Corpse-washing

August Strindberg; Ellie Schleussner [trans.]; Ernest Boyd [pref.]

The Confession of a Fool [alt. title: Defence of a Fool]

New York: Viking Press, 1925. Very Good / Very Good. Item #13839

New York: Viking Press, 1925. Later Edition. Octavo; publisher's cloth in pale grey decorative dust jacket printed in red and black; 327pp. Jacket extremities and spine panel rather toned with tiny chips along margins and a hint of soil, corners bumped, top textblock edge rather dusty, else a Very Good copy overall in the uncommon jacket.

Reissue of the Swedish author's first autobiographical novel based on his marriage to Siri van Essen. According Boyd's preface, upon completion in 1888 Strindberg immediately wrote: "This is a terrible book. I fully admit it, for I regret that I ever wrote it. How did I write it? Because I felt under a powerful and justifiable compulsion to wash my corpse before it was laid in the coffin for ever" (p. 5). According to Boyd, however, the true reason was the author's fear that his friend and literary rival Gustaf af Geijerstam would turn Swindberg's marriage into a novel before he had the chance.

Price: $50.00