government-official husband and performed at the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. Once The Actress—about a Nora-like choice between career and marriage—was accepted, Leffler went on to appear—still anonymously—in the play.

Carefully observed and nuanced dialogue is a hallmark both of her stories and her dramas. Throughout her writing career, Leffler kept returning to the dramatic form, though only one more time—in Elfvan (The Elf) (1880)—to the stage. Of her thirteen major works, eight are full-length plays, joining the Ibsen-inspired debate about, e.g., married woman's right to property, the double standard, and the tyranny of convention. Sanna kvinnor (True Women) (1883), her fourth, written under her own name, was her greatest public success on the stage.

True Women (1883)

Written and premiered in 1883, True Women was not only one of Sweden's first successfully produced plays by a female writer but also Sweden's first major socio-realistic play dealing with the explosive “woman question,” predated only by Leffler's own The Actress (1873). Norway had already seen Björnstjerne Björnson's The Newlyweds (1865), The Bankrupt (1874), and A Gauntlet (1883) as well as Ibsen's A Doll House (1879) and Ghosts (1881). In Sweden, Strindberg had published the breakthrough novel The Red Room (1879), but his short story collection Married (1884–86) and dramas like The Father (1887) and Miss Julie (1888) were yet to be written. At the time, Leffler was influential, admired, controversial: a member of society and a married woman who could expose the debauched upper classes and speak from experience about the conflict between marriage and career. In True Women she touched on two recent hotly debated developments: the passing in 1874 of a law allowing married women to dispose of their own income and the founding in 1878 of the British Federation against legalized prostitution.

Like Ibsen, Björnson, Agrell, Sonia Kovalevsky, Stella Kleve, Ernst Ahlgren, and the other socio-realist writers of the 1870s–80s, Leffler broke with literary tradition, depicted contemporary life, and aimed at lifelikeness. They all wanted to expose social ills and start a debate that would result in reform. Leffler was especially good at writing natural dialogue. Her focus was women in upper middle-class Stockholm, though she set a number of her short stories in other milieus. In True Women she examines the position of married women, but unlike Ibsen in A Doll House, she does not put all the blame on male-dominated society. She criticizes not only adulterous and self-centered husbands but also “true women,” their eternally forgiving and self-effacing wives. The play was thus among the first in Scandinavia to attack both male and female attitudes. Also in contrast to A Doll House, which ends with an image of freedom for Nora, True Women's naturalistic ending was felt to be “sad”—as the Norwegian critic Mathilde Schjött explained—“because it must be, since it is so modern.”

The socio-realists broke also with theatrical tradition, deliberately challenging the then current notion of theater as an institution for amusement, escape, and socializing. As Leffler herself said about True Women, “the intent of this piece is not to ‘be successful,’ only to stir up a fight!” Nor was it wholly successful when it premiered in 1883: the critics rather liked it, the audience did not. Since that time, however, True Women has proven to be Leffler's most enduring work, revived at the Royal Dramatic Theatre no fewer than three times (1885, 1918, and 1988) and produced by Swedish Television (1974, repeated 1975 and 1978).

One reason for the play's warm reception in the late twentieth century —“watch out for Mrs. Leffler, the woman is still dangerous”—may be that it deftly exposes certain psycho-social dynamics and features of the dysfunctional family: absent and weak father, enabling mother, co-dependency, male dominance, workaholism, sibling rivalry, denial, martyr complex, mother fixation, and so on. If judged by more recent playwrighting standards, the plot may seem contrived and the characters two-dimensional: most of the men are conspirators and most of the women happy and cooperative victims of the male conspiracy. The heroine, Berta, and hero, the accountant Lundberg, are noble and self-sacrificial. The title “True Women” is explained several times in the course of the play. But the ending is deeply ironic: nothing has been solved, although — depending upon how the confrontation between Berta and Lundberg is played— the 1887 and 1918 texts support the possibility of a conventional “happy ending” for Berta and Lundberg.

Ibsen, Strindberg, Leffler…

Having True Women and several other plays accepted by the Royal Dramatic Theatre —Sweden's national and most prestigious stage—was quite a feather in Leffler's cap. In her lifetime she invited frequent and favorable comparison with both Ibsen and Strindberg—neither of whom had yet been accorded genius status. Her first volume of short stories published under her own name, From Life I (1882), was hailed as the “greatest work of modern Swedish literature after [Strindberg's] The Red Room (1879)” and the short story “Tvifvel” (Doubts) from that collection was recognized as a direct response to Ibsen's Brand. In the 1880s— much to Strindberg's chagrin and envy —her plays were more performed than his. In his original preface to Married II he attacked Leffler and aimed a special kick at the “monster” Berta in True Women.

For a time, women playwrights admired and emulated Leffler. Her plays were translated and personal friendships and strong shared interests joined her to a larger circle of politically enlightened women like Eleanor Marx and Annie Besant. But she had relatively little influence on the next generation of Swedish female writers. In part this may be explained by her failure to leave the 1880s behind, in part by her move away from Sweden and her premature death. It is not until the twentieth century that she has been rediscovered and given the attention and appreciation she deserves.

Plays by Anne Charlotte Leffler

Skådespelerskan (The Actress) (1873)

Under toffeln (In Her Power (1873)

Pastorsadjunkten (The Curate) (1876)

Elfvan (The Elf) (1880)

Sanna kvinnor (True Women) (1883)

Hur man gör godt (How To Do Good) (1885)

Kampen för lyckan (The Fight for Happiness) (1887) double drama—with Sonia Kovalevsky

Familjelycka (Family Happiness) (1891)

Master Malvina (Aunt Malvina) (1891)

Den kärleken (That's Love For You) (1891)

Acknowledgments

For assistance with research in Stockholm, Sweden, I would like to acknowledge the staff at the Royal Library, Henrik Bramsjö and Ulla Orre at the Archive and Library of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and Karin Widegren at the Drottningholm Theatre Museum. Thanks also to Jens Widestedt of Folmer Hansen Theatre Publisher, Linda Romanus, Peter Larlham, and, especially, Susanna Nied.

