Born: Konolfingen, near Berne, Switzerland, 5 January 1921. Education: Educated at Grosshochstetten school; Freies Gymnasium and Humboldtianum, Bern; University of Zurich, one term; University of Bern, 1941-45. Family: Married 1) Lotti Geissler in 1946 (died 1983), one son and two daughters; 2) Charlotte Kerr in 1984. Career: Drama critic, Die Weltwoche, Zurich, 1951-53; co-director, Basle Theatres, 1968-69; co-owner, ZUrcher Sonntags-Journal, 1969-71; writer-in-residence, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1981; travelled to the USSR, 1964 and 1967, Israel, 1974, Greece and South America, 1983-84, and to Egypt, 1985, and the United States. Also television director. Awards: City of Berne prize, 1954, 1979; Radio Play prize (Berlin), 1957; Italia prize, for radio play, 1958; Schiller prize (Mannheim), 1959; New York Drama Critics Circle award, 1959; Schiller prize (Switzerland), 1960; Grillparzer prize, 1968; Kanton Berne prize, 1969; Welsh Arts Council International Writers prize, 1976; Buber-Rosenzweig medal, 1977; Zuckmayer medal, 1984; Austrian State prize, 1984; Bavarian literature prize, 1985; Buchner prize, 1986; Schiller prize (Stuttgart), 1986; Ernst Robert Curtis prize, for essays, 1989. Honorary doctorate: Temple University, Philadelphia, 1969; Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1977; University of Nice, 1977; University of Neuchatel, 1981; University of Zurich, 1983. Honorary Fellow, Modern Language Association (United States). Died: 14 December 1990.
Publications
Plays
Es steht geschrieben (produced 1947). 1947; revised version, as Die Wiedertaufer (produced 1967), 1969.
Der Blinde (produced 1948). 1960; revised edition, 1965.
Romulus der Grosse (produced 1949). 1956; revised version (produced 1957), 1958; translated as Romulus, 1962; as Romulus the Great, translated by Gerhard Nellhaus, in Four Plays, 1964.
Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi (produced 1952). 1952; revised version, 1957; film version, 1961; as The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi, translated by Michael Bullock, in Four Plays, 1964.
Ein Engel kommt nach Babylon (produced 1953). 1954; revised version (produced 1957), 1958; as An Angel Comes to Babylon, translated by Wiliam McElwee, in Four Plays, 1964.
Der Besuch der alten Dame (produced 1956). 1956; film version, 1963; as The Visit, translated by Maurice Valency, 1958; also translated by Patrick Bowles, 1962.
Nachtliches Gesprach mit einem verachteten Menschen (radio play).1957; as Conversation at Night with a Despised Character, n.d. Komodien I-III. 3 vols., 1957-70. Das Unternehmen der Wega (radio play). 1958.
Frank V, music by Paul Burkhard (produced 1959). 1960.
Der Prozess um des Esels Schatten (radio play). 1959.
Stranitzky und der Nationalheld (radio play). 1959.
Abendstunde im Spatherbst (radio play; also produced on stage 1959). 1959; as Episode on an Autumn Evening, translated by Myron B. Gubitz, 1959; as Incident at Twilight, in Postwar German Theatre, edited by Michael Benedikt and George E. Wellwarth, 1968, Der Doppelganger (radio play). 1960.
Herkules und der Stall des Augias (radio play; also produced on stage 1963). 1960; translated as Hercules and the Augean Stables, n.d. Die Panne, from his own novel (radio play: also televised 1957;produced on stage 1979). 1961; revised version, 1979.
Gesammelte Horspiele (includes Abendstunde im Spatherbst; Der Doppelganger; Herkules und der Stall des Augias; Nachtliches Gesprach mit einem verachteten Menschen; Die Panne; Der Prozess um des Esels Schatten; Stranitzky und der Nationalheld; Das Unternehem der Wega). 1961.
Die Physiker (produced 1962). 1962; television version, 1963; as The Physicists, adapted by Maurice Valency, 1958; translated by James Kirkup, 1963.
Four Plays 1957-62 (includes Romulus the Great; The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi; An Angel Comes to Babylon; The Physicists), translated by Gerhard Nellhaus and others. 1964.
Der Meteor (produced 1966). 1966; as The Meteor, translated by James Kirkup, 1973.
Konig Johann, from the play by Shakespeare (produced 1968). 1968.
Play Strindberg: Totentanz nach August Strindberg (produced 1969). 1969; as Play Strindberg: The Dance of Death, translated by James Kirkup, 1972.
Titus Andronicus, from the play by Shakespeare (produced 1970). 1970.
Portrat eines Planeten (produced 1970; revised version, produced 1971). 1970.
Urfaust, from the play by Goethe (produced 1970). 1980.
Woyzeck, from the play by Buchner (produced 1972). 1980.
Der Mitmacher (produced 1973). 1973; enlarged edition, Der
Mitmacher-Ein Komplex (includes notes, essays, narratives), 1976.
Die Frist (produced 1977). 1977.
Achterloo (produced 1983). 1984.
Achterloo IV (produced 1988).
Screenplays: Es geschah am hellichten Tag (It Happened in Broad Daylight), 1960; Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi, 1961; Der Besuch der alten Dame, 1963.
Radio Plays: Der Prozess um des Esels Schatten, 1951; Stranitzky und der Nationalheld, 1952; Nachtliches Gesprach mit einem verachteten Mensch, 1952; Herkules und der Stall des Augias, 1954; Das Unternehmen der Wega, 1954; Die Panne, 1956; Abendstunde im Spatherbst, 1958; Der Doppelganger, 1961.
Fiction
Pilatus. 1949.
Der Nihilist. 1950; reprinted as Die Falle.
Der Richter und sein Henker. 1952: as The Judge and His Hangman, translated by Cyrus Brooks, 1954.
Die Stadt: Prose 1-4. 1952.
Das Bild des Sisyphos. 1952.
Der Verdacht. 1953; as The Quarry, translated by Eva H. Morreale, 1961.
Grieche sucht Griechin. 1955; as Once a Greek. . . , translated by
Richard and Clara Winston, 1965.
Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman. 1958; as The Pledge, translated by Richard and Clara Winston, 1959.
Die Panne: Eine noch mogliche Geschichte. 1960; as Traps, translated by Richard and Clara Winston, 1960; as A Dangerous Game, translated by Richard and Clara Winston, 1960. Der Sturz. 1971.
The Judge and His Hangman; The Quarry: Two Hans Barlach Mysteries, translated by George Stade. 1983.
Minotaurus: Eine Ballade, illustrated by DUirrenmatt. 1985.
DUrrenmatt: His Five Novels (includes The Judge and His Hangman; The Quarry; Once a Greek; A Dangerous Game; The Pledge). 1985.
Justiz. 1985; as The Execution of Justice, translated by John E. Woods, 1989.
Der Auftrag; oder, Vom Beobachten des Beobachters der Beobachter. 1986; as The Assignment; or, On Observing of the Observer of the Observers, translated by Joel Agee, 1988.
Durcheinanderthal. 1989.
Other
Theaterprobleme. 1955; as Problems on the Theatre, translated by Gerhard Nellhaus, in Four Plays, 1964, and with The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi, 1966.
Friedrich Schiller: Rede (address). 1960.
Der Rest ist Dank (addresses), with Werner Weber. 1961.
Die Heimat im Plakat: Ein Buch fUr Schweizer Kinder (drawings). 1963.
Theater-Schriften und Reden, edited by Elisabeth Brock-Sulzer. 2 vols., 1966-72; translated in part as Writings on Theatre and Drama, edited by H.M. Waidson, 1976.
Monstervortrag Uber Gerechtigkeit und Recht. 1968.
Satze aus Amerika. 1970.
Zusammenhainge: Essay Uber Israel. 1976.
Gesprach mit Heinz Ludwig Arnold. 1976.
Frankfurter Rede. 1977.
Lesebuch. 1978.
Bilder und Zeichnungen, edited by Christian Strich. 1978.
Albert Einstein: Ein Vortrag. 1979.
Werkausgabe. 30 vols., 1980-86.
Stoffe 1-3: Winterkrieg in Tibet, Mondfinsternis, Der Rebell. 1981.
Plays and Essays, edited by Volkmar Sander. 1982.
Denken mit DUirrenmatt, edited by Daniel Keel. 1982.
Die Welt als Labyrinth, 1982.
Rollenspiele: Protokoll einer fiktiven Inszenierung und ”Achterloo III" (includes text of play Achterloo III). 1986. Versuche. 1988.
Midas; oder, Die Schwarze Leinwand. 1991.
Kants Hoffnung. 1991.
Gedankenfuge. 1992.
Critical Studies:
Friedrich DUrrenmatt by Murray B. Peppard, 1969; Friedrich DUrrenmatt by Armin Arnold, 1972; To Heaven and Back: The New Morality in the Plays of Friedrich DUrrenmatt by Kurt J. Fickert, 1972; Friedrich DUrrenmatt by H.L. Arnold, 2 vols., 1976-77; DUrrenmatt: A Study in Plays, Prose, and Theory by Timo Tiusanen, 1977; DUrrenmatt: A Study of His Plays by Urs Jenny, 1978; Friedrich DUrrenmatt: A Collection of Critical Essays edited by Bodo Fritzen and H.F. Taylor, 1979; The Theatre of DUrrenmatt: A Study in the Possibility of Freedom, 1980, and DUrrenmatt: Reinterpretation in Retrospect, 1990, both by Kenneth S. Whitton; Play DUrrenmatt edited by Moshe Lazar, 1983; DUrrenmatt by H. Goertz, 1987; Friedrich DUrrenmatt: Moralist und Komodiant by Lutz Tantow, 1992; Understanding Friedrich DUrrenmatt by Roger A. Crockett, 1998; Tradition und Verfremdung: Friedrich DUrrenmattund der klassische Detektivroman by Stefan Riedlinger, 2000.
Born in Switzerland in 1921, Friedrich DUrrenmatt occupied a major place among writers in German since the succes de scandale of his first play, Es steht geschrieben [It Is Written], in Zurich in 1947.
His witty, provocative, grotesque caricatures of his fellow human beings seemed to mirror the chaotic post-World War II conditions and ensured his plays and prose works a permanent place on the bestseller lists. Durrenmatt wrote of the human condition, of the shifting moral values in government and politics, of the loosening of familial and societal bonds, and of the despair of ”the little man,” suffering at the hands of well-organized, tyrannical bureaucracies. His shafted barbs of humour were directed at the ”bringing-down,” a true reductio ad absurdum, of the pompous and the entrepreneurial, the over-rich and the over-powerful.
His vehicle was ”die Komodie,” not the lighthearted, frothy social comedy of the western world, of Moliere and Noel Coward, but that savage, grotesque, satirical comedy deriving ultimately from the satires of Aristophanes, and often presented in the farcical form of the medieval ”commedia dell’arte.” DUrrenmatt’s reputation rests on his two great international stage successes, Der Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit) and Die Physiker (The Physicists), presented throughout the world, and on his short novels, e.g., Der Richter und sein Henker (The Judge and His Hangman) and Die Panne (A Dangerous Game), which have been studied in schools and universities worldwide.
The Visit deserves its phenomenal success because of the brilliant simplicity of what DUrrenmatt calls the ”Einfall,” that ”germ-idea” which lies behind and illuminates a play—here philosophically effective and scenically and dramatically masterly: an aged grotesque, Claire Zachanassian, once driven out of her little village because she had been made pregnant by the village shopkeeper, Alfred Ill, returns to seek revenge. Now the richest woman in the world, she will give the ailing village ”eine Milliarde” (a billion) if one of them will kill Alfred. The hypocrisy of the villagers as they declare their firm resolve to stand by Alfred (now in the running for mayor) and at the same time crowd into his shop to buy goods on credit in anticipation of the flood of gold, has been taken to be a symbolical attack on the then prevailing western capitalist values— but DUrrenmatt has never flailed exclusively one side. In The Physicists, Mobius, the brilliant scientist who has fled into an asylum to bury with him his potentially dangerous, revolutionary discovery, finds that his two ”fellow-patients” are in fact American and Soviet agents bent on extracting his secrets.
Durrenmatt attacked both sides of the Iron Curtain again in two biting prose works, Der Sturz, [The Fall], a story about ”a” Politburo, and Satze aus Amerika [Sentences from America], written after a visit to the United States to receive a doctorate which showed that his target was cruel bureaucratization and the denial of freedom to all sorts and conditions of men.
After his gradual withdrawal from the stage, Durrenmatt busied himself with political and philosophical treatises—he was one of the few Europeans to support Israel in the Yom Kippur war—and with his grotesque paintings. Durrenmatt’s withdrawal from the public gaze turned out to be more than temporary; he turned instead to another ”pulpit” (as Lessing did), the reflective, philosophical essay, in which he developed the theme of the helpless, hapless Minotaur condemned in his mirror-lined loneliness, representing symbolically the fate of those condemned to be misunderstood while they struggle against the folly and the inhumanity of man to man. When Durrenmatt died in 1990, he left a rich legacy of witty yet deeply philosophical works whose importance has yet to be fully recognized in the world of letters. The Nachlass bequeathed to the Swiss National Archive in Berne may help scholars to interpret this legacy for the world.
