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29th out of 248 books
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Physicists
The Physicists is a provocative and darkly comic satire about life in modern times, by one of Europe's foremost dramatists and author of the internationally celebrated The Visit.
Paperback, 96 pages
Published
January 21st 1994
by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
(first published 1962)
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Who is ill? The lunatic inhabitants or the head of hospital?
شاهکار دیگری از دورنمات. اینجا تیمارستانی ست که دیوانگانش همه دانشمند و فیزیکدان و ... هستند و خود را به دیوانگی زده اند تا از شر کشفیات و اختراعات خود و خطر آن برای بشریت در امان بمانند. رییس این تیمارستان خانم دکتری معیوب است که اتفاقن تنها بیمار روانی این تیمارستان است. این اوست که شادمانه نیتجه ی کشفیات این دانشمندان را می دزدد و به نام خود در جهان می پراکند و افتخاراتی را که فیزیکدان ها از ان در هراس اند، با کمال میل برای خود...more
شاهکار دیگری از دورنمات. اینجا تیمارستانی ست که دیوانگانش همه دانشمند و فیزیکدان و ... هستند و خود را به دیوانگی زده اند تا از شر کشفیات و اختراعات خود و خطر آن برای بشریت در امان بمانند. رییس این تیمارستان خانم دکتری معیوب است که اتفاقن تنها بیمار روانی این تیمارستان است. این اوست که شادمانه نیتجه ی کشفیات این دانشمندان را می دزدد و به نام خود در جهان می پراکند و افتخاراتی را که فیزیکدان ها از ان در هراس اند، با کمال میل برای خود...more
Three physicists are locked away in a sanatarium run by the the world-renowned psychiatrist Mathilde van Zahndt, and the body count is rising. Inmates believing themselves to be Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton have each already killed a nurse, and as the first scene closes Johann Wilhelm Mobius kills a nurse (on the orders of King Solomon)who professes her love to him and wants to establish a new life away from the sanatarium. But in the second scene, it is revealed that all is not as it se...more
The Physicists by Friedrich Durrenmatt Reading Notes 1/09
Setting: The drama is set in a decaying villa that is part of a modern sanitarium in a small town in Germany. The author spends many words with exacting details of his setting including the color—white –of the furniture, the washable, glossy walls, and the fact that there is a prison nearby. He is attempting to adhere to the Aristotelian unities of time place and action.
If I were to produce this play, I would have ...more
Setting: The drama is set in a decaying villa that is part of a modern sanitarium in a small town in Germany. The author spends many words with exacting details of his setting including the color—white –of the furniture, the washable, glossy walls, and the fact that there is a prison nearby. He is attempting to adhere to the Aristotelian unities of time place and action.
If I were to produce this play, I would have ...more
I've read this book in school, not expecting much of it - but i was totally surprised.
The story of "die Physiker" deals with three physicists, who live in a sanatorium for the mentally ill. One of them did a groundbreaking discovery, who could influence the whole world... "Die Physiker" is a play, which teaches us a lesson about the responsibility of science.
One negative point I just have to mention, is that i am really not a fan of reading(!) plays. Y...more
The story of "die Physiker" deals with three physicists, who live in a sanatorium for the mentally ill. One of them did a groundbreaking discovery, who could influence the whole world... "Die Physiker" is a play, which teaches us a lesson about the responsibility of science.
One negative point I just have to mention, is that i am really not a fan of reading(!) plays. Y...more
This 1962 play is part of the wave of pessimism that followed the invention of the atomic bomb, one of the rare occasions in history that the total extinction of humanity has seemed like a real possibility. On the one hand, some thinkers stressed the essential warlike nature of humanity, as in Robert Ardrey's popular books about human origins as the metaphorical "children of Cain" or the famous opening sequence of 2001. On the other hand, writers like Dürrenmatt put the blame on scient...more
The Physicists is a two act play about three madmen in an upscale madhouse, two of whom have murdered their attending nurses recently. Over the course of the play, we learn plenty about the three men who believe themselves to be Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Mobius. It's a strange little play with good humor and a nice ending, but I can't write much more about it without giving the story away, so below there will be plenty of spoilers.
Over the course of the play we come to lear...more
Over the course of the play we come to lear...more
Three physicists have been confined to a very expensive posh mental institution, Les Cerisiers. Herbert George Beutler says he is Isaac Newton, but he knows that he is really Einstein. He adopted the guise of Newton to avoid upsetting another patient, Ernst Heinrich Ernesti, who claims he is Einstein. The third, Johann Wilhelm Mobius is himself. As a long term patient, he enjoys frequent visions of King Solomon.
I had the great fortune of knowing little about the plot. I was continuously en...more
I had the great fortune of knowing little about the plot. I was continuously en...more
We had to read this book in school, and it's actually one of the few books that I really, really, really liked. I read it in a single day, because it was so thrilling and totally not like the usual books one has to read for school. And I don't think it's just because it's about Physicists. ;)
A madhouse with three physicists claiming to be Einstein, Newton and Mobius! This wonderful premise for the play is squandared and it does not exploit the richness that these characters could provide and instead wastes it on banalities.
Another nice play from Durrenmatt. Quick, funny, with some tasty twists along the way. A pleasing kick of weight in the last quarter too.
Absolutely brilliant! I'm going to read it again tonight. "And to think for this I had to strangle a nurse and learn German!"
Great stuff. If you've got a beach weekend of physics and nurse-strangling planned, put this book in your tote!
This is a good, solid comedic mystery about crazy people. And you thought Germans had no sense of humor!
When I started this book, I espected a book about phisicists. Soon I understood that this book is about much more than just that. This book is really philpsophically written and switches from insanity to intelligence and logic. It combine a crime and science and has a surprising ending. I liked Duerrenmatt`s writig style alot and I had the opportunity to read it in german which I found really good because I like especially its wordchoise.
All in all this book showed me different perspective...more
All in all this book showed me different perspective...more
The Physicists by Friedrich Dürematt is very good story of the life of crazy people in a psychiatry. This sound very boring but it is a very neat story, very abstract and often not with an obvious point. The characters are all very present to the reader and reading the book you almost can see them jumping on a stage. The writing is very classic abstract, complicated but easy to read. The book is often hilarious and makes the reader smile because the characters act intelligent and stupid at the s...more
I initially read this in German many years ago, and fell in love with it then. I've always wanted to own the English version so that I could share it with others, and figured I would read it first.
The tale mirrors Oppenheimer a bit, or any of the other inventors of the terrible weapons that have come to pass and said to themselves 'I've created something so horrific, no one would ever use it.'
The Physicist creates a weapon, and just as he starts to wind down his research,...more
The tale mirrors Oppenheimer a bit, or any of the other inventors of the terrible weapons that have come to pass and said to themselves 'I've created something so horrific, no one would ever use it.'
The Physicist creates a weapon, and just as he starts to wind down his research,...more
Typische Schullektüre welche schon ein bisschen gealtert ist. Die Moralfrage und die Thematik ist schon so oft diskutiert worden, dass es kaum noch Wirkung hat. Es ist nich schlecht, aber auch nicht gut. Es ist zum Einstieg für das Lernen geeignet, wenn man noch zur Schule geht. Zur Unterhaltung oder um den Leser zu fesseln leider nicht. Es ist so kurz, dass es nicht schadet es gelesen zu haben, aber es schadet auch nicht stattdessen eine Summary auf wiki darüber zu lesen.
The Physicist was a humorous, although confusing play. There was Einstein, who wasn’t really Einstein. And there is Newton, who admits he is not Newton because he is actually Einstein. And then Mobius, a tormented soul who must walk the fine line between morality and science. This play deals mostly with the question: is it the mad who are truly sane? As a personal opinion, those who are sane think that they are crazy, and often have thoughts that would land them in a psychiatric ward should...more
I usually give two stars to books with nothing than banalities. Die Physiker is based on quite old tunes (the difficulcies of knowledge) and the literary tricks (jokes, comparisons) weren't original. So why three stars? I just thought that the symbols were quite enjoyable. The athmposphere was well built, nervous and a little absurd. As a play, die Physiker has a potential to inspire a director to something bigger than what is between the covers.
I find it a little stupid to read in German but comment in English, however my German skills are not developed to an extend of writing a good review and not spending an hour on it))
Basically there's not that much I'd like to say.
This surrealistically weird play sure has a good main idea - be very careful, because something that is already thought, said and done can not be "unthought", "unsaid" and "undone". Everybody should just keep it in mind....even t...more
Basically there's not that much I'd like to say.
This surrealistically weird play sure has a good main idea - be very careful, because something that is already thought, said and done can not be "unthought", "unsaid" and "undone". Everybody should just keep it in mind....even t...more
Dramatisiertes Umwälzen der moralischen Verantwortung der Wissenschaftler und der potenziell katastrofalen Wirkungen einer Weltformel. Wieder. Das Buch hat anscheinend zu lange auf dem Regal warten müssen. Da hat sich bei mir in dieser Zeit schon ein anderes Erwartungsgut herausgebildet. Man darf aber dem Buch als Leser ja nichts vorschreiben lassen.
Deliberately minimalist is this play that exposes the circular utilitarianism of scientific endeavour in a world whose responsibility is in mismatch to its technological omnipotence. A nice contribution to the Cold War commentary, albeit not quite as caustic as one would expect from Dürrenmatt.
Zwei Irre, die Keine sind. Eine Anstalt die auch nicht wirklich eine ist. Ein Mord.
Geheimnisse um Geheimdienste und ein überforderter Polizist.
Und die Frage wer, oder was ist denn nun Irr und wer oder was normal?
Dürrenmatt at his best! Um es mal auf Neudeutsch auszudrücken...
Sehr empfehlenswert.
Geheimnisse um Geheimdienste und ein überforderter Polizist.
Und die Frage wer, oder was ist denn nun Irr und wer oder was normal?
Dürrenmatt at his best! Um es mal auf Neudeutsch auszudrücken...
Sehr empfehlenswert.
About the responsibility that comes with great power. But not strength is meant here, but power of the mind, able to invent something that could destroy everything. Meanwhile absurdly hilarious. Great play.
a good book to think about and to illuminate our society...
figuratively its about the real self of the people and that nobody is that much different from the others.
figuratively its about the real self of the people and that nobody is that much different from the others.
I hate it!
And yes, I am probably too stupid to get the bigger deal behind it. But for me, it was just one of those books that I despise. Like really!
Ugh!
And yes, I am probably too stupid to get the bigger deal behind it. But for me, it was just one of those books that I despise. Like really!
Ugh!
I read this, Die Physiker, in the original German along with Der Ricther Und Sein Henker and some of his short stories. I like his style.
Natasha
added it
It's more of a question to be answered or thought about... when does knowledge become dangerous?
Dürrenmatts Komödie spielt in einem Irrenhaus und dreht sich um die drei Physiker und "Irren" Herbert Georg Beutler, genannt Newton; Ernst Heinrich Ernesti, genannt Einstein; und Johann Wilhelm Möbius.
Aufgrund eines Mordes in diesem Irrenhauses kommt die Polizei hinzu, die anfgangs verzweifelt, sich aber schnell mit herrlichem Humor den Sitten anpasst und schlussendlich wird Licht in die Sache gebracht und die Geschichte endet mit...
Die Physiker von Dürrenmatt ist eine ...more
Aufgrund eines Mordes in diesem Irrenhauses kommt die Polizei hinzu, die anfgangs verzweifelt, sich aber schnell mit herrlichem Humor den Sitten anpasst und schlussendlich wird Licht in die Sache gebracht und die Geschichte endet mit...
Die Physiker von Dürrenmatt ist eine ...more
lustiges buch
hat man schnell gelesen, aber nicht schnell wiedfer vergessen
hat man schnell gelesen, aber nicht schnell wiedfer vergessen
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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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“A story is not finished, until it has taken the worst turn”
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