Hedda Gabler Book

Ibsen wrote Hedda Gabler in Munich in 1890, shortly before his return to Norway after twenty-seven years of self-imposed exile. The play was intended as a tragedy on the purposelessness of life and, in particular, that which was imposed on the women of his time, both by their upbringing and by the social conventions which limited their activities. When it was first produced, it met with misunderstanding and abuse. It has nevertheless become one of the most popular of Ibsen's plays.

"Meyer's translations of Ibsen are a major fact in one's general sense of post-war drama. Their vital pace, their unforced insistence in the poetic center of Ibsen's genius, have beaten academic versions from the field."—George Steiner, New Statesman

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is generally regarded as the father of modern theatre: "His influence on contemporaries and following generations, whether directly or indirectly ... can hardly be overestimated."—John Russell Taylor