Photo from the 1988 production True Women at the Royal Dramatic Theatre taken by Mats Bäcker. Reproduced with the permission of Mats Bäcker and the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

True Women

(Sanna kvinnor)

[A Play in Three Acts] 1883

Play translation by Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey

Anne Charlotte Leffler Edgren

Translator's note on the punctuation*

To avoid dulling or perverting the author's intention, the original emphases and punctuation have, as far as possible, been retained in the dialogue. (The punctuation in the stage directions, on the other hand, has been normalized.)

Particularly notable is the author's idiosyncratic and ungrammatical use of the period and exclamation mark to indicate a character's emotional involvement. Even where the sentence structure indicates a question, she often replaces the expected question mark with a period or exclamation mark. The period indicates downward inflection and relative control, the exclamation mark an outburst with relative lack of control.

The author uses single double dashes (--), double double dashes, even, in a few cases, triple and quadruple double dashes to help “direct” the action. Single double dashes indicate a quick breath or speech that is broken off by someone else, double double dashes represent a beat of thought or a longer break by the speaking character, and triple double dashes usually mark a longer, momentous break in the overall flow. (These are mere indications; obviously the sensitive actor and director will translate the rough signs on the printed page into nuanced action.) To avoid misinterpretation, I have chosen to retain the original system of double dashes rather than “translate” them into “m”-dashes and ellipses.

Characters*

BARK

MRS. BARK

BERTA	their daughter
LISSI

WILHELM, Lissi's husband

LUNDBERG, accountant

[Place

The action takes place in the apartment of an upper middle-class family in Stockholm in the 1880s.]

Act I

A room furnished to serve as both dining room and living room.¹ In the back, door to the hallway [leading to the apartment's exterior door]; right [i.e., stage left--all directions are from the audience's point of view], we see the door to Berta's room; left, the door to her mother's. Left a desk, right a sofa and a small sewing table. In the center of the room a fairsized dining table with matching chairs around it. In the back, a sideboard. MRS. BARK (Sitting on the sofa by the lighted lamp on the sewing table, rises and calls to the room right) Berta dear! Aren't you going to bed soon? You know, you promised me not to stay up this evening. BERTA (Answering from inside her room) But it's just a little past ten. MRS. BARK Yes, but remember that you've been staying up till two and three in the morning the last few nights. BERTA (Appears in the doorway.) But I have still more pages left to copy. I've never had a copying job that was as slow as this. The handwriting is so hard to decipher, and you know I promised to drop the whole thing off tomorrow morning early. MRS. BARK (Goes over to her and pats her cheek.) Go to bed now anyway. I'll wake you up early. You look so tired -- and your eyes are red. Remember that we can expect Lissi any day now. She'll be upset if you look too peaked. BERTA Yes, that's true. It will really be fun to see Lissi. (Thoughtfully) If only Wilhelm thought so, too! MRS. BARK But, dear Berta, how can you say that. Why wouldn't he be happy to see his wife! BERTA Wilhelm is so moody. If she comes at the wrong time, she won't get such a warm welcome, that's for sure. MRS. BARK Shh, dear child, you're tired this evening, that's why everything looks so dark to you. BERTA What time do you think Papa will be home tonight? MRS. BARK He'll be here soon, you'll see. BERTA Are you going to wait up for him? MRS. BARK Yes -- you know I will. BERTA Well -- then I'll go in and sit down and copy some more. (Goes toward her room.) MRS. BARK No, Berta, don't, for my sake. You know that I must wait up for Papa. If he knew that everyone at home was fast asleep there is no telling how long he would stay out -- he always gets really angry with me when he comes home and finds me waiting up -- and why would he if he didn't feel that there was some kind of bond between us. BERTA A very tiny bond, I would say. It was three o'clock when he came home last night. MRS. BARK How do you know that? Your light was out. I thought you were asleep. BERTA (Jokingly) When you're waiting up, I sleep like the proverbial cat when his mistress is churning butter -- with one eye open. MRS. BARK (Pats her lovingly and shakes her head.) Will you go to bed now? BERTA It depends on you, Mama. Will you? MRS. BARK Yes, as you wish. Good night! (MRS. BARK kisses BERTA; extinguishes the lamp. They go in separate directions, BERTA to the right, MRS. BARK to the left; nod to each other in the doorway, BERTA blows her mother a kiss. The stage is dark and empty for a moment.) MRS. BARK (Comes in with a candle in her hand, puts it down, tiptoes to Berta's door and looks thr...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Modern Drama by Women 1880s–1930s
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Making of Modern Drama
• 1 Anne Charlotte Leffler Edgren True Women
• 2 Amelia Rosselli Her Soul (Italy)
• 3 Elsa Bernstein (Ernst Rosmer) Maria Arndt
• 4 Elizabeth Robins Votes for Women
• 5 Marie Lenéru Woman Triumphant
• 6 Alfonsina Storni The Master of the World
• 7 Hella Wuolijoki Hulda Juurakko
• 8 Hasegawa Shiguré Wavering Traces
• 9 Rachilde (Marguerite Eymery) The Crystal Spider
• 10 Zinaida Gippius Sacred Blood
• 11 Djuna Barnes The Dove
• 12 Marita Bonner The Purple Flower
• Notes on translators and contributorsx