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The Visit
This is the first complete English translation of the play that many critics consider to be Durrenmatt's finest work. Unlike an earlier version adapted for the English-language stage, this translation adheres faithfully to the author's original play as it was published and performed in German.
The action of The Visit takes place in the small town of Guellen, "
...morePaperback, 112 pages
Published
January 7th 1994
by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
(first published 1956)
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“La visita de la vieja dama” de Friedrich Dürrenmatt (escritor suizo en lengua alemana) tiene un primer acto que es el de una farsa. La acción se ambienta en Güllen, una pequeña ciudad de provincias que en el pasado había sido próspera pero que ahora está totalmente arruinada y ni siquiera los trenes se detienen en su estación. Sin embargo, puede que las cosas cambien, porque una antigua habitante del pueblo, convertida ahora en prácticamente la mujer más rica del mundo, ha anunciado su visita y...more
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Brilliant! I've compared this book to fine German engineering... every perfected detail has a purpose and nothing is superfluous. Swiss born Durrenmatt was a minister's son who lived through WW2, and spent his life working and re-working (and re-re-working!) these plots while figuring out his own standings on faith and human nature. He's an intellectual but not an idealist, believing in the goodness of human nature while knowing full well its limits. The book is rich with insights into the hypoc...more
Really loved this tragicomedy. Dürrenmatt's works are timeless, but they are also the product of a Swiss vantage during cold war. In "The Visit" or in German "Der Besuch der alten Dame" an old lady who becomes the wealthiest person in the world returns to the village that cast her out as a young woman and offers riches to the town in exchange for the life of Alfred Ill, who once disgraced her. It’s all about an immoral deal: if the town wants her financial support, she wants ...more
Friedrich Durrenmatt, The Visit (Grove, 1956)
Another excellent piece of work from Friedrich Durrenmatt, the story of The Visit takes place in a ..town in central Europe somewhere; the country is not given (the reasons should be obvious). As the town is on the verge of bankruptcy, with almost total unemployment and a pervasive sense of despair, one of the town's local folk made good comes back, hinting that she will give the town enough money to bail it out: get the factory working agai...more
Another excellent piece of work from Friedrich Durrenmatt, the story of The Visit takes place in a ..town in central Europe somewhere; the country is not given (the reasons should be obvious). As the town is on the verge of bankruptcy, with almost total unemployment and a pervasive sense of despair, one of the town's local folk made good comes back, hinting that she will give the town enough money to bail it out: get the factory working agai...more
"The Visit" stands as a small masterpiece of misanthropy, a play whose cynicism is so thickly layered that the greed driving the plot at its surface seems almost the least of its characters' sins. For Durrenmatt, people, not money, are the root of all evil.
Unlike Miller's "The Crucible", a contemporary play, this is not an exercise in puritanical hand-wringing but a black and grotesque Grimm fairy story. At the centre of this fairy story is the witch to end all w...more
Unlike Miller's "The Crucible", a contemporary play, this is not an exercise in puritanical hand-wringing but a black and grotesque Grimm fairy story. At the centre of this fairy story is the witch to end all w...more
This is another play about how absolutism, no matter what the purpose or just cause, is dangerous and savage and only brings about brutality.
In this play a small backwater economically failing little German town gets a visit from a millionairess who grew up there. The town, knowing of her generosity elsewhere hopes she will put them back on track and depends on her high school sweetheart to get her to agree to give the money. She does, but only in exchange for the death of her high ...more
In this play a small backwater economically failing little German town gets a visit from a millionairess who grew up there. The town, knowing of her generosity elsewhere hopes she will put them back on track and depends on her high school sweetheart to get her to agree to give the money. She does, but only in exchange for the death of her high ...more
Inhalt:
Das kleine Städtchen Güllen ist wirtschaftlich am Ende. Seine Bewohner schöpfen erst wieder Hoffnung, als eine alte Dame namens Claire Zachanassian ihren Besuch ankündigt, eine millionenschwere Frau.
