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Strindberg, August, 1849-1912

"Married"


He was ultimately committed to an institution where he remained as an
incurable patient.
At lucid intervals, when he was capable of surveying his life, his
heart was filled with compassion for all women who are compelled to
marry without love; his compassion was all the deeper because he had
suffered in his own flesh the curse which lies on every violation of
nature; and yet he was only a man.
He saw the cause of his unhappiness in the family--the family as a
social institution, which does not permit the child to become an
independent individual at the proper time.
He brought no charge against his wife, for was she not equally
unhappy, a victim of the same unfortunate conditions which are
honoured by the sacred name of Law?


CORINNA

Her father was a general, her mother died when she was still a baby.
After her mother's death few ladies visited the house; the callers
were mostly men. And her father took her education into his own hands.
She went out riding with him, was present at the manoeuvres, took an
interest in gymnastics and attended the musters of the reserves.
Since her father occupied the highest rank in their circle of friends,
everybody treated him with an amount of respect which is rarely shown
to equals, and as she was the general's daughter, she was treated in
the same way.


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