Hedda Gabler and Other Plays
Four of Ibsen's most important plays in superb modern translations, part of the new Penguin Ibsen series.
In these four unforgettably intense plays, Henrik Ibsen explores the complex nature of truth, the tension between freedom and responsibility, and the terrible pull that the past exerts over the present. In The Wild Duck, an idealist destroys a family by exposing the lie behind his friend's marriage. In Rosmersholm, a respectable man is driven to extremes by guilt over his wife's death, while in The Lady from the Sea a woman is caught between her family and the enticement of the wild sea. And in Hedda Gabler, one of Ibsen's most famous and vivid anti-heroines struggles to break free from the conventional life she has created for herself, with tragic results.
The new Penguin series of Ibsen's major plays offer the best available editions in English, under the general editorship of Tore Rem. The plays have been freshly translated by the best modern translators and are based on the recently published, definitive Norwegian edition of Ibsen's works. They all include new introductions and editorial apparatus by leading scholars.
Vol. 1: Peer Gynt and Brand
Vol. 2: A Doll's House and Other Plays
Vol. 3: Hedda Gabler and Other Plays
Vol. 4: The Master Builder and Other Plays
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is often called 'the Father of Modern Drama'. Born in Norway, he left his homeland in 1864 for a 21-year long voluntary exile in Italy and Germany. After successes with the verse dramas Brand and Peer Gynt, he turned to prose, writing his great 12-play cycle of society dramas between 1877 and 1899. This included A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and, finally, When We Dead Awaken.
Deborah Dawkin (Translator)
Deborah Dawkin is a researcher at University College London and the British Library. She has been a literary translator from Norwegian for the last ten years.
Erik Skuggevik (Translator)
Erik Skuggevik is a lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Surrey and the University of Westminister.