By the open sea • August Strindberg

The archipelago islands and the rural life of Sweden have a very special, magical effect on me. I love the far North and the Scandinavian countries, and so it’s not the first time I’ve picked up a book about this region. When I came across these four volumes in an elegant slipcase, I immediately knew I had to have them. Johan August Strindberg was a well-known and respected author of his time, and it’s not the first time I’ve stumbled upon him. However, these are the first books by Strindberg that I’ve actually read — and certainly not the last.

The first book I read was The People of Hemsö, which tells the story of the farmhand Carlsson, who takes a position with the widow Flod to bring her neglected farm back into shape. The island of Hemsö is fictional, for in this novel Strindberg is really describing Kymmendö, an island in the Stockholm archipelago where he spent several holidays and came to love its nature and tranquility. His admiration for this idyllic place can also be felt in The People of Hemsö. With rather straightforward language, he recounts the daily life, impressions, and labor of Carlsson. He portrays this rural existence with great realism, depicting characters full of flaws yet possessing certain virtues. I really enjoyed this glimpse into a completely different culture — the rough interactions, the understated humor. I love looking into another way of life and catching an unfiltered view of human traits that differ so much from my own thinking. In this case, what emerges is a decidedly archaic image of life.

The second book I read was By the Open Sea, which centers on the fisheries inspector Axel Borg. Once again, Strindberg does not skimp on vivid and beautiful descriptions of the archipelago, which are a true pleasure to read.

Ultramarine blue spread across the stretch of water before the boat, for quite a distance, until the drift ice began and revealed a perfectly Arctic landscape. Islands, bays, fjords, and sounds appeared as on a map, and where the ice had ridden up on reefs, mountain heights had formed […] (p. 42)

The story itself is a bit odd. The protagonist, a government official tasked with modernizing fishing on an island, is somewhat like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory: a very intelligent man, but quite arrogant and misanthropic. He sees himself as exceptional and above the masses. Unlike Sheldon, however, he has an eye for attractive women, leading to a rather peculiar love story in the novel. Even though Strindberg exaggerates Borg’s personality traits considerably, he offers fascinating insights into the culture, politics, and science of his time. I believe that Strindberg was, in a way, writing about himself — or at least from his own perspective. He does not hold back with his social criticism, which makes for an absolute delight to read, as it fits his era so perfectly that it sometimes feels startlingly modern.

Everywhere he saw people of the same age expressing the same opinions about the same things, presenting the majority’s view as their own, uttering phrases instead of thoughts, and discovering that it was, in fact, the ideas of a few minds that were being chewed over by the masses. (p. 65)

It is also interesting that these books were written during his separation from his wife, Siri von Essen. This explains the disdain the superintendent in By the Open Sea shows toward women and society. Strindberg likely used the novel to vent some of his frustration, which also accounts for the exaggerated traits of his protagonist.

The third volume, The People of the Skerries, presents ten short stories about the fates of the inhabitants of the archipelago. The first story, at nearly one hundred pages, makes up about half the book. I didn’t enjoy this first story as much; it felt rather lengthy and not particularly engaging. Overall, however, Strindberg doesn’t seem to hold the islanders in especially high regard — or perhaps he simply portrays them without embellishment. As in his novels, he depicts them as backward, rough, introverted, uneducated people who sometimes make morally questionable choices. They are somewhat like reclusive islanders, fighting the daily battle for sustenance in solitude — carrying a trace of the harsh wilderness within their own characters. This creates a striking contrast to the nature that Strindberg describes in such vivid, colorful detail.

The final book is devoted to the Afterword and the notes on the texts by translator and editor Angelika Gundlach. She describes in detail how Strindberg, both privately and in his writing, repeatedly returned to the archipelago islands as a theme. I found this quite fascinating. One learns that Strindberg’s descriptions are drawn from his holidays on Kymmendö, and that he wrote The People of Hemsö out of nostalgia for that beautiful island — while staying in Lindau on Lake Constance. He lived in many different places and never returned to Kymmendö, yet he always held the beauty of the archipelago above all others. The characters in The People of Hemsö were modeled after real residents of the island, with some fictional additions. However, the people of Hemsö did not come off very well in the novel, and Strindberg consequently was no longer welcome on the lovely holiday island.

I found it a bit impractical that the notes on the texts were published in a separate book — it meant that I was always traveling on the train with two books in hand. It would have been more convenient if each of the three volumes had contained its own annotations.

Both the afterword and the quality of the texts themselves show that Angelika Gundlach is highly knowledgeable and deeply engaged with Strindberg’s stories. There is no doubt that this edition is of outstanding quality. The afterword points out, for instance, that while The People of Hemsö may contain fictional elements, it still realistically captures the milieu of the archipelago. You can sense this in the structure of the stories as well. Without relying on the typical narrative techniques found in many contemporary and even earlier novels, these works consist of relatively even, report-like prose with modest climaxes and a straightforward storytelling style. This makes Strindberg’s archipelago world all the more vivid and realistic. You don’t necessarily feel connected to the characters — you remain a quiet observer rather than a participant, without rooting for them or hoping for a happy ending.

Conclusion: The archipelago islands provide a beautiful backdrop for the realistic and wonderfully described tales of August Strindberg. It’s entertaining to venture into this unique, raw, and solitary wilderness and meet its inhabitants. Those who love the sea and nature, and who enjoy immersing themselves in a realistic world far from civilization, will love these books. You won’t find grand dramatic stories here, but rather glimpses into a very different society — with rough, stubborn, idiosyncratic characters who may not be good people, but are certainly not unlikable or evil, simply drawn straight from life as they struggle for their daily bread in an inhospitable yet beautiful environment.

Book information: By the Open Sea • August Strindberg • mare Verlag • 792 pages • ISBN 9783866481510