How did Naturalism influence August Strindberg's dramatic style?

Naturalism significantly shaped August Strindberg’s dramatic style by pushing him toward a more authentic representation of human experience, characterized by a rejection of artifice in favor of "slice-of-life" realism.12

In works written between 1887 and 1893, such as The Father and Miss Julie, Strindberg integrated several key naturalistic techniques:

• Dialogue and Action: He utilized unaffected, colloquial dialogue and continuous, brutal action that mirrored everyday speech and behavior.12
• Staging: He moved away from luxurious scenery, opting for stark settings and the use of stage props as symbolic elements.1
• Psychological Depth: By combining these naturalistic methods with his own intense focus on psychology, he created a new form of European drama that prioritized personal revelation over stylized performance.13

Through these innovations, Strindberg’s naturalistic plays—particularly Miss Julie—reached what is often considered the ne plus ultra of the movement, influencing a generation of writers who sought to treat contemporary social themes with scientific, realistic precision.12