"Diverse Galskaber" in Ibsen's The Wild Duck

Authors

Brian Johnston, Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

In 1906, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote to Clara Rilke about his cultural activities in Paris and noted:

But the most remarkable part of this very long day was the evening.

We saw Ibsen's Wild Duck at the Antoine. Excellently rehearsed, with

a great deal of care and shaping-marvelous. Of course, by reason of

certain differences in temperament, details were distorted, crooked,

misunderstood. But the poetry! ... all its splendour came from the

inside and almost to the surface. There was something great, deep,

essential. Last Judgement. A finality. And suddenly the hour was

there when Ibsen's majesty deigned to look at me for the first time.

A new poet, whom we shall approach by many roads now that I know

of one of them. And again someone who is misunderstood in the

midst of fame. Someone quite different from what one hears. . . . ¹

Recommended Citation

Johnston, Brian (1996) ""Diverse Galskaber" in Ibsen's The Wild Duck," Comparative Drama: Vol. 30: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol30/iss1/4