SOURCE: Stewart, Mary E. “Alpine Adventures: Some Thoughts on Max Frisch's Antwort aus der Stille.” Modern Language Review 78, no. 2 (April 1983): 359-64.

In the following essay, Stewart assesses the strengths and weaknesses of Antwort aus der Stille by comparing it to C. E. Montague's Action and Frisch's later work, particularly his novel Stiller.

Max Frisch's early tale Antwort aus der Stille (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1937) is generally thought to contain little of interest beyond its rudimentary prefiguration of later themes, particularly that of self-acceptance.¹ Indeed, it is not included in Frisch's Gesammelte Werke in zeitlicher Folge (1976); yet a closer examination suggests that its relationship to some later works is more interesting than is usually allowed.

The story concerns one Dr Leuthold, who feels keenly the loss of youth and its optimism, and clings to the belief that he is no ordinary man, and that everyday life cannot be all there...