In this play by Swiss playwright and novelist Max Frisch, a middle-aged behavioral researcher named Kurmann is given the opportunity to start his life over at any point he chooses and change his decisions and actions in matters both serious and mundane. He could save his marriage, become politically active, take better care of his health, or even change the color of his living-room furniture. Despite his intention to apply the wisdom he has acquired with age, Kurmann finds himself inexorably trapped in the same decisions. Ultimately proving fatal, Kurmann's life-game interrogates how much of our own path is shaped by seemingly random factors and how much is in fact predetermined by our own limited, conditioned selves. The play's central idea - that our lives are nothing but a self-conscious play with imaginary identities - is brilliantly captured in Biography's dramaturgical form, which sets up a theater rehearsal as the metaphor for the endless possibilities and variables of the game of life. Frisch's own revised, dramatically heightened version of his play celebrates not only the theater as a form of self-expression but also the human condition in all its potential and limitations as it showcases both comic and tragic outcomes that define all our lives.
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A play that celebrates not only the theater as a form of self-expression but also the human condition in its potential and limitations, showcasing both comic and tragic outcomes that define our lives.

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781906497460
Publisert
2010-08-10
Utgiver
Vendor
Seagull Books London Ltd
Vekt
198 gr
Høyde
22 mm
Bredde
13 mm
Dybde
1 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
121

Forfatter

Biographical note

Max Frisch (1911-91) was one of the giants of twentieth-century literature, achieving fame as a novelist, playwright, diarist, and essayist. His works include Andorra, I'm Not Stiller, A Wilderness of Mirrors, and Man in the Holocene. Birgit Schreyer Duarte is a freelance dramaturge, theater director, and translator.