Description
Book SynopsisBecoming Fiction: Reassessing Atheism in Dürrenmatt's Stoffe sets forth a clarification of the importance of Friedrich Dürrenmatt, modern Swiss dramatist, essayist, novelist and self-proclaimed atheist (19211990), and offers new insights into the ways in which his father's vocation as a Protestant minister, along with Dürrenmatt's own decision as a young man to pursue a career in writing rather than religion, shaped his world view and, in particular, made necessary a final, desperate attempt to fictionally recast his own life through revisions and amplifications of many of his earlier works when he created his final prose volume, Stoffe. Dürrenmatt devoted immense energy in his writings to wrestling with his father's God as a way of seeking self-identity. That perceived loss of his father's esteem became the motor behind his works. After earlier successes, the icy reception of his most ambitious play, Der Mitmacher, in 1976, left the author in such a frustrate
Table of Contents
Introduction: Searching for Home – Stoffe: The Story of a Life – Durrenmatt and God – Labyrinth Turmbau. Stoffe I–IX – Der Winterkrieg in Tibet – Mondfinsternis: Home by Chance – Der Rebell – Begegnungen – Querfahrt – Die Brücke – Das Haus – Vinter – Das Hirn – Conclusion
