Since its first publication and performance, August Strindberg's play "Miss Julie" has been a source of controversy and critical debate. Written over the course of just over a month in the summer of 1888, the work was banned or censored throughout Europe in the late 19th century. Since these were situations and attitudes deemed morally or socially offensive (an aristocrat's daughter seduces her father's valet and he, in turn, forces her to commit suicide), the initial negative reaction to the work was rooted in a generalized attitude , fanatical and personal. righteous indignation and did not attempt to address or address the text in any specific way. Instead, “Miss Julie” was a convenient target, symptomatic of all that was corrupting and dangerous in an increasingly progressive world. In the early 20th century, however, more pointed moral and artistic criticism was leveled at Strindberg's self-proclaimed naturalistic tragedy, a discussion that continues to thrive today. Although some moral and social issues may have lost their radical character in recent decades, the debate is still ongoing, lively and deeply divided. This is not to say that these modern critical concerns have forged superior or even different bonds with the modern world. past or to this piece of literature. On the contrary, I would argue that Strindberg himself, as a literary critic of his own work, established (consciously or unconsciously) the fundamental guidelines and ground rules for the interpretive controversies that followed. Creating a dynamic tension between his theoretical, essentially pragmatic intentions in his "Preface to Miss Julie" and his creative achievements in "Miss Julie" herself, the e... Inquiry provides centers around critical orientation of each voice expressed in the debate. Works Cited Henderson Archibald. European playwrights. Cincinnati: Stewart and Kidd Co., 1913.Heller, Otto. Prophets of dissent. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1918.Springhorn, Evert. Strindberg as playwright. New Haven: Yale UP, 1982. Strindberg, August. "Preface to Miss Julie". Michael Meyer trans., 1888. Rpt. in Strindberg plays: Uno. Michael Meyer trans. Reading, UK: Cox and Wyman Ltd., 1993.---. "Miss Juliet". Michael Meyer trans., 1888. Rpt. in Strindberg plays: Uno. Michael Meyer trans. Reading, UK: Cox and Wyman Ltd., 1993. Tornqvist, Egil and Jacobs, Barry. Strindberg's Miss Julie: a play and its transpositions. Norwich: Norvik, 1988.Williams, Raymond. Dramaturgy: from Ibsen to Brecht. New York: Oxford SU, 1968.