Preface

It seems safe to say that hardly any play in the history of world drama has had so many and such different endings as A Doll’s House. These multifarious endings have been the subject of a number of recent investigations. Christian Janss contributes to this discussion by revisiting what is arguably the most prominent of these differing endings, namely the one authored by Ibsen himself. In his article “When Nora stayed: More light on the German Ending” Janss takes issue with the myth, initially produced by Ibsen, that the person chiefly responsible for his being “coerced” into writing an alternative ending was the actor Hedwig Niemann-Raabe. According to Janss, it was, however, not her initiative nor was she a figure central enough to exert such influence. Instead, Janss’ detailed and well-researched argument illustrates how the male agents within the theatrical system can more likely be held responsible. In addition to this insightful analysis, he also reveals new evidence about the actual dissemination and use of the alternative “German” ending. Gunvor Mejdell’s article “Et Dukkehjem in Arabic Translation” also touches upon the various endings of Ibsen’s most famous play – not only in performance but also in translation. In Arabic book translations Ibsen’s original ending has been respected, even if some versions add a slightly different nuance to the play, as Mejdell demonstrates. Before getting to the textual comparisons between different translations “with focus on certain key linguistic and cultural items,” Mejdell provides a valuable literary, cultural, political and linguistic background for these translations into Arabic. She also introduces some of the challenges encountered “when trying to map Arabic Ibsen translations and their sources.” It is indeed a fact that most translations of Ibsen’s plays into this language culture have been relay translations, translated from other – mainly English – translations. This is, however, about to change with the new translations currently being published in Cairo as part of the project “Ibsen in Translation”. One issue specific to this region is the debate over which version of Arabic to choose, the classical Arabic or some