This article is a short version of the lecture given at the International conference «Symbolism in Western Literatures and Arts» (St. Petersburg, November 1997). The author treats Ibsen’s double-drama Kejser og Galilxer as a key-work in his dramatic heritage and raises a number of problems connected with both Ibsen’s poetics in general and its historical background and origin. The main subjects are Ibsen’s vision of history, mythopoetic imagery and dramatic structure of the play. The author compares Ibsen’s work with Symbolist drama and opposes the former to the latter.
