| Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Selected Writings, Volume 1, Plays Volume 1 Contributor(s): Dürrenmatt, Friedrich (Author), Agee, Joel (Translator), Northcott, Kenneth J. (Editor) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0226174263 ISBN-13: 9780226174266 Publisher: University of Chicago Press OUR PRICE: $31.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: June 2023 Annotation: The Swiss writer Friedrich Durrenmatt (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". With these long-awaited translations of his plays, fictions, and essays, Durrenmatt becomes available again in all his brilliance to the English-speaking world. Durrenmatt'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". Durrenmatt has long been considered a great writer--but one unfairly neglected in the modern world of letters. With these elegantly conceived andexpertly translated volumes, a new generation of readers will rediscover his greatest works. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Drama - Literary Criticism | European - German |
| Dewey: 832.914 |
| LCCN: 2006013388 |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 6.28" W x 9.26" (1.45 lbs) 328 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Germany |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The Swiss writer Friedrich D rrenmatt (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. With these long-awaited translations of his plays, fictions, and essays, D rrenmatt becomes available again in all his brilliance to the English-speaking world. D rrenmatt'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. D rrenmatt 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Agee, Joel: - Joel Agee has translated numerous German authors into English, including Heinrich von Kleist, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Elias Canetti. In 2005 he received the Modern Language Association's Lois Roth Award for his translation of Hans Erich Nossack's The End: Hamburg 1943.Durrenmatt, Friedrich: - Friedrich Dürrenmatt was born in 1921 in the village of Konolfingen, near Berne, Switzerland. He wrote prolifically during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, taking particular interest in human rights and the preservation of Israel. He is the author of numerous books published by the University of Chicago Press, including The Pledge. Northcott, Kenneth J.: - Translator, scholar, and stage actor Kenneth J. Northcott (1922-2019) was professor emeritus of Germanic Studies at the University of Chicago and the translator of numerous German-language books for the University of Chicago Press. He is especially known for his inspired translations of works by the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard, all of which remain in print: The Voice Imitator, Walking, Three Novellas, and Histrionics: Three Plays. |