Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Selected Writings, Volume 1 · Plays: The Visit · The Physicists · Romulus the Great · Hercules and the Augean Stables · The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi

Dürrenmatt, Friedrich; Agee, Joel (Tr.); Northcott, Kenneth J. (Ed.)

ISBN 10: 0226174263 / ISBN 13: 9780226174266

Published by The University of Chicago Press, U.S.A., 2006

About this Item

NF / NF. Numbering sequence denotes 1st Printing of the 2006 Chicago 1st Edition thus, translated by Joel Agee and edited, with introduction, by Kenneth J. Northcott. Book is straight, square, tightly and evenly bound and free of gutter creasing, markings and blemishes. Except for mild bump to lower corner of front board and panel, Cover and unclipped Dust Jacket are clean and bright, with otherwise sharp corners and joints, straight heads, tails, spine / backstrip, hinges and edges, boldly legible lettering and crisply distinct design, artwork and Author image. (Please see Seller images). ISBN 9780226174266. ShiroBooks, independent bookseller, takes pride in accurate descriptions, careful wrapping and safe shipping. CONTACT SHIROBOOKS PRIOR TO ORDERING if any questions or for more information, details or photos.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Selected Writings, Volume 1 · Plays: The Visit · The Physicists · Romulus the Great · Hercules and the Augean Stables · The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi
• Publisher: The University of Chicago Press, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226174263
• ISBN 13: 9780226174266
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

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. With these long-awaited translations of his plays, fictions, and essays, Dürrenmatt becomes available again in all his brilliance to the English-speaking world.

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.

About the Authors

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990) was born 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.

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. He is the author of two memoirs: Twelve Years: An American Boyhood in East Germany and In the House of My Fear.