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If Friedrich Dürrenmatt is a household word, it is as a dramatist. Two plays in particular have insured him lasting fame: Der Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit of the Old Lady, 1956; translated as The Visit, 1962), a success worldwide, including Broadway and the Soviet Union; and Die Physiker (1962; translated as The Physicists, 1963), which became the most-performed play in German-language theaters in the year following its premiere. On the other hand, his most successful novel is a detective story and, as such, is unjustly relegated to the category of trivial literature. Furthermore, Dürrenmatt does not write lengthy novels; most of his prose works can be read in a single sitting. Finally, his first three published novels were the products of financial necessity. For all these reasons Dürrenmatt the writer of prose fiction stands in the shadow of Dürrenmatt the dramatist.
In actuality, the same pessimistic view of history, the same distrust of absolutes, and the same dominance of coincidence over rational planning which characterize his dramas also pervade his prose.
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