Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Selected Writings, Volume 1, Plays
By Friedrich Durrenmatt and Joel Agee
5/5
()
About this ebook
These translations of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s plays introduce the writer to a new generation of readers.
The Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–90) was one of the most important literary figures of the second half of the twentieth century. During the years of the Cold War, arguably only Beckett, Camus, Sartre, and Brecht rivaled him as a presence in European letters. Yet outside Europe, this prolific author is primarily known for only one work, The Visit.
Dürrenmatt’s concerns are timeless, but they are also the product of his Swiss vantage during the Cold War: his key plays, gathered in the first volume of Selected Writings, explore such themes as guilt by passivity, the refusal of responsibility, greed and political decay, and the tension between justice and freedom. In The Visit, for instance, an old lady who becomes the wealthiest person in the world returns to the village that cast her out as a young woman and offers riches to the town in exchange for the life of the man, now its mayor, who once disgraced her. Joel Agee’s crystalline translation gives a fresh lease to this play, as well as four others: The Physicists, Romulus the Great, Hercules and the Augean Stables, and The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi.
Dürrenmatt has long been considered a great writer—but one unfairly neglected in the modern world of letters. With these elegantly conceived and expertly translated volumes, a new generation of readers will rediscover his greatest works.
Friedrich Durrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist, most famous for his plays The Visit and The Physicists, which earned him a reputation as one of the greatest playwrights in the German language. He also wrote four highly regarded crime novels - The Pledge, The Judge and His Hangman, Suspicion and The Execution of Justice, all of which will be published by Pushkin Vertigo.
Read more from Friedrich Durrenmatt
The Pledge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inspector Barlach Mysteries: The Judge and His Hangman and Suspicion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Selected Writings, Volume 2, Fictions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Assignment: or, On the Observing of the Observer of the Observers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Related ebooks
OSTERMEIER: (english edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann Volume I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Inspector General Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rhinoceros and Other Plays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hairy Ape Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fanny's First Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death and Taxes: Hydriotaphia and Other Plays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Plays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSix Characters In Search of an Author: A Comedy In the Making Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Birds of a Kind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Barretts of Wimpole Street Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Balcony: A Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Six Characters in Search of an Author Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Inspector-General (The Government Inspector) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncle Vanya Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5August Strindberg: Five Major Plays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmphitryon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Straw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wild Duck Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Doll's House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hedda Gabbler Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMajor Barbara Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harlequinade & All On Her Own (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kaspar and Other Plays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heartbreak House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath etc. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Busie Body Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPillars of Society Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIvanov Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Performing Arts For You
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Whale / A Bright New Boise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unsheltered: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Strange Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Agatha Christie Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRomeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dolls House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey through the Art and Craft of Humor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStoryworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Star Wars: Book of Lists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Midsummer Night's Dream, with line numbers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Friedrich Dürrenmatt
1 rating0 reviews