Coming of age in the cultural renaissance of postwar Britain, Michael Meyer became close friends with many of the literary and theatrical figures of the period. Discouraged from playwriting early in his career, his knowledge of Swedish and Norwegian led Meyer into translating, where he produced stage-worthy editions of works by August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen. His translations of Strindberg earned for Meyer the recognition of being the first Englishman to receive the Gold Medal of the Swedish Academy in 1964 and have been sought after by stage directors and actors. Of equal importance, however, has been Meyer's contribution to biography. His three-volume biography of Ibsen (1967-1971) received wide praise and won the Whitbread Biography Prize in 1971. Finished seven years behind schedule, Meyer's biographical approach involved prodigious background research and extensive translation by the author. His tendency to include rather than exclude letters and other primary sources in the...