Ghosts
A number of scattered notes on Ibsen's work on Ghosts have been preserved. These are undated, but probably date from the winter and spring of 1881. Ibsen was living in Rome when the first connected draft of the play was started at the beginning of June 1881. On June 18th he wrote to his Danish publisher Frederik Hegel:
"One of the first days of this month I started to get down to the subject of a play that has occupied my thoughts for a long time, and now forced itself upon me to such an extent that I could no longer leave it alone. I hope to be able to send you the manuscript by the middle of October. I will let you know the title later; all I can do today is to call it «a family drama in three acts»."
The first draft has not been preserved, but was finished on September 23rd according to a letter Ibsen sent to Hegel at the end of September. Ibsen was in Sorrento at this point. Two days later he began the fair copy. This is extant, and as can be seen from the manuscript it contains so many corrections that Ibsen very likely wrote a second fair copy. The first one, begun on September 25th 1881, is dated as follows:
| |
Starting date |
Finishing date |
| Act 1 |
September 25th |
October 4th |
| Act 2 |
October 13th |
October 20th |
| Act 3 |
October 21st |
October 24th |
The fair copy of the first act was sent to Hegel on October 16th. The second act and the first page of the third act were posted on November 4th, while the last act must have been posted a week or two later.
On November 23rd Ibsen, suspecting what was to come, wrote to Hegel: "It is reasonable to suppose that «Ghosts» will cause alarm in some circles; but so it must be. If it did not do so, it would not have been necessary to write it."
First edition
Ghosts was published by Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag in Copenhagen on December 13th 1881 in an edition of 10 000 copies. The book caused such a storm of horror and anger as Ibsen had never experienced before. There were loud cries of nihilism, an attack on the values of the church, a defence of free love, a violation of such taboos as incest and syphilis.
The outcry affected sales of the book and large quantities of unsold copies were returned to the publisher. The owners of bookshops were ashamed to have the book on their shelves, and it was not until 1894 that a fresh edition was needed.
First performance
Ghosts was sent to a number of theatres in Scandinavia, but they all turned down the play, including Det Kongelige (Royal) Teater in Copenhagen, Nye Teatern and Dramaten in Stockholm, and Christiania Theater.
Thus the very first performance of Ghosts took place at the Aurora Turner Hall in Chicago on May 20th 1882, and this was the first time Ibsen had been performed on American soil. The play was done in Norwegian for an audience of Scandinavian immigrants. Mrs. Alving was played by the Danish actress Helga von Bluhme, and the other parts by Danish and Norwegian amateurs.
The first European production of the play was in Hälsingborg on August 22nd 1883, by the Swedish August Lindberg's theatre company. Lindberg directed and also played the part of Osvald himself. After the first night in Hälsingborg the production was shown in Copenhagen, Stockholm and – for the first time on Norwegian soil – at Møllergadens Theater in Christiania on October 17th 1883. The production received very good reviews and was performed no fewer than 75 times during the autumn of 1883.
By Jens-Morten Hanssen / ibsen.net