Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter
Keywords
Dürrenmatt, tragic comedy, Swiss playwright
Abstract
Dürrenmatt, Friedrich (1921-), Swiss playwright, novelist, and essayist, was born in Konolfingen, canton Bern. He is Switzerland's most important playwright and one of the most accomplished dramatists in the succession of Bertolt Brecht. A student of philosophy and theology, Dürrenmatt experimented with short stories reminiscent of Franz Kafka. In 1947 he created his first theater scandal with the chaotic drama Es steht geschrieben (It Is Written), a combination of street ballad and religious comic strip. After the failure of Der Blinde (1948; The Blind Man), an allegorical drama in which the struggle between nihilism and faith ends with the victory of the latter, Dürrenmatt experienced his first international success with the "a-historical historical comedy" Romulus der Grosse (1949; Eng. tr., Romulus the Great, 1964). In Romulus, the last Roman emperor is portrayed as a timid poultry farmer who allows his empire to perish in order to save humanity.
Recommended Citation
Kieser, Rolf
(1982)
"Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921),"
Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter: Vol. 18:
Iss.
2, Article 11.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_newsletter/vol18/iss2/11