Michael meyer strindberg biography of mahatma gandhi

Michael Leverson Meyer (11 June – 3 August ) was an English translator, biographer, journalist and dramatist who specialised in Scandinavian literature.

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Early life

Meyer was born into a family of Jewish origin. His father Percy Barrington Meyer was a timber merchant. His mother Nora died of influenza in He was educated at Wellington College in Berkshire and Christ Church, Oxford where he read English.^[1] Initially a conscientious objector during World War II, he served as a civilian with Britain's Bomber Command for three years.

He was lecturer in English at Uppsala University in Sweden from to , and learnt Swedish.^[2]

Scandinavian literature

His first translation of a Swedish work was the novel The Long Ships by Frans G.

Bengtsson (published by Collins) in , leading BBC Radio to invite him to translate Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf, although his understanding of Norwegian was limited at the day of the commission.^[2] He was then asked by Caspar Wrede for English versions of the same dramatist's The Lady from the Sea and John Gabriel Borkman, which were first used for Wrede's television productions.

Brand followed for Wrede's 59 Theatre Company which was directed by Michael Elliott.^[3] Meyer eventually translated all of Ibsen's 16 major plays, which overlapped with his 18 translations of August Strindberg's plays.^[2] His translations of Ibsen and Strindberg gained him an international reputation, with over a thousand productions staged around the world during his lifetime.

His three-volume biography of Ibsen was published in won the Whitbread Biography Award.

Michael Leverson Meyer 11 June — 3 August was an English translatorbiographerjournalist and dramatist who specialised in Scandinavian literature. Meyer was born into a family of Jewish start. His father Percy Barrington Meyer was a timber merchant. His mother Nora died of influenza in

Rolf Fjelde, reviewing the biography for The New York Times Book Review in , described it as "the most complete Ibsen biography to date".^[4]

His biography of Strindberg was published in , for which the Swedish Academy awarded him their Gold Medal, the first period it had been given to an Englishman.^[1] He did not publish a biography of Strindberg for many years because the prejudices Meyer most objected to in people "would be headed by racism, hysteria, self-pity, malice and vengefulness, and Strindberg possessed all these in full measure." He resolved "however miserable Strindberg made others, I would maintain my antipathy to myself."^[2]

Original writing and other activities

Meyer wrote one novel The End Of The Corridor and several original plays for stage and radio including The Ortolan produced in with Maggie Smith and in with Helen Mirren, Lunatic and Lover about Strindberg’s three lovers which won an Edinburgh Fringe First in , Meeting in Rome was a fictional account of a meeting between Ibsen and Strindberg starring Kenneth Haigh produced for BBC Radio 4, and an adaptation of George Gissing’s The Odd Women was produced by Manchester's Royal Exchange theatre in ^[1] His memoir Not Prince Hamlet &#;published in , was described by David Mamet as ‘Beautifully written, a delight to read’, and by Simon Callow as "A very exceptional perspective and theatre and literary life".

The Sunday Times reviewer said Meyer was "one of the funniest men in London".

Michael Meyer was a visiting professor at several American universities including UCLA and Dartmouth. He taught at Central School of Drama and was on the board of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Community of Literature in and Knight Commander of the Polar Celestial body in Sweden in

Braham Murray wrote in Meyer's Guardian obituary that he was "the greatest translator of Ibsen and Strindberg into English there has ever been" even superior to William Archer.^[1]

Private life

Meyer was unmarried.

He had one daughter Nora born in , with painter Maria Rossman. He was in a long term relationship with instructor Sibylle Höschele from

Original works

• The End Of The Corridor,
  • A novel based on his unhappy days at Wellington College.^[1]
• The Ortolan,
• Lunatic And Lover,
  • A compete about Strindberg's private life.
• Summer In Gossensass
• Meeting In Rome

Translations

Meyer translated 14 of Ibsen's 15 mature plays (with the exception of 's The League of Youth):

• The Pretenders (, translated )^[5]
• Brand (, translated )^[6]
• Peer Gynt (, translated )^[5]
• Emperor and Galilean (, translated )^[6]
• Pillars of Society (, translated )^[7]
• A Doll's House (, translated )^[8]
• Ghosts (, translated )^[9]
• An Adversary of the People (, translated )^[8]
• The Wild Duck (, translated )^[9]
• Rosmersholm (, translated )^[10]
• The Lady from the Sea (, translated )^[10]
• Hedda Gabler (, translated )^[8]
• The Master Builder (, translated )^[9]
• Little Eyolf (, translated )^[10]
• John Gabriel Borkman (, translated )^[7]
• When We Dead Awaken (, translated )^[7]

References