The manner in which the book was written was provocative by its idiomatic phrasing and the naturalness of its scenes--every sentence was charged with revolt against the ultra-academical style which had been the accepted standard of good writing. This was a realism in fiction which was dangerous alike to morals and literary comportment, introduced by a man who proved himself to be master of a new art in words. The anxiety was abated, when some outraged critic hit upon the idea that Strindberg was but an imitator of Zola. This was not true; the author of _The Red Room_ had not read any of Zola's writings, but he had read Dickens--thoroughly--and admired the gentle humour with which the great English novelist unmasked social injustices and their complacent representatives. He had felt a desire to be able to clothe his indictment of Society in similar form. There is little similarity between the writings of Dickens and those of Strindberg; the latter lacked altogether the child-like and detached interest with which Dickens watched and chronicled the doings of the amazing people around him. In Dickens's books there is a distinct line of cleavage between the good and the bad characters. _The Red Room_ contains well-marked specimens of both, but most of Strindberg's writings depict the hybrids of good and evil, the psychological complexity in the human struggle for knowledge. As a novelist Strindberg shows some affinity with George Gissing. Strindberg's descriptions of the squalid tragedy of poverty--honest, hopeless, heaven-forsaken poverty--have the same power of spoiling the enjoyment of a good dinner as those of Gissing. In _New Grub Street_ Gissing lets Biffen say, "Show the numberless repulsive features of common decent life." The repulsive features of human life generally met with protesting resonance in Strindberg's poignant sensibility; he described them and the result is "unpleasant." The publication of The Red Room was followed by an intense literary activity on the part of its restless author. He had found his tongue, and he had found an audience.