by august strindberg. now, your host, mr. jose ferrer. i'm jose ferrer, your host for this presentation of the ghost sonata by august strindberg. of course, when i tell you my name, i'm observing a social convention. in the ordinary course of a day, we all have occasion to introduce ourselves. and in many cases, the introduction goes no farther than that polite talk about weather, family and other routine items. but strindberg, the playwright, wasn't satisfied with ordinary social conventions. a name, he knew, tells only part of the story. a name doesn't convey one's personal history, real and imagined, one's dreams, nightmares, personal quirks, the demons that haunt, but also reveal. it was strindberg's interest in the psychological and in the strange new method of expressing it dramatically that gives him a special place in theater history and has made his influence felt by every major playwright of the 20th century. in the late 19th century, concern for psychological truth in the arts paralleled freud's investigation of the subconsciou

the departure from realism began with strindberg.ity college and british broadcasting corporation british open university.