Claire Zachanassian ist eine ehemaligen Bewohnerin von Güllen. Vor 40 Jahren hieß sie Kläri Wäscher und hatte ein Verhältnis mit dem Bewohner Alfred Ill. Er schwängerte sie in dieser Zeit, ließ sie jedoch sitzen, leugnete die Vaterschaft und machte aus Kläri eine Dirne.
Ihr Bes...more
Das kleine Städtchen Güllen ist wirtschaftlich am Ende. Seine Bewohner schöpfen erst wieder Hoffnung, als eine alte Dame namens Claire Zachanassian ihren Besuch ankündigt, eine millionenschwere Frau.
Claire Zachanassian ist eine ehemaligen Bewohnerin von Güllen. Vor 40 Jahren hieß sie Kläri Wäscher und hatte ein Verhältnis mit dem Bewohner Alfred Ill. Er schwängerte sie in dieser Zeit, ließ sie jedoch sitzen, leugnete die Vaterschaft und machte aus Kläri eine Dirne.
Ihr Bes...more
I loved this book!
I am a huge fan of Mr. Dürrenmatt, even acted as Mr. Möbius in "Die Physiker" in a schooltheater group.
But "Der Besuch der alten Dame" was one of those I had in my shelve for too long but never found time to read it. SUCH A SHAME!
This is funny, dramatic and it can be adapted to many situations, especially today, in a time when people would do everything for money.
I read this novel in 2 days, and couldn'T stop giggling while reading. ...more
I am a huge fan of Mr. Dürrenmatt, even acted as Mr. Möbius in "Die Physiker" in a schooltheater group.
But "Der Besuch der alten Dame" was one of those I had in my shelve for too long but never found time to read it. SUCH A SHAME!
This is funny, dramatic and it can be adapted to many situations, especially today, in a time when people would do everything for money.
I read this novel in 2 days, and couldn'T stop giggling while reading. ...more
Der Besuch der alten Dame. Eine böse, von ironischem und sarkastischem Humor durchzogene "tragische Komödie" - die ich persönlich eher als Tragödie bezeichnen würde. Oder als Thriller, wenn man sich das Ausmaß der Dinge mal genauer anschaut.
Die absolut heruntergekommene Stadt Güllen ist in heller Aufruhr: Die Milliardärin Claire Zachanassian - eine ehemalige Güllenerin - kommt sie besuchen! Sie ist bekannt für ihre Wohltätigkeit und so erhofft sich natürlich die Stadt eine gr...more
Die absolut heruntergekommene Stadt Güllen ist in heller Aufruhr: Die Milliardärin Claire Zachanassian - eine ehemalige Güllenerin - kommt sie besuchen! Sie ist bekannt für ihre Wohltätigkeit und so erhofft sich natürlich die Stadt eine gr...more
I've seen such people a lot ...
دختری که در نکبت از شهر رانده شده، سال ها بعد که ثروتمندترین زن دنیاست، به دیدار زادگاه خود می آید. مردم شهر که در فقر و بدبختی اند، از مردی (آلفرد ایل) که روزگاری باعث حاملگی این دختر و رانده شدنش از شهر شده، می خواهند تا به اعتبار این آشنایی قدیمی، زن را وادارد تا به وضع فلاکت بار شهر، سر و سامانی بدهد. خانم زاخاناسیان البته و با کمال میل این پیشنهاد را می پذیرد و یک میلیون به شهر کمک می کند. اما به یک شرط! این که دادگاهی که آن زمان تشکیل شد و در آن او را ک...more
دختری که در نکبت از شهر رانده شده، سال ها بعد که ثروتمندترین زن دنیاست، به دیدار زادگاه خود می آید. مردم شهر که در فقر و بدبختی اند، از مردی (آلفرد ایل) که روزگاری باعث حاملگی این دختر و رانده شدنش از شهر شده، می خواهند تا به اعتبار این آشنایی قدیمی، زن را وادارد تا به وضع فلاکت بار شهر، سر و سامانی بدهد. خانم زاخاناسیان البته و با کمال میل این پیشنهاد را می پذیرد و یک میلیون به شهر کمک می کند. اما به یک شرط! این که دادگاهی که آن زمان تشکیل شد و در آن او را ک...more
A fascinating play and certainly modern in that there is a woman at the lead. I really enjoyed her character and the observations that are being made about society of that time are very interesting and disturbing. Reading this play late at night I found myself getting scared for the character as he awaits his fate.
