Book Launch: A Doll's House, Men of Honour, When We Dead Awaken
Join us to celebrate the launch of a new translation of three plays by Henrik Ibsen and Laura Kieler (Oxford University Press, 2026), translated by Gaye Kynoch, and edited by Kirsten E. Shepherd (Oxford) and Tzen Sam (Oxford). There will be conversation with the editors and translator, as well as time for Q&A, as well as a drinks reception.
From Oxford University Press:
'Oh, be not afraid. I am cast out of society, but you, is it not true, you walk around as a man of honour? What more do you want?' (Laura Kieler, Men of Honour)
Very few readers and audiences know that Ibsen's iconic feminist drama A Doll's House was built upon the real-life story of a woman called Laura Kieler, who was his friend and fellow writer. Her life fell apart when A Doll's House came out and the world saw her deeply private life splashed across its stages. With tremendous determination and perseverance, she managed to recover from the trauma that Ibsen's play caused her, and channelled her pain into a successful play of her own called (pointedly) Men of Honour. The play, performed in Copenhagen in 1890, caused great debate and fierce controversy. Ibsen eventually responded to her play by likewise writing a drama: When We Dead Awaken, his final work.
This new edition traces the conversation between Ibsen and Kieler through these plays, across almost two decades and brings Kieler centre stage, and deepens our understanding of Ibsen's A Doll's House and When We Dead Awaken. These three plays create a fascinating whole: a fusion of vantage points, contexts, and visions still reverberating on and off stage today. Furthermore, the two Ibsen plays speak to each other in startling and fresh ways. This volume also explores 21st century concerns about consent and the many ways in which women in particular are still not heard.
