Gud, magin och vetenskapen : En analys av August Strindbergs Inferno

• Main Author: Millerfelt, Emma-Maria
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper (KV) 2013
• Subjects: Strindberg; Inferno; Infernokrisen; Strindberg och religion; esoteriska traditioner esoterism i västerländsk skönlitteratur; ockultism; Strindberg och Madame Blavatsky; Strindberg och Swedenborg; epikanalys; tematisk analys; 1800-tal
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-27954

This literature review aims to investigate, expose and explain August Strindberg's religious position in his partly autobiographical work Inferno, published in Swedish in 1897, in relation to Peter Berger's socialization theory. Strindberg says in the beginning of Inferno that he goes from being an atheist, occultist and Swedenborgian to finally return to his ancestral religion, Christianity. This is questionable, as Strindberg seems to be religious in its atheistic era, and occultist during his Christian period. Strindberg's own religious views seem not always match what he portrays, compared to what he writes in his correspondence and diary entries. This literature review aims to highlight the influences of Strindberg affected to clarify his religiosity which is implicitly and explicitly depicted in Inferno. This thematic epicanalysis has revealed several religious perplexities which Strindberg depicted in his literary works. Strindberg describes in the beginning of the work his alchemy and the occult tendencies that flourish around him and how it affects his scientific experiments. There is a time where Strindberg feels anxious and extremely mentally ill, something that gets better as Strindberg learns Emanuel Swedenborg's religion. Inferno ends with a description of Strindberg's conversion to Christianity, which has sought to be explained by various researchers.