Encyklopedisten August Strindberg. Fallet Svarta Fanor

Abstract The article is devoted to the late prose of August Strindberg in the context of literary theories related to encyclopedic narratives and modern epic. I argue that Strindberg’s prose after the Inferno-crisis bears all the features of encyclopedic narratives: it has the ambition to sum up the scientific knowledge of the late 19th century, the narratives are formless, excessive, and full of digressions, their pursuit is mimetic completeness, and their form is both monstrous and hybrid. My thesis is illustrated by a close reading of the nine scientific chapters of the novel Black Banners from 1907.