Novel
Doctor Glas
Doktor Glas
Hjalmar Söderberg · 1905
Opening lines
Jag har aldrig sett en sådan sommar.
I have never seen such a summer.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from litteraturbanken.se
Synopsis
Stockholm, a stifling summer. Doctor Glas, a solitary, withdrawn physician, keeps his diary from 12 June to 7 October. In it he records his walks and his thoughts, and the repulsion that Pastor Gregorius inspires in him, whom he compares to a poisonous mushroom. One day, Helga, the pastor's young and beautiful wife, comes to see him: her husband's attentions horrify her, and she asks him to prescribe to him, for medical reasons, that he leave her in peace. The doctor, who falls in love with her, wonders how far he will go to free her.
Context
The novel appeared from Bonnier in 1905 and caused a scandal: it was read as an apology for euthanasia, abortion and infidelity, and a contempt for conjugal rights. The author used there the form of his books of thought, in which the characters reflect more than they act. Helga has been seen as a reflection of Maria von Platen, a married woman with whom he had a secret affair from 1902 to 1906. Swedish cinema adapted it as early as 1942. In French, it appeared from Julliard in 1969, reissued by Viviane Hamy in 1992 and then by Libretto; in English, Paul Britten Austin translated it in 1963 and Rochelle Wright in 2002. Bengt Ohlsson rewrote its story from the point of view of the pastor.
Who it is for
A short novel of about a hundred and fifty pages, which can be read in one sitting, in Swedish, French or English.
Prizes and reception
Regarded by some as its author's masterpiece, and become a classic of Swedish literature.
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