''The Defence of a Fool'' (french: Le Plaidoyer d'un fou) is an autobiographical novel by the Swedish writer

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

. The narrative is a lightly fictionalized account of his life from 1874 to 1887, and especially of his first marriage to

Siri von Essen Sigrid "Siri" Sofia Matilda Elisabet von Essen (17 August 1850 – 21 April 1912) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish noblewoman and actress. Her acting career spanned about 15 years, during which time she appeared in a number of plays that the Sw ...

(called Maria in the novel). The book was written in French in 1887-1888. It was first published in a German translation in 1893, and then in French as ''Le Plaidoyer d’un Fou'' in 1895. However, the French editor had made radical alterations to Strindberg’s text — how radical was not discovered until 1973, when the original manuscript, which had been considered lost, came to light. It was discovered in a safe in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

among papers belonging to Strindberg's friend, the Norwegian painter

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, ''The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dr ...

. Based on it a new Swedish translation appeared in 1976. It has also been published in English as ''The Confession of a Fool'', ''A Madman's Defence'', ''A Fool's Apology'' and ''A Madman's Manifesto''.

Writing process

As his stormy marriage to

was coming to an end,

feared there was a secret conspiracy between the women of Europe, and they were planning to silence him by conducting a campaign to make people believe he was insane. Strindberg therefore decided to hurriedly write a book revealing the truths about the marriage. He began to write ''The Defence of a Fool'' in the autumn 1887 and it was finished the following spring. It was written in French.

Publication

The book was first published in 1893 through Bibliographisches Bureau, in a German translation, with the title ''Die Beichte eines Toren''. Because of this version Strindberg was prosecuted on obscenity charges a year later in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, but he was eventually acquitted. The Swedish magazine "Budkaflen" ( sv) pirated a Swedish translation from the German edition, publishing the novel in instalments between 1893 and 1894, despite the writer's protests. The original French version was published by

Albert Langen Albert Langen (8 July 1869 – 30 April 1909) was a German publisher and founder of the satirical publication '' Simplicissimus''. Early years Langen was, after Martha and Martin, the third of four children born to Antwerp industrialist Friedrich ...

in 1895. The first English translation was called ''The Confession of a Fool'' and published in 1912 (translated by Ellie Schleussner d.1944); in his book ''The Novels of August Strindberg'', Strindberg researcher Eric O. Johannesson describes it as "a poor translation from Schering's 1910 German version which gives a totally misleading impression of the nature of the book". The first Swedish edition (translated by

John Landquist John Landquist (3 December 1881 in Stockholm – 2 April 1974 in Danderyd) was a Swedish literary critic, literary scholar, writer and professor of pedagogy and psychology at Lund University from 1936 to 1946. When Landquist studied at Upps ...

) was published in 1914, after Strindberg's death, as ''En dåres försvarstal''.

External links

''The Defence of a Fool''
in Swedish and French at Litteraturbanken

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Defence of a Fool, The 1893 novels Autobiographical novels French-language novels Novels by August Strindberg

Writing process

Publication

See also

External links

References