A Companion to the Works of Max Frisch

252 Pages·2013·4.291 MB·English

by  Olaf Berwald

A CompAnion
to the Works
of mAx frisCh
Olaf bErwald
EditEd by
A Companion to the Works of Max Frisch
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Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture
Camden House Companion Volumes
The Camden House Companions provide well-informed and
up-to-date critical commentary on the most significant aspects
of major works, periods, or literary figures. The Companions
may be read profitably by the reader with a general interest in
the subject. For the benefit of student and scholar, quotations
are provided in the original language.
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A Companion to the
Works of Max Frisch
Edited by Olaf Berwald
Rochester, New York
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Copyright © 2013 by the Editor and Contributors
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation,
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2013
by Camden House
Camden House is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.camden-house.com
and of Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-57113-418-9
ISBN-10: 1-57113-418-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A companion to the works of Max Frisch / edited by Olaf Berwald.
pages cm. — (Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-57113-418-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-57113-418-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Frisch, Max, 1911–1991—Criticism and interpretation. I. Berwald, Olaf,
editor of compilation.
PT2611.R814Z638 2013
838'.91209—dc23
2013023188
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Note on the Abbreviations ix
Introduction: Max Frisch in the Twenty-First Century 1
Olaf Berwald
1: Max Frisch’s Early Plays 10
Walter Schmitz
2: Spielraum in Max Frisch’s Graf Öderland and Don Juan:
Transparency as Mode of Performance 23
Klaus van den Berg
3: Max Frisch’s Biedermann und die Brandstifter and
Die große Wut des Philipp Hotz 39
Amanda Charitina Boyd
4: Max Frisch’s Andorra: Balancing Act between
Pattern and Particular 58
Caroline Schaumann and Frank Schaumann
5: Eternal Recurrence in Life and Death in
Max Frisch’s Late Plays 72
John D. Pizer
6: Max Frisch’s Early Fiction 91
Margit Unser
7: From Life to Literature: Max Frisch’s Tagebücher 105
Céline Letawe
8: “Writing in order to be a stranger to oneself”:
Max Frisch’s Stiller 125
Beatrice Sandberg
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VviI  C ONTENTS
9: Cybernetic Flow, Analogy, and Probability in 140
Max Frisch’s Homo Faber
Paul A. Youngman
10: The Ends of Blindness in Max Frisch’s
Mein Name sei Gantenbein 156
Olaf Berwald
11: Max Frisch’s Montauk. Eine Erzählung 172
Ruth Vogel-Klein
12: Man, Culture, and Nature in Max Frisch’s
Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän 197
Walter Obschlager
13: “My life as a man. Everyman”: Max Frisch’s
Blaubart. Erzählung 211
Daniel de Vin
14: Max Frisch’s Essays and Speeches 220
Régine Battiston
Frisch’s Major Works 229
Select Bibliography 231
Notes on the Contributors 233
Index 237
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Acknowledgments
IW OULD LIKE TO THANK the contributors whose perceptive essays will
stimulate further Frisch research in the twenty-first century. Thanks are
also due to the anonymous readers at Camden House. Working with Jim
Walker, Camden House’s editorial director, has been an immense privi-
lege, and I am deeply grateful to him for his encouragement and intel-
lectual generosity.
O. B.
Kennesaw, Georgia
July 2013
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Note on the Abbreviations
THROUGHOUT THIS VOLUME, citations from Frisch are predominantly to
the following edition. Abbreviations of individual works are set up in
the notes to each chapter as appropriate.
GW = Max Frisch. Gesammelte Werke in zeitlicher Folge. Edited by Hans
Mayer and Walter Schmitz. 2nd ed. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1986.
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