author lends to it an added interest which fully justifies its
inclusion in this volume.



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

"I tell you, you must have chaos in you, if you would give birth to
a dancing star." --Nietzsche.

In Stockholm, living almost as a recluse, August Strindberg is
dreaming life away. The dancing stars, sprung from the chaos of his
being, shine with an ever-increasing refulgence from the high-arched
dome of dramatic literature, but he no longer adds to their number.
The constellation of the Lion of the North is complete.

At sixty-three, worn by the emotional intensity of a life, into
which has been crowded the stress and storm of a universe, he sits
at his desk, every day transcribing to his diary a record of those
mystical forces which he says regulate his life.

Before him lies a crucifix, Hardly as a symbol of sectarian faith,
for Strindberg is a Swedenborgian, but a fitting accompaniment,
nevertheless, to a state of mind which he expresses in saying "One
gets more and more humble the longer one lives, and in the shadow
of death many things look different." A softer light beams from
those blue eyes, which, under that tossing crown of tawny hair
flung high from a speaking forehead, in times past flashed defiance
at every opposition. For him the fierce, unyielding, never-ceasing,
ever-pressing strife of mind and unrest of life is passing, an eddy