Henrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theater, Philosophy - Hardcover

Toril Moi was born and raised in Norway, and worked in England in the 1980s, before moving to Duke University in 1989, where she is now the James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies. Her previous books include Sexual/Textual Politics and What is a Woman? and Other Essays.

"[Moi makes her arguments] with vigor and intellectual integrity--and with enough enthusiasm to send a reader back to the plays.... She has an impressive knowledge of nineteenth-century European literature and theory--and of Ibsen's place in both.... With much affection and scrupulous scholarship, she finds her way back to the original."--Bookforum

"One of the joys of enrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism is that it is rhetorically sophisticated and tightly argued. Moi's prose is lively and engaging, she knows her Ibsen well, and her theoretical background has enabled her to offer an interesting, intellectually rewarding reading experience."-Jan Sjavik, Modern Language Quaterly

"The best account of Ibsen's mind and stagecraaft I have read, but it does a lot more than that."--A.S.Byatt, Times Literary Supplement

"A magisterial book."--Martin Puchner, London Review of Books

"Moi has written a subtle and brilliant analysis of the plays - both poetic and realist - but she has done much more than that. She has redrawn the parameters of the distinction between realist and 'modern', in a surprising and exciting way....There are all sorts of good things in this book....It alters our idea both of Ibsen and of the world of ideas he worked in."--AS Byatt, Guardian

"Moi is full of rare insights into the arts, philosophy and culture of the nineteenth century."-- Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times

"Moi provides a blend of theory, history, and interpretation that simultaneously renders Ibsen's aesthetic development coherent and situates the great Norwegian playwright in the orbit of Baudelaire, Flaubert, and Manet as a revolutionary pioneer of European modernism. Summing Up: Highly recommended."--Choice

"This is an indispensable book, as illuminating of the painting and literature of the times as of Ibsen himself."--Paul Binding, Spectator

"A subtle and brilliant analysis... surprising and exciting.... It alters both our idea of Ibsen and of the world of ideas he worked in."--A. S. Byatt, Guardian Review Book of the Week