Friedrich Dürrenmatt And The Tragedy Of Bertolt Brecht. An Interpretation Of Die Wiedertäufer

Abstract

RELATIONS BETWEEN FRIEDRICH DÜRRENMATT and his critics have never been good, and they worsen, considerably, whenever the question is raised of the dramatist's debt to Bertolt Brecht. In view of the numbers who seem intent on proving that Brecht still dominates the German stage, there can be little wonder that a writer as independent as Dürrenmatt should seek to free himself from influence, though, in so doing, he has only strengthened the argument of those who are convinced of his preoccupation. There can be little doubt that he owes much to Brechtian stage-technique, but most writers on the subject have displayed a tendency to separate form and content, to treat the manner of expression as something apart from what is expressed. Thus, Joseph Strelka, conceding that Dürrenmatt’s style is Brechtian, goes on to say that the contents of the plays have been anti-Brecht from the start, a view maintainable only if one insists on placing the two dramatists in opposite camps, Communist and non-Communist, and ignoring the humanistic elements in both, something one is less inclined to do, once it has been realised that Brecht was poised precariously between the two and at home in neither. In fact, he has-paradoxically-become a tragic figure, a situation lucidly described by Martin Esslin in his book: Brechet, The Man and His Work (New York, 1960). It might even be claimed that one purpose of Durrenmatt's Paