Whilst the waves of the Strindberg storm were beating against the breakwater of Swedish society, the author of paradoxes was working out his own matrimonial fate in Geneva and Paris. His dreams of a better future took form in _Real Utopias_, published in 1885, a collection of stories in which the socialistic and utilitarian solution of heart-rending problems is presented in a novelistic form which shows Strindberg at his best. The style is instinct with a tender pity for human suffering; there is a keen sense of character, and a wealth of exuberant descriptive warmth which are in sharp contrast with the meagre and stunted sociology to which they have been made subservient. They show the addition of a new string to his lyre, a tone of southern richness which accentuates the superiority of the artist in Strindberg to the social philosopher. At the age of thirty-seven he gathers the riches of his experiences--external and internal--sits down to draw up an account with life and writes his _Autobiography_: The first three volumes deal with the period 1849-79, and were published during 1886. During the same year the second part of _Married_ appeared--in many respects the antithesis of the first. After a prolonged plunge into the depths of subjectivity, Strindberg rose endowed with a new creative force. He had spoken that which was within him, and through the process of self-renewal which followed he attained his highest powers as artist. [1] The first Swedish edition will shortly appear amongst the collected works of Strindberg which are being issued by Messrs. Albert Bonnier. [2] _En bok om Strindberg_, af Holger Drachmann, Knut Hamsun, Justin Huntly McCarthy, Björnstjerne Björnson, Jonas Lie, Georg Brandes, etc. (Karlstad, 1894). [3] _The Confession of a Fool_. English translation by Ellie Schleussner. [4] The name of this play has been wrongly translated into English. It is generally written of as _The Journal of Lucky Peter_, a mistake which even appears in the Encyclopædia Britannica. [5] A third and unaltered edition of this book, which is now regarded as one of the classical works on the subject, was issued during 1912 (H. Gebers Förlag, Stockholm). [6] _En Bok om Strindberg_ (Karlstad, 1894). CHAPTER VI THE ARTIST