Max Frisch

Max Frisch

(1911 – 1991)

Biographical Sketch

Max Rudolf Frisch (Zürich, Switzerland, May 15, 1911 – Zürich, Switzerland, April 4, 1991) was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II, and together with Friedrich Dürrenmatt, one of the most influential Swiss writers of the 20th century. He was a member of the Gruppe Olten, a club of Swiss writers who convened at Olten’s “Bahnhofbuffet” (Swiss expression for a railway station restaurant) located in the canton of Solothurn in the Swiss plateau. The group was founded in the aforementioned railway station restaurant and existed from 1970 to 2002. For the founding members of the group, writing was inseparably associated with political commitment. They specified the goal to “build a democratic-socialist society” in their bylaws.

In his creative works, Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political commitment. His use of irony is a significant feature of his post-war publications.

Frisch was awarded honorary degrees by the University of Marburg, Germany (1962), Bard College (1980), the City University of New York (1982), the University of Birmingham (1984), and Technische Universität Berlin (1987). He also won many important German literature prizes: the Georg-Büchner-Preis in 1958, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels) in 1976, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1986 and the Heinrich-Heine-Preis in 1989. In 1965 he won the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society.

Major Awards and Honors

Jerusalem Prize (Israel)

1965

Georg-Büchner-Preis (Germany)

1958

Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (Peace Prize of the German Book Trade)

1976

Neustadt International Prize for Literature (USA)

1986

Bibliography

Novels and Novellas

Jürg Reinhart (1934)
Rewritten and published in 1943 as:
J’Adore ce qui me Brûle; oder, Die Schwierigen
Bin, oder Die Reise nach Peking (1952)
Stiller (1954)
A/K/A: Ich bin nicht Stiller
(I’m Not Stiller)
Homo Faber (1957)
(Homo Faber; Voyager)
Die grosse Wut des Philipp Hotz (1958)
(The Great Fury of Philipp Hotz)
Schniz (1959)
Mein Name sei Gantenbein (1964)
(A Wilderness of Mirrors; Gantenbein)
Montauk (1975)
Gesammelte Werke (1976)
Der Traum des Apothekers von Locarno (1978)
Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän (1979)
(Man in the Holocene)
Blaubart (1982)
(Bluebeard)
Gesammelte Werke 1931 – 1985 (1986)
Fragebogen (1992)

Plays, Screenplays and Radio Plays

Nun singen sie wieder (1945)
(Now They Sing Again)
Die Chinesische Mauer (1946)
(The Chinese Wall)
Santa Cruz (1947)
Als der Krieg zu Ende war (1949)
(When the War Was Over)
Graf Öderland (1951)
(Count Öderland)
Biedermann und die Brandstifter
(Firebugs; The Fire Raisers; Biedermann and the Arsonists)
– Radio play published in 1953; theatrical play in 1958.
Don Juan oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie (1953)
(Don Juan or the Love of Geometry)
Rip van Winkel (1953)
Based on the tale by Washington Irving.
Eine Lanze fur die Freiheit (1955)
(A Lance for Freedom)
Andorra (1961)
Zürich-Transit (1966)
Biografie (1967)
(Biography)
Triptychon (1979)
(Triptych)
Blaubart (1985)
Screenplay based on Frisch’s novel of the same name.
Jonas und sein Veteran (1989)
Sämtliche Stücke (1995)

Memoirs, Correspondance, Essays, Addresses

Antwort aus der Stille (1937)
Blätter aus dem Brotsack (1940)
Tagebuch mit Marion (1947)
Tagebuch 1946 – 1949 (1950)
(Sketchbook 1946 – 1949)
Der Laie und die Architektur (1954)
Herr Quixote (1955)
Öffentlichkeit als Partner (1967)
Erinnerungen an Brecht (1968)
Dramaturgisches (1969)
Wilhelm Tell für die Schule (1971)
Tagebuch 1966 – 1971 (1972)
(Sketchbook 1966 – 1971)
Skizze eines Unglücks:) Erzählungen aus dem Tagebuch 1966 – 1971
Dienstbüchlein (1974)
Wir hoffen (1976)
– Acceptance address for German Booksellers’ Prize for Peace.
Forderungen des Tages: Porträts, Skizzen, Reden 1943–1982 (1983)
Am Ende der Aufklärung steht das goldene Kalb (1985)
Stich-Worte (1985)
– Quotes, sayings and satirisms, selected by Uwe Johnson.
Schweiz ohne Armee? Ein Palaver (1989)
Novels, Plays, Essays (1989)
Jetzt ist Sehenszeit: Briefe, Notate, Dokumente 1943 – 1963 (1998)
Im übrigen bin ich immer völlig allein (2000)
1933 correspondence with mother; reports from Prague ice hockey world championship; travelogues.

A Selection of Quotes

Homo Faber

“Technology … the knack of so arranging the world that we don’t have to experience it.”

“Gefühle am Morgen, das erträgt kein Mann. Dann lieber Geschirr waschen!”

I’m Not Stiller

“Cause and effect are never divided between two people.”

Montauk

“A society needs famous people; the question is whom it chooses for that role. Any criticism of its choice is by implication a criticism of that society.”

“Our guilt has its uses. It justifies much in the lives of others.”

Tagebuch 1946-1949

“Wer sich nicht mit Politik befaßt, hat die politische Parteinahme, die er sich sparen möchte, bereits vollzogen: er dient der herrschenden Partei.”

Find more quotes by Max Frisch on Wikiquote and Goodreads.