Four Major Plays * Henrik Ibsen, Rolf Fjelde (Translator)

Includes: A Doll House, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder. Translated into natural, stage-ready English by acclaimed scholar Rolf Fjelde, this classic anthology brings together four of Henrik Ibsen's most influential prose dramas exploring marriage, personal truth, illusion, and individual freedom.

The Story. Written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen—widely celebrated as the father of modern drama—and translated with a thoughtful foreword by Rolf Fjelde, this edition gathers four landmark works of late nineteenth-century theater. Inside this volume, readers experience:

A Doll House, following Nora Helmer's quiet awakening to her own independence;

The Wild Duck, examining how fragile family illusions can shatter under the weight of harsh honesty;

Hedda Gabler, portraying a restless, trapped aristocrat struggling against social convention; and

The Master Builder, tracing an aging architect's reckoning with ambition and youth.

Fjelde's faithful, lively translations capture Ibsen's realistic dialogue and rich symbolism, making the collection equally rewarding for silent reading and stage performance.

Perfect For. Theater students, actors, and classic literature readers exploring modern dramatic realism alongside Henrik Ibsen's Four Major Plays, Volume II (Ghosts, An Enemy of the People), Anton Chekhov's major plays, August Strindberg's Miss Julie, or George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.

First published 1940; this edition 1965 by Signet Classic.

Fiction / Drama & Theater / 19th-Century European Drama / Theatrical Realism & Social Commentary / Scandinavian Literature in Translation / Classic Play Anthologies / World Literature