. The meeting between the daughter Sylvia and THE STRANGER
probably refers to an episode from the summer of 1899, when Strindberg,
after long years of suffering in foreign countries, saw his beloved
Swedish skerries again, and also his favourite daughter Greta, who had
come over from Finland to meet him. Contrary to the version given in the
drama, the reunion of father and daughter seems to have been very happy
and cordial. However, it is typical of the fate-oppressed Strindberg
that in his work even the happiest summer memories become tinged with
black. Once and for all the dark colours on his palette were the most
intense.

The final entry into the monastery was more a symbol for the struggling
author's dream of peace and atonement than a real thing in his life. It
is true he visited the Benedictine monastery, Maredsous, in Belgium in
1898, and its well stocked library came to play a certain part In the
drama, but already he realised, after one night's sojourn there, that he
had no call for the monastic life.

Seen as a whole the trilogy marks a turning point in Strindberg's
dramatic production. The logical, calculated concentration of his
naturalistic work of the 1880's has given way to a freer form of
composition, in which the atmosphere has come to mean more than the
dialogue, the musical and dreamlike qualities more than conciseness.
_The Road to Damascus_ abounds with details from real life, reproduced
in sharply naturalistic manner, but these are not, as things were in
his earlier works viewed by the author _a priori_ as reality but become
wrapped in dreamlike mystery. Just as with _Lady Julia_ and _The Father_
Strindberg ushered in the naturalistic drama of the 1880's, so in the
years around the turn of the century he was, with his symbolist cycle
_The Road to Damascus_, to break new ground for European drama which had
gradually become stuck in fixed formulas. _The Road to Damascus_ became
a landmark in world literature both as a brilliant work of art and as
bearer of new stage technique.

GUNNAR OLLEN

Translated by ESTHER JOHANSON

THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

PART I.

English Version by Graham Rawson

CHARACTERS

THE STRANGER
THE LADY
THE BEGGAR
THE DOCTOR
HIS SISTER
AN OLD MAN
A MOTHER
AN ABBESS
A CONFESSOR

less important figures
FIRST MOURNER
SECOND MOURNER
THIRD MOURNER
LANDLORD
CAESAR
WAITER