Frisch, Max (Vol. 9) - Frisch, Max 1911–
Frisch, Max 1911–
Frisch is a Swiss novelist, playwright, and architect. Translated into many languages, his writings involve not only themes of personal identity but social concerns, such as dictatorship, anti-Semitism, prejudice, and justice and injustice. (See also CLC, Vol. 3.)
Both Wilder and Brecht greatly influenced Zurich's Max Frisch, who employs forms typical of Brecht's epic theater and who shares his deep moral commitment. He does not, however, share Brecht's naive faith in Marxism. Frisch called one of his plays a "Lehrstück ohne Lehre" (a didactic play without a lesson) and critics have accordingly dubbed Frisch a Brecht without Marxism. Frisch constantly warns against man's inclination to create false images of a person, a race, or a nation. He maintains that the attempt to say anything definitive about "the Jews," "the Russians," and others can result only in brutal distortion. This thesis is particularly evident in...
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