#friedrich dürrenmatt

[movietonight]

M*A*S*H // The Physicists - Friedrich Dürrenmatt

[portraituresque]

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (Swiss, 1921 - 1990), Self portrait, 1982

[kansassire]

Szürkület aka Twilight, 1990, Gyorgy Feher

[superconfusedcoryn]

I'd like to announce that i no longer have beef with Friedrich Dürrenmatt

[wishblown]

The gaps between what we wanted and what we got, we filled with a sort of polite shame towards life, like a gift we should’ve enjoyed but didn’t.

— Ilona Hartmann; Klarkommen (my translation)

February Reads!

Romulus der Große (Romulus the Great) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt — 5/5: he’s done it again!!! my mother gave me her copy of this one last Christmas bc she knows how much I like Dürrenmatt and ofc it did not disappoint. what a play, if only I could see it performed! to see an emperor cunningly bring down his own empire to save itself and the rest of the world of its cruelty *chef’s kiss*

Klarkommen by Ilona Hartmann — 4/5: preordered this one bc I loved Hartmann’s debut novel so much! unique writing style and narrative voice imo, not much of a plot-based novel, more of a vibe, a coming-of-age snippet dealing with the narrator coming to terms with the mundanity of her own life and how moving to an interesting new place doesn’t automatically make her into a new and interesting person. you’re always late to the party, that is if you even know the right people to be invited in the first place. but perhaps that’s ok?

Der Pensionierte (The Pensioner) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt — 3.5/5: when you’re invested in the story but it’s only a fragment that was left behind :( not my favourite FD but then again it’s not finished so hard to judge; I can picture this being really good if he’d actually gone over it a few more times and gotten round to finishing it. typical FD set-up regarding justice and crime with a retired police detective revisiting his old unsolved cases to see how they’re doing after he let them go in order to balance out some of the general injustice he’s encountered during his career. really would’ve loved to know where he was going with it!

[czgif]

Jiřina Bohdalová in The Visit of an Old Lady (Návštěva staré dámy) 1999, TV, dir. Zdeněk Zelenka IMDB

[garadinervi]

Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Minotaurus, with Illustrations by the Author, Diogenes, Zürich, 1985. Cover Art: Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Illustration zur Ballade Minotaurus VII, 1984

[btrflyng]

Hehe theater literature meme targeted at me and only me :)

[dreehung]

Bizler artık sadece tımarhanede gerçekten özgürüz. Yalnızca burada rahatça düşünmek hakkına sahibiz.

[vintagewarhol]

[trauermaerchen]

i finally got around to reading more im september so here's a ranking of every non fanfiction i read this month ig because why not

9 – Lenz by Georg Büchner (originally in German, read in German): While I quite like the idea behind it, Büchner's writing style honestly feels like a middle schooler wrote it. I do think it's worth the short read but it could've been miles better.

8 – The Hessian Courier by Georg Büchner (originally in German, read in German): While especially the numbers aren't directly relevant to nowadays, I think it's a very interesting read, although the listings made it a bit tedious. I still recommended reading this to (german) leftists as it's relatively easy material to get into.

7 – The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (originally in German, read in German): The beginning is extremely slow so I didn't think I'd enjoy reading it. Once it picks up the pace it's quite enjoyable though.

6 – The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson (originally in English, read in English): A fun short story that I believe was worth the read.

5 – The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe (originally in English, read in English): While I prefer his short stories, I do love his poetry as well. Another fun, quick read.

4 – Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe (originally in English, read in English): Great read but not his best short story in my opinion.

3 – The Imaginary Invalid by Molière (originally in French, read in German): I found myself to be quite entertained while reading this. I found the beginning to be a bit confusing because the word for imaginary and one word for arrogant / vain / etc. is the same in German and I thought it was about the latter at first but that's not the fault of the play, just me being a bit dumb.

2 – The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoi (originally in Russian, read in German): I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. A very fun read if you're into social commentary.

1 – The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (originally in English, read in English): Honestly, I was blown away by this which doesn't happen often. A truly amazing read that I recommend to anyone that enjoys unreliable narrators and the horrors of life if mistreated. It's an amazing demonstration of period typical medical mistreatment.

[movietonight]

M*A*S*H - Goodbye Farewell and Amen // Friedrich Dürrenmatt - The Physicists

[ubyr-babaj]

What if we make the DDaily crowd read "Der Besuch der alten Dame" one act at a time.

[kansassire]

Szürkület aka Twilight, 1990, Gyorgy Feher

[rwpohl]

[wishblown]

[…] For we die every day; oblivion thrives / Not on dry thighbones but on blood-ripe lives, / And our best yesterdays are now foul piles / Of crumpled names, phone numbers and foxed files. / I’m ready to become a floweret / Or a fat fly, but never, to forget. / […]

— Vladimir Nabokov; Pale Fire

August Reads!

Die Panne (Traps) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt — 4/5: will never not be a Dürrenmatt girli sorry not sorry. this was not my favourite of his though (that will probably always be Justiz) but still a good quick read. love it when he puts his characters in situations and circumstances they cannot escape but it’s like this was only a coincidence, wasn’t it? sorry, it was you. but it also had to be you. not that it matters that it was you. yk.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman — 5/5: it was high-time for a re-read! kinda love this one more with every time I read it and probably will continue to do so. the combination of satire and genuine love put into the characters and the story is just perfect.

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov — 4.5/5: what a novel! insane structure, reminded me of House of Leaves and I took my time with this one to read it in several different was to get the most out of the story and its nuancs plus the beautiful way it is written. and the payoff you get from that! the lore! not to mention the gorgeous poems in this novel. will def need to read it to again in the future.

We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets — 3/5: always a fan of an unreliable narrator but not sure of the ending of this one :/ seemed a little abrupt, kinda unfinished to me? good ideas, some good writing, but could've been executed better imo