‘The strongest man in the world,’ Dr Stockmann famously pronounces in An Enemy of the People, ‘is he who stands most alone.’ Those involved in this new Penguin Classics edition of Henrik Ibsen’s modern prose plays have, with all due modesty, begged to disagree. This project is very much the result of a collective effort.
Many therefore deserve thanks. The project was initiated by Alexis Kirschbaum, then editor of Penguin Classics. As we moved into first draft stage it was taken over by a new Penguin editor, Jessica Harrison, who has shown patience, flexibility and good cheer all along, as well as being an admirably alert reader.
On behalf of all involved, I would like to extend a special thanks to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Without their generous support it would have been impossible to stick to our original ambitions. Along the way workshops have twice been hosted by the Norwegian Embassy in London, where I would like to thank Eva Moksnes Vincent and Anne Ulset in particular, and once by the Centre for Ibsen Studies at the University of Oslo, where Frode Helland and Laila Yvonne Henriksen deserve thanks. We are also very grateful to the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo for letting us base this edition on Henrik Ibsens Skrifter (HIS). It makes this the first English-language edition based on the most comprehensive critical edition of Ibsen available. The extensive critical apparatus which only became available with HIS has also been a most valuable resource in our work and in composing our own endnotes.
A special group of expert readers have been invaluable during the many rounds of feedback and revisions: Paul Binding, Colin Burrow, Terence Cave, Janet Garton and Toril Moi. A number of other people have participated in seminars, discussions or offered their help or advice on various points, and I would like to mention Carsten Carlsen, Bart van Es, Frode Helland, Stein Iversen, Peter D. McDonald, Randi Meyer, Martin Puchner, Anne Rikter-Svendsen, Bjørn Tysdahl, Marie Wells, Gina Winje and Marianne Wimmer, in addition, of course, to the four translators involved in the project, Deborah Dawkin, Barbara Haveland, Erik Skuggevik and Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife. Many thanks also go to my employer, The Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo, and to the governing body of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and its master, Roger Ainsworth, for hosting me so generously as Christensen Visiting Fellow during the spring of 2013.
A particular debt of gratitude is owed to Professor Terence Cave, who has ended up acting as the main reader and my main support throughout the project. It is difficult to conceive where we would have been without his sensitive readings and stubborn commitment to the cause, the re-creation of Ibsen’s storyworld. I would also like to extend my warmest thanks to my family, Norunn, Anne Magdalene and Johannes Sakarias Bru Rem, for their patience.
Transferring Ibsen into English has been an exceptionally challenging task, a work that has inspired in us all an even greater respect for this towering artist. For those of us who have acted as readers and re-readers of various versions of these translations, it has also demonstrated how exceptionally difficult the art of translation can be. Finally, I would therefore like to thank the translators, without whom these new texts would not exist, for their receptivity, patience and commitment, and, not least, for their competence and gift for mediation.
Tore Rem
Oslo, August 2013