
Luke Batterham
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Senior Valuer
STRINDBERG AND HIS TRANSLATOR: the recipient of this card, Emil Schering, was one of his most important correspondents, being not only responsible for translating his plays and acting as his agent in Germany, but also working with him on the plays themselves, Strindberg using him as a sounding board in trying out his ideas and expounding his aims. It was thanks to Schering and his 48-volume edition of the plays (1910-1924) that there was the great wave of German productions between 1915 and 1926, sealing Strindberg's twentieth century reputation.
The year in which our card was written, 1901, was to see Strindberg write plays such as Svanevit (Swanwhite) and Ett drőmspel (A Dream Play) – both of which Schering translated – as well as his marriage to the actress Harriet Bosse. From the phrases queried on this postcard, it seems that the play under discussion was Kristina (Queen Christina), published that year.