Ossip Lourié's book isn't a plot summary of Ibsen's plays. Instead, it's a guided tour through the ideas powering them. Lourié reads Ibsen's major works—'A Doll's House,' 'Ghosts,' 'An Enemy of the People,' 'Hedda Gabler'—not as isolated stories, but as parts of a single, urgent project. He shows how Ibsen used the confined space of the family home as a laboratory to dissect the pressures of the outside world.

The Story

There's no traditional plot here. The 'story' is Lourié's argument. He connects the dots between Ibsen's characters and the social forces that created them. He explains how Nora's rebellion is about legal and economic inequality, how Dr. Stockmann's fight is about the hypocrisy of democratic institutions, and how Hedda's despair stems from a society that offers women no meaningful role. The book follows Ibsen's career, showing how his focus sharpened from poetic themes to direct, uncomfortable questions about how we live together.

Why You Should Read It

This book changed how I see Ibsen. Before, I appreciated the dramas as powerful human stories. After reading Lourié, I see them as deliberate, calculated attacks on social conventions. It makes the plays feel more dangerous and relevant. You start to see Ibsen not just as a great playwright, but as a social thinker working through characters and conflict. It’s especially gripping when Lourié points out the specific laws, medical debates, and political scandals Ibsen was responding to—it grounds the plays in real, lived history.

Final Verdict

Perfect for book clubs tackling Ibsen, theatre lovers who want to go deeper, or anyone interested in how art can challenge society. It’s not a dry academic text; it’s a passionate, clear-eyed analysis from a contemporary observer. If you've ever felt there was 'something more' simmering beneath the surface of an Ibsen play, this book names it. It’s the best companion guide I’ve found to understanding why these 19th-century plays still punch so hard today.