(1921–90). Swiss playwright, novelist, and essayist Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote tragicomic dramas that were central to the post–World War II revival of German-language theater. His technique, marked by the use of parables and of actors who step out of their roles to act as narrators, was influenced by the German writer Bertolt Brecht.
Dürrenmatt was born on Jan. 5, 1921, in Konolfingen, near Bern, Switzerland, and was educated in Zürich and Bern. He became a full-time writer in 1947. His vision of the world as essentially absurd gave a comic flavor to his plays. Writing on theater in Theaterprobleme (1955; Problems of the Theatre), Dürrenmatt described the primary conflict in his tragicomedies as humanity’s comic attempts to escape from the tragic fate inherent in the human condition.
His plays often have bizarre settings. His first play, Es steht geschrieben (1947; It Is Written), is about the Anabaptist suppression in Münster in 1534–36. In it, as in Der Blinde (1948; The Blind Man) and Romulus der Grosse (1949; Romulus the Great), comic liberties are taken with the historical facts. Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi (1952; The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi), a serous play in the guise of an old-fashioned melodrama, established his international reputation; it was produced in the United States in 1958 as Fools Are Passing Through. His other plays include Der Besuch der alten Dame (1956; The Visit); Die Physiker (1962; The Physicists), a modern morality play about science, generally considered his best play; Der Meteor (1966; The Meteor); and Porträt eines Planeten (1970; Portrait of a Planet). In addition to plays, Dürrenmatt wrote detective novels, radio plays, and critical essays. His works, written in German, were translated into more than 50 languages. Dürrenmatt died on Dec. 14, 1990, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.