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Max (Rudolf) Frisch - Life, List of works, Further reading

Playwright and novelist, born in Zürich, N Switzerland. He became a newspaper correspondent and a student of architecture, while developing his literary career. His novels include Stiller (1954), a satire on the Swiss way of life, Homo Faber (1957), and Bluebeard (1983). His plays, modern morality pieces, include Nun singen sie wieder (1945, Now They Sing Again), Andorra (1962), and Triptych (1981).

Max Frisch (May 15, 1911 – April 4, 1991), was a Swiss architect, playwright and novelist, one of the most representative writers of the German literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of personal identity, morality and political commitment. Frisch was a member of the Gruppe Olten.

Life

Max Rudolph Frisch was born in 1911 in Zurich; the son of Franz Bruno Frisch (an architect) and Karolina Bettina Frisch (née Wildermuth). After studying at the Realgymnasium in Zurich, he enrolled at the University of Zurich in 1930 and began studying German literature, but had to abandon due to financial problems after the death of his father in 1932.

From 1936 to 1941 he studied architecture at the ETH Zurich.

In 1947, he met Bertolt Brecht in Zurich. In 1951, he got a grant of the Rockefeller Trust and spent one year in the U.S. After 1955 he worked exclusively as a freelance writer.

During the 1950s and 1960s Frisch created some outstanding novels that explored problems of alienation and identity in modern societies.

Max Frisch died of cancer on April 4, 1991 in Zurich. Together with Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch is considered one of the most influential Swiss writers of the 20th century.

Some of the major themes in his work are the search or loss of one's identity;

Max Frisch has always been a political man, and many of his works make reference to (or, as in Jonas und sein Veteran, are centered around) political issues of the time.

List of works

Novels

Stiller (1954, I'm Not Stiller) Homo faber (1957) Mein Name sei Gantenbein (1964, A Wilderness of Mirrors 1982, Gantenbein) Erinnerungen an Brecht (1968) Dienstbüchlein (1974) Montauk (1975) Tryptichon. Drei szenische Bilder (1978) Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän (1979, Man in the Holocene ) Blaubart (1982, Bluebeard ) Wilhelm Tell für die Schule (Novella, 1971, Wilhelm Tell: a School Text, published in fiction 1978)

Journals

Blätter aus dem Brotsack (1939) Tagebuch 1946-1949 (1950) Tagebuch 1966-1971 (1972)

Dramatic works

Nun singen sie wieder (1945) Santa Cruz (1947) Die Chinesische Mauer (1947, The Chinese Wall) Als der Krieg zu Ende war (1949, When the War Was Over) Graf Öderland (1951) Biedermann und die Brandstifter (1953), The Firebugs (US)/The Fire Raisers (UK) Don Juan oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie (1953) Andorra (1961) Biografie (1967) Jonas und sein Veteran (1989)

Further reading

Butler, Michael (1976) The Novels of Max Frisch (London) Butler, Michael (1985) The Plays of Max Frisch (London) Butler, Michael (1994) Andorra, Grant and Cutler Study Guide, 2nd edition, London Kieser, Rolf, ed. (1989) Max Frisch: Novels, Plays, Essays, The German Library Series, Continuum, New York

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