The Son of a Servant (Classic Reprint)

Pram the Publication of The Son of a Servant to The Inferno (i88(i8g(S i) A CBLBBRATBO Statesman is said to have described the biography of a cardixial as being like the Judgment Day. In reading August Strindberg sautobiographical writings, as, for example, his I nfem Otand the book for which this study is a preface, we must remember that he portrays his own Judgment Day. And aal his works have come but lately before the great British public, it may be well to consider what attitude should be adopted towards the amaring candour of his self-revelation. In most provinces of life other than the comprehension of our fellows, the art of understanding is making great progress. We comprehend new phenomena without the old strain upon our capacity for readjusting our point of view. But do we equally well understand our fellow-being whose way of life is not ours? We are patient towards new phases of philosophy, new discoveries in science, new sociological facts, observed in other lands; but in considering an abnormal tjrpe of man or woman, hasty judgment or a too contracted outlook is still liable to doud the judgment. Now, it is obvious that if we would understand any worker ohas accomplished what his contemporaries could only attempt to do, we must have a sufficiently wide knowledge of his work. Neither the inconsequent gossip attaching to such a personality, nor the chance perusal of a problem-play, affords an adequate basis for arriving at a true estimate of the man. Pew writers demand, to the same degree as August Strindberg, those graces of judgment, patience, and reverence. And for this reason first of all: most of us live sheltered lives.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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