ABSTRACT
Gunnar drew on a range of cultural figures to comprehend and communicate his predicament, comparing his depression to the trolls that turned beauty to ugliness and laughed at human folly; to Strindberg, who depicted the dissolution of his marriage in misogynist terms; and to Faust, who compensated for his personal failures by doing great work. None could keep his nightmare visions at bay, but all fortified him to persist in the struggle for self-knowledge. While Gunnar was barraging Alva with letters from America, she argued forcefully against his dismissal of her work. At the same time, the couple considered whether during their separation each of them should be allowed to have an affair. Then Alva had sex with a married man they both knew. Although this encounter did not threaten their marriage, Gunnar found her honesty devastating and replied with revelations of his own extramarital affairs. What was most devastating was his admission that he had lied to her, violating the most basic terms of their relationship. He turned to his work on the book as his life’s redeeming purpose while awaiting Alva’s response.