I read this book in German called "Der Besuch der Alten Dame". Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a famous Swiss author. His daughter lives across my street.
I enjoyed reading it and with my Language Art class I even went to a theater play.
I enjoyed reading it and with my Language Art class I even went to a theater play.
A really great play, and well identified by "tragi-comedy". And, like all good plays, the events and conversations resonate and linger in your mind afterward.
Very nicely done. I dig this writer. He should be more well-known here.
Very nicely done. I dig this writer. He should be more well-known here.
Bitterly, very bitterly Dürrenmatt describes how greed and temptation may override parochial morality -- all in a creeping process that is simultaneously clearly visible, and yet, readily denied by everyone involved. Brilliant!
A strange and enveloping play. It draws you in as it marches onward toward tragedy, with moments of odd humor throughout. It's surreal, for sure, but definitely also extremely thought-provoking and engaging.
Claire S
rated it
I was assigned this during my later (of only a few years) German language class.. read it and re-read it and re-read it. To have such a play as this be used for such a purpose is - some would say - twisted; but we contextualized it and it was great. I really have a fondness for it, both for itself and for the journey that I went through with it. It's basically that one piece of German literature which I actually understand - in German! A treasure..
I had never even heard of a tragi-comedy book before, so I figured, why not give it a try? I loved it! It was snarky and kept me smiling the whole time. Inventive and amazing.
Love the female protagonist in this play and the hypocrisy of the little village and her mercy. Have never seen this play. Would love to.
wie alles was ich von dürrenmatt kenne: ein lustiges buch.
guckt euch die theateraufnahme mit maria schell an!
guckt euch die theateraufnahme mit maria schell an!
A fantastic play at turns grotesque, comic, and austere. The classically tragic vein is more apparent here than in other works by this author, and yet any claims to moral certainty seems forced. A play to make you think. Durrenmatt destabilizes the meanings of words like Justice, Integrity, and Progress, so that any way of looking at the conflict reveals a moral code. Notably, these possible moralities only appear as strong as their adherents, all of whom have realistically limited agency. Excep...more
Very amusing and interesting backround story.
This play is short, very dark, and completely awesome. It'll take a day to read, so do it now.
witzig und verrückt!
High school...
None
Great plot!
Greed conquers all
Dürrenmatt once said, “I can best be understood if one grasps grotesqueness.” "The Visit" is a perfect example of this: labeled as a tragi-comedy, it straddles the line between horror and humor. When the main character asserts that "The world turned me into a whore. I shall turn the world into a brothel," and promises the rescue and long-term survival of a town contingent upon a mere murder of one of its members, you know you're in for something a little off the beaten pa...more
Dark comedy at it's best.
Aw well, I read better stuff than this, also better stuff from Dürrenmatt, but it wasn't bad. The story was an interesting idea, but I didn't really like the way the people talked, although I know that this was intended. I felt sorry for Mr. Ill, too. I didn't enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed reading "Die Physiker".
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Dürrenmatt was born in the Emmental (canton of Bern), the son of a Protestant pastor. His grandfather Ulrich Dürrenmatt was a conservative politician. The family moved to Bern in 1935. Dürrenmatt began to study philosophy and German language and literature at the University of Zurich in 1941, but moved to the University of Bern after one semester. In 1943 he decided to become an author and dramati...more
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