This introductory volume explores the playwright's chaotic universe, where God has retreated beyond the stars and where blind chance is the real prime mover, justice is corruptible, ideologies useless, and tragedy no longer possible. Yet despite the overriding pessimism of Durrenmatt's Weltanschauung, the author argues that the playwright remains a genial master of comedy. Through the laughter he allows his readers to see that all is not lost, that there are virtues worth fighting for, and that there are still courageous Don Quixotes worthy of the title "hero." Crockett contends that as a theorist of the modern German stage, Durrenmatt challenges Bertolt Brecht and offers alternatives. As a craftsman of prose fiction, he fashions the stout thread with which the readers enter his labyrinths and eventually find their way back out, while his literary Theseuses, clinging to gossamer strands, sometimes fall prey to the monster in the maze.

Dürrenmatt's apparently conflicting statements about his central concerns have baffled scholars attempting to interpret his works. In his critical approach to Dürrenmatt, Timo Tiusanen emphasizes the author's relation to the theater, and analyzes the thirteen original stage plays, eight radio plays, and five adaptations, using the special concept of "scenic image" developed in an earlier study of O'Neill. Four books by Dürrenmatt on the theater and politics are related to the dramatist's creative practice, and his six books of prose are also carefully considered. Exploring the writer's career to reconcile conflicting attitudes that have been taken toward his work, Timo Tiusanen sees Dürrenmatt's writings as representing a persistent effort to express artistically a paradoxical view of the world. Originally published in 1978. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Designed to provide English readers of German literature the opportunity to familiarize themselves with both the established canon and newly emerging literatures that reflect the concerns of women and ethnic minorities, the Encyclopedia of German Literature includes more than 500 entries on writers, individual work, and topics essential to an understanding of this rich literary tradition. Drawing on the expertise of an international group of experts, the essays in the encyclopedia reflect developments of the latest scholarship in German literature, culture, and history and society. In addition to the essays, author entries include biographies and works lists; and works entries provide information about first editions, selected critical editions, and English-language translations. All entries conclude with a list of further readings.

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