Letters of Henrik Ibsen

Ibsen's letters, extending over a period of more than fifty years, provide us with a direct presentment of the man during the changing conditions of his life and of his friendships, and contain much, of both biographical and literary interest. They were written without any thought whatever of publication, and there is, therefore, nothing of the literary character about them - now they are ponderous, clumsy, official communications, now spontaneous, or even violent expressions of the feeling of the moment. But this very lack of literary finish endows them with the charm of real life, and makes them of inappreciable value as sources from which to derive knowledge of Ibsen. We have in these letters that unreserved expression of his personal feelings; we see him in his human weakness and greatness; we learn that his proverbial reserve is not in reality an essential element of his character; and a wonderful light is thrown upon the development of his theories of life and art, and upon the germination and growth and aim of his works.