On the face of it Dürrenmatt's first essay into [the detective story], Der Richter und sein Henker, contains sufficient traditional elements to explain its abiding popularity…. Written as it was in installments it enjoys all the sculptured, architechonic advantages of the Roman Feuilleton. (p. 147)
On first reading Dürrenmatt's Der Richter und sein Henker one is struck by the strangeness, the disconcerting oddity of the overall impression which this novel leaves. Where, one asks, is that feeling of delight, that essentially cathartic, reassuring feeling that things have turned out right? In its place one experiences a disconcerting je ne sais quoi, a nagging, worrying feeling that the equation has worked itself out unsatisfactorily. Initially one is inclined to dismiss this reaction, perhaps attributing it to Dürrenmatt's failure to cope with what was, for him at the time, a new form. But this too is unsatisfactory. The reader is left with no alternative but to re-read—and read more closely, paying particular attention to Dürrenmatt's departures from the "classic" tradition.
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