How to Eat Crayfish, Stockholm, 1884

Abstract

In earlier notes in these pages the author has considered how literary scenes of food vending and dining could become vehicles for social criticism. In this article, he provides a translation of a scene from August Strindberg's short story ‘Needs must’ (‘Måste’) which was published in 1884 as part of a collection of short stories, Getting Married (Giftas). In the scene a solitary diner, a schoolmaster, orders crayfish, not for the first time.