An Enemy of the People
It is known that Ibsen had had the idea of writing An Enemy of the People before he wrote Ghosts in 1881. In a letter to his publisher Frederik Hegel, posted in Rome on November 23rd 1881, immediately after Ghosts had been sent off for printing, Ibsen writes:
"I am already playing with the idea of a new four-act comedy, which I thought of earlier but put aside in favour of «Ghosts», as this was urging me on and absorbing all my interest."
Lorentz Dietrichson, who visited Ibsen in Rome in February 1881, writes in his memoirs Past Times:
"the ideas he expresses in «An Enemy of the People» had already matured in him in the spring of 1881, and were aired in almost all our conversations at that time." The first plans for the play probably began to take shape in the second half of 1880.
Thus when Ibsen started writing An Enemy of the People in the spring of 1882, the work proceeded at a fast pace. As early as June 21st he was able to tell Hegel:
"I finished my new drama yesterday. It is entitled «An Enemy of the People» and is in five acts. I am still somewhat uncertain as to whether to call it a comedy or a drama; it has many of the features of a comedy, but a serious idea behind it."
The fair copy was begun in Rome but completed in Gossensass. Ibsen went there at the beginning of August. The last part of the fair copy was sent to Hegel from Gossensass on September 9th 1882.
First edition
An Enemy of the People was published on November 28th 1882 by Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag (F. Hegel & Søn) in Copenhagen in an edition of 10 000 copies. The book had a mixed reception.
First performance
Contrary to what was the case with Ibsen's previous play, Ghosts, the Scandinavian theatres practically queued up to stage An Enemy of the People. The very first performance was at Christiania Theater on January 13th 1883. The play was directed by Johannes Brun, with Arnoldus Reimers as Dr. Stockmann.
This was followed by productions at Den nationale Scene in Bergen (January 24th), Göteborgs Theater (February), Svenska (Swedish) Teatern in Helsingfors (February), Dramaten in Stockholm (March 3rd) and Det Kongelige (Royal) Theater in Copenhagen (March 4th).
By Jens-Morten Hanssen / ibsen. net