Understanding Friedrich Dürrenmatt / Roger A. Crockett. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crockett, Roger A. (Roger Alan), 1947-

Series:

Understanding modern European and Latin American literature

Understanding modern European and Latin American literature Understanding Friedrich Dèurrenmatt

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dürrenmatt, Friedrich--Criticism and interpretation.

Dürrenmatt, Friedrich.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 220 p. )

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of South Carolina Press, 1998.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This introductory volume explores the playwright's chaotic universe, where God has retreated beyond the stars and where blind chance is the real prime mover, justice is corruptible, ideologies useless, and tragedy no longer possible. Yet despite the overriding pessimism of Durrenmatt's Weltanschauung, the author argues that the playwright remains a genial master of comedy. Through the laughter he allows his readers to see that all is not lost, that there are virtues worth fighting for, and that there are still courageous Don Quixotes worthy of the title "hero."

Crockett contends that as a theorist of the modern German stage, Durrenmatt challenges Bertolt Brecht and offers alternatives. As a craftsman of prose fiction, he fashions the stout thread with which the readers enter his labyrinths and eventually find their way back out, while his literary Theseuses, clinging to gossamer strands, sometimes fall prey to the monster in the maze.

Contents:

Biography

Earliest prose and dramatic works

The turn to comedy

Three detective stories

Two plays about ideologies and God's remoteness

The radio plays

Consolation from Dürrenmatt

The corruption of justice

Of heroism, failure, and resignation

Improbable grace

The adaptations

Four that failed: the late plays

The prose of the 1970s and 1980s

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 204-214) and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

0-585-33949-X