A Doll's House / Ghosts / An Enemy of the People / The Wild Duck

Book Description: Published Sep 1981, Bantam Books. Paperback. CONDITION NEW COPY, Pages: 320,

Not Read

Going to see Ghosts in a few weeks, so I wanted to refresh my memory of Ibsen. All I really knew was A Doll's House, which was fun to reread. Ghosts seems so melodramatic I'm not sure how it will play. In today's world, congenital syphilis, while horrifying, does not seem as damaging a confession as it was then. The Wild Duck was the most satisfyingly complex of the plays, and I found the plight of the daughter, Hedvig, particularly moving. Ibsen seems to create intelligent women who are ruined by self-satisfied, deluded men (whom they manipulate with quiet skill). Can't wait to see the play. ( )

Two of my favorite plays ("The Wild Duck" and "An Enemy of the People") and two I've not yet read ("Ghosts" and "A Doll's House") or witnessed as a performance.

Ibsen is one of the great playrights. "An Enemy of the People" is a great tale of a man standing up to his nieghbors on a matter of principle . . . . on an issue of pollution. "The Wild Duck" is a fascinating look at the destruction of the social fabric when the lies that allow people to live in peace are shown to be false. ( )

A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, and The Wild Duck