Henrik Ibsen advised his readers that if they were fully to understand his work, they should read all of his dramas, from first to last, and live them in their personal experience. But little has been published regarding his early plays or his relationship to the myths he collected from the Norwegian countryside as a young man. This book covers his early plays, from Catiline to Peer Gynt, and also demonstrates how The Master Builder, Hedda Gabler and The Lady from the Sea are related to the archetypal themes of his youthful work. The thesis of the book is that Ibsen was a creator of myths....