Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (ˈfriːdriç ˈdʏrənˌmat (5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss
author
and dramatist
. He was a proponent of epic theatre
whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II
. The politically active author's work included avant-garde
dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre
satire. Dürrenmatt was a member of the Gruppe Olten
.
, in the Emmental
(canton of Bern), the son of a Protestant pastor. His grandfather, Ulrich Dürrenmatt, was a conservative politician. The family moved to Bern in 1935. Dürrenmatt began studies in philosophy and German language and literature at the University of Zurich
in 1941, but moved to the University of Bern after one semester. In 1943, he decided to become an author and dramatist and dropped his academic career. In 1945–46, he wrote his first play It is written. On 11 October 1946, he married the actress Lotti Geissler. She died on 16 January 1983, and Dürrenmatt married again in 1984 to another actress, Charlotte Kerr
.
Dürrenmatt also enjoyed painting. Some of his own works and his drawings were exhibited in Neuchâtel in 1976 and 1985, as well as in Zurich
in 1978.
, Dürrenmatt explored the dramatic possibilities of epic theatre
. His plays are meant to involve the audience in a theoretical debate, rather than act as purely passive entertainment.
When he was 26, his first play, It Is Written, premiered to great controversy. The story of the play revolves around a battle between a sensation-craving cynic and a religious fanatic who takes scripture literally, all of this taking place while the city they live in is under siege. The play's opening night in April, 1947, caused fights and protests in the audience. Between 1948 and 1949, Dürrenmatt wrote several segments and sketches for the left-wing anti-Nazi Cabaret Cornichon
in Zurich
; among these, the single-act grotesque short play Der Gerettete (The rescued).
His first major success was the play Romulus the Great. Set in the year A.D. 476, the play explores the last days of the Roman Empire, presided over, and brought about by its last emperor.
The Visit
(Der Besuch der alten Dame, 1956) is a grotesque
fusion of comedy and tragedy that creates a superb dramaturgic effect. It is the work best known internationally. The satirical drama The Physicists (Die Physiker
, 1962), which deals with issues concerning science and its responsibility for dramatic and even dangerous changes to our world, has also been presented in translation.
Radio plays published in English include Hercules in the Augean Stables (Herkules und der Stall des Augias, 1954), Incident at Twilight (Abendstunde im Spätherbst, 1952) and The Mission of the Vega (Das Unternehmen der Wega, 1954). The two late works "Labyrinth" and "Turmbau zu Babel" are a collection of unfinished ideas, stories, and philosophical thoughts.
In 1990, he gave two famous speeches, one in honour of Václav Havel
(Die Schweiz, ein Gefängnis? / Switzerland a prison?), and the other in honour of Mikhail Gorbachev
(Kants Hoffnung / Kant's Hope). Dürrenmatt often compared the three Abrahamic religions and Marxism
, which he also saw as a religion.
Even if there are several parallels between Dürrenmatt and Brecht, Dürrenmatt never took a political position, but represented a pragmatic philosophy of life. In 1969, he traveled in the USA, in 1974 to Israel
, and in 1990 to Auschwitz in Poland
.
Dürrenmatt died from heart failure
on 14 December 1990 in Neuchâtel.
(Silence! The Court Is in Session) by India
n playwright, Vijay Tendulkar
in 1967, and since then been performed in various Indian languages, and made into a film by the same name by Satyadev Dubey
.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
author
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...
and dramatist
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. He was a proponent of epic theatre
Epic theatre
Epic theatre was a theatrical movement arising in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners, including Erwin Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and, most famously, Bertolt Brecht...
whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The politically active author's work included avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre
Macabre
In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
satire. Dürrenmatt was a member of the Gruppe Olten
Gruppe Olten
The Gruppe Olten was a club of Swiss writers who convened at Olten's "Bahnhofbuffet" located in the canton of Solothurn in the Swiss plateau...
.
Biography
Dürrenmatt was born in KonolfingenKonolfingen
Konolfingen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-History:Konolfingen is first mentioned in 1148 as Chonolfingen. It is a relatively new municipality, having been formed from the union of Gysenstein and Stalden in...
, in the Emmental
Emmental
For the cheese made in the region, see Emmental .The Emmental is a region in west central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the Emme and Ilfis rivers. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming...
(canton of Bern), the son of a Protestant pastor. His grandfather, Ulrich Dürrenmatt, was a conservative politician. The family moved to Bern in 1935. Dürrenmatt began studies in philosophy and German language and literature at the University of Zurich
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....
in 1941, but moved to the University of Bern after one semester. In 1943, he decided to become an author and dramatist and dropped his academic career. In 1945–46, he wrote his first play It is written. On 11 October 1946, he married the actress Lotti Geissler. She died on 16 January 1983, and Dürrenmatt married again in 1984 to another actress, Charlotte Kerr
Charlotte Kerr
Charlotte Kerr is a German director, film producer, actress, writer, and journalist.She first performed on stage in Fritz Kortner’s version of Schiller’s Don Carlos in 1951...
.
Dürrenmatt also enjoyed painting. Some of his own works and his drawings were exhibited in Neuchâtel in 1976 and 1985, as well as in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
in 1978.
Dramatic works
Like BrechtBertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, Dürrenmatt explored the dramatic possibilities of epic theatre
Epic theatre
Epic theatre was a theatrical movement arising in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners, including Erwin Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and, most famously, Bertolt Brecht...
. His plays are meant to involve the audience in a theoretical debate, rather than act as purely passive entertainment.
When he was 26, his first play, It Is Written, premiered to great controversy. The story of the play revolves around a battle between a sensation-craving cynic and a religious fanatic who takes scripture literally, all of this taking place while the city they live in is under siege. The play's opening night in April, 1947, caused fights and protests in the audience. Between 1948 and 1949, Dürrenmatt wrote several segments and sketches for the left-wing anti-Nazi Cabaret Cornichon
Cabaret Cornichon
The Cabaret Cornichon was a Swiss cabaret company.It existed from 1934 to 1951 and was founded by Otto Weissert, Walter Lesch, Emil Hegetschweiler and Alois Carigiet. They were later joined by, among others, Max Werner Lenz, Elsie Attenhofer, Voli Geiler, Margrit Rainer, Heinrich Gretler, Zarli...
in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
; among these, the single-act grotesque short play Der Gerettete (The rescued).
His first major success was the play Romulus the Great. Set in the year A.D. 476, the play explores the last days of the Roman Empire, presided over, and brought about by its last emperor.
The Visit
The Visit
The Visit is a 1956 tragicomic play by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt.-Plot summary:...
(Der Besuch der alten Dame, 1956) is a grotesque
Grotesque
The word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "Grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century...
fusion of comedy and tragedy that creates a superb dramaturgic effect. It is the work best known internationally. The satirical drama The Physicists (Die Physiker
Die Physiker
The Physicists is a satiric drama often recognized as the most impressive yet most easily understood work of the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt...
, 1962), which deals with issues concerning science and its responsibility for dramatic and even dangerous changes to our world, has also been presented in translation.
Radio plays published in English include Hercules in the Augean Stables (Herkules und der Stall des Augias, 1954), Incident at Twilight (Abendstunde im Spätherbst, 1952) and The Mission of the Vega (Das Unternehmen der Wega, 1954). The two late works "Labyrinth" and "Turmbau zu Babel" are a collection of unfinished ideas, stories, and philosophical thoughts.
Later life
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
(Die Schweiz, ein Gefängnis? / Switzerland a prison?), and the other in honour of Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
(Kants Hoffnung / Kant's Hope). Dürrenmatt often compared the three Abrahamic religions and Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, which he also saw as a religion.
Even if there are several parallels between Dürrenmatt and Brecht, Dürrenmatt never took a political position, but represented a pragmatic philosophy of life. In 1969, he traveled in the USA, in 1974 to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and in 1990 to Auschwitz in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Dürrenmatt died from heart failure
Congestive heart failure
Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...
on 14 December 1990 in Neuchâtel.
Selected bibliography
- Es steht geschrieben (1947)
- Der Blinde (1947)
- Romulus der GroßeRomulus der GroßeFriedrich Dürrenmatt's play Romulus der Große shows the demise of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century – taking place during the day of the Ides of March, 476....
(Romulus the Great: An Ahistorical Historical Comedy in Four Acts, 1950, play) - Der Richter und sein HenkerDer Richter und sein HenkerDer Richter und sein Henker is a novella by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt written in 1950 and first published in English in 1954, in a translation by Cyrus Brooks and later in a translation by Therese Pol. A new translation by Joel Agee appeared in 2006, published together with Suspicion ...
(The Judge and His Hangman, 1952; novellaNovellaA novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
) - "Der TunnelThe Tunnel (short story)The Tunnel is a short story by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, that came out in 1952. The story appears in the book "The Tunnel“ . It belongs to the most important works of Dürrenmatt and is a classic among the surrealistic short stories. With the beginning of the story, Dürrenmatt parodies Thomas Mann. The...
" ("The Tunnel", 1952; short story) - Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi (The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi, 1952, play)
- Der Verdacht (The Quarry or Suspicion, 1953)
- "Theaterprobleme" ("Theatre Problems", 1954, essay)
- Der Besuch der alten DameThe VisitThe Visit is a 1956 tragicomic play by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt.-Plot summary:...
(The Visit, 1956, play) - Die Panne ("Traps" or A Dangerous Game, 1956, short story / novella)
- Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman (The Pledge: Requiem for the Detective Novel, 1958, novella)
- Die PhysikerDie PhysikerThe Physicists is a satiric drama often recognized as the most impressive yet most easily understood work of the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt...
(The Physicists: A Comedy in Two Acts, 1962, play) - Der Meteor (1966)
- "Monstervortrag" ("Monster Lecture on Justice and Law, with a Helvetian Interlude", 1969, lecture)
- "Der Sturz' ("The Coup", 1971, short story)
- Achterloo (1982)
- Justiz (The Execution of Justice, 1985)
- Der AuftragThe Assignment (novella)Der Auftrag is a 1986 novella by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt. The first English publication appeared in 1988, translated by Joel Agee. The experimental narrative is divided into twenty-four parts, each one a single sentence spanning many pages...
(The Assignment, 1986, novella) - "Die Schweiz—ein Gefängnis. Rede auf Vaclav HavelVáclav HavelVáclav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
" ("Switzerland—A Prison: A Speech for Vaclav Havel", 1990, speech)
Dürrenmatt's stories in film
- It Happened in Broad DaylightEs geschah am hellichten TagEs geschah am hellichten Tag is the title of a 1958 Swiss suspense film directed by Ladislao Vajda. In 1997, it was remade under the same title as a German TV film, directed by Nico Hoffmann. There was also a Dutch remake of the film, by Rudolf Van Den Berg, under the title The Cold Light of Day...
(1958), with a TV version made in 1997 - The Marriage of Mr. MississippiThe Marriage of Mr. MississippiThe Marriage of Mr. Mississippi is a 1961 German comedy film directed by Kurt Hoffmann. It was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* O. E...
(1961) - The VisitThe Visit (1964 film)The Visit is a 1964 film co-production from France, Italy, Germany, and the United States, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Bernhard Wicki and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Julien Derode with Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn as co-producers...
(1964, Der Besuch der alten Dame) - Once a Greek (1966)
- Der Meteor (1968)
- Play Strindberg (1969), based on Strindberg's The Dance of Death
- Shantata! Court Chalu AaheShantata! Court Chalu AaheShantata! Court Chalu Aahe is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar and first performed in 1967...
(Silence! The Court Is in Session)(1971), based on 'Die Panne' (Traps) - La più bella serata della mia vita (1972, by Ettore Scola, based on 'La Panne')
- End of the GameEnd of the GameEnd of the Game is a 1975 German thriller film directed by Maximilian Schell and starring Jon Voight, Jacqueline Bisset, Martin Ritt and Robert Shaw. Co-written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, the film is an adaptation of his 1950 crime novella The Judge and His Hangman...
(1976), based on The Judge and His Hangman, and in which Dürrenmatt himself appears in two scenes - Deadly Games (1982, Trapp)
- Cumartesi Cumartesi (1984, Salam, stories in film)
- Физики (The Physicists) (1988, in Russian)
- Визит дамы (The Visit of the Lady) (1989, in Russian)
- Szürkület (Twilight) (1990, by György Fehér) based on the Es geschah am hellichten Tag movie script
- Hyènes (1992), adaptation of The Visit by the Senegalese moviemaker Djibril Diop MambétyDjibril Diop MambétyDjibril Diop Mambéty was a Senegalese film director, actor, orator, composer and poet. Though he made only a small number of films, they received international acclaim for their original and experimental cinematic technique and non-linear, unconventional narrative style. Born to a Muslim family...
- JustizJustice (1993 film)Justice is a 1993 German-language film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer. It was an international co-production between Germany and Switzerland...
(1993) - The PledgeThe Pledge (film)The Pledge is a 2001 American mystery film directed by Sean Penn. It is based on the 1958 novella Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman , by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt...
(2001), based on the novel Das Versprechen, which is in turn based on the Es geschah am hellichten Tag movie script
Adaptations
His story, 'Die Panne' (Traps) was adapted into a Marathi play, Shantata! Court Chalu AaheShantata! Court Chalu Aahe
Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar and first performed in 1967...
(Silence! The Court Is in Session) by India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n playwright, Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Tendulkar was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi...
in 1967, and since then been performed in various Indian languages, and made into a film by the same name by Satyadev Dubey
Satyadev Dubey
Satyadev Dubey is an Indian theatre director, actor, playwright, screenwriter, and film actor and director. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1971....
.
External links
- Friedrich Dürrenmatt home page sponsored by the University of Chicago Press. Includes a 1969 interview with Dürrenmatt, his story "Smithy" and essay "Automobile and Railroad Nations," and essays on Dürrenmatt.
- Radio drama by Friedrich Dürrenmatt