An Enemy of the People

Ordered a copy in Very Good condition but received Acceptable/Fair. Every single page is heavily marred with notes and highlighting. Requested an exchange which was promptly processed. Replacement arrived in matching condition. I donated the unwanted copy to a little free library and kept the desired copy. Looking forward to this.

This adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play is great. Probably relevent at any time in history, it seems to directly corrolate with current situations world wide.

Miller's version of Ibsen's famous play sets it in language and circumstances that one can connect with better than the original - which was full of allusions to things and times which are arcane - but the original's power still remains and is enhanced by Miller. The theme comes up in the newspaper every month - a community threatened by pollution, a media crusading against power - until the power threatens to pull the plug on the media - "science" being portrayed as both the question and the answer - and friends, family and enemies in couplings and cabals to work against each other "for the common good". Read it with friends and see what it does to friendships.

Ibsen's play, An Enemy of the People is a classic example of the decision that must be made between telling the truth and doing what is right. Dr. Stockmann faces an extreme moral delema. It really made you wonder; what would I do in this situation? Would you be able to trade everything (your position, money, house, and reputation) just to be able to tell the truth? Even though by not letting it out you could become very popluar. This situation is applicable to many situations in real life ranging from events happening at a high school to things in the government. Even though it was written 150 years ago, Ibsen's characters' problems are still reflected all over the world, making this play a must read for everyone.

This powerful play is my first experience reading Henrik Ibsen and WOW! The conflict is timeless and the leading character Dr. Stockmann reminded me of Sir Thomas More.After I read the play I did not want to put the book down and wanted more. I flipped to the front of my edition translated by Christpher Hampton and read his nihilistic introduction. Mr. Hampton missed the whole point and somehow thought Dr. Stockman really WAS the "enemy of the people". Hampton sounded like one of the townspeople from the mob in Act Four when he wrote:"This is to simplify Ibsen's intent; because however sympathetic Ibsen feels towards Dr Stockmann's cause, he is too subtle and profound a dramatist not to know that there are few figures more infuriating than the man who is always right. Stockmann's sincerity, naivety and courage co-exist with an innocent vanity, an inability to compromise and an indifference to the havoc caused in the lives of his family and friends, as well as his own, by his dogged pursuit of principle."Hampton's edition is a nice size with print that is easy to read. I loved the story and the characters and I highly recommend it to all. I have lived the experience and have been "the enemy" so I understood Dr. Stockmann but I learned from Christopher Hampton and my own experience not everyone will "get it."

I saw the play in London at Royal National Theatre and bought the script. (By the way, the same RNT production, directed by Trevor Nunn with sets by John Napier -- the same director/design team for Les Miserables -- with Ian McKellen in the lead role is coming to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, July 14 to Sept 6, 1998. Hampton has created a new version not a literal translation of the late 19th-century classic play -- as Arthur Miller did some years ago. And it works perfectly as a great theatre piece should. The language feels modern and natural which makes the subject matter all the more vital -- particularly as our culture deals with the same environmental issues; and in many ways the same types of reactions from people in authority, including the engineering of mass hysteria and fear. The critic for London's News of the World said of the RNT production, "a tale of corruption, greed and the responsibility of the press...as up to date as this morning's headlines." I agree. See the play, get the script.