The Defense of a Fool

The Defence of a Fool (French: Le Plaidoyer d'un fou) is an autobiographical novel by the Swedish writer August Strindberg. The narrative is based on Strindberg's marriage to Siri von Essen. The book was written in French and first published in a German translation in 1893. It has also been published in English as The Confession of a Fool, A Madman's Defence, A Fool's Apology and A Madman's Manifesto.

Writing process

As his stormy marriage to Siri von Essen was coming to an end, August Strindberg feared there was a secret conspiracy between the women of Europe, and they were planning to silence him by conducting a campaign to make people believe he was insane. Strindberg therefore decided to hurriedly write a book revealing the truths about the marriage. He began to write The Defence of a Fool in the autumn 1887 and it was finished the following spring. It was written in French.[1] 


[From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defence_of_a_Fool]

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