WEBVTT

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♪ Background music ♪

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Narrator: Europe, 1879, the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House in is embraced by

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supporters of feminist ideals and vilified by opponents of women's liberation. The play is quite the

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sensation. The renowned Swedish dramatist August Strindberg publicly denounces Ibsen's play,

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believing it will lead to the emancipation of women, and thus ruin the institution of marriage.

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Strindberg: All I've done is attack A Doll's House a stupid play lacking a fixed code of marriage. And

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as far as Henry Ibsen is concerned, I fear neither devil nor troll.

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Narrator (whispering): Strindberg becomes obsessed with discrediting Ibsen. In his mind, the

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similarities between the characters in Ibsen's play and Strindberg's life were too coincidental. In

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1884, Strindberg launches a counterattack, and writes his own version of A Doll's House in the

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controversial book Giftas, a collection of short stories dealing with the failures of marriage.

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Strindberg: In the end, I have nothing left but my great beautiful hatred for them. As for my Giftas, I

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wrote A Doll's House Ibsen never dreamed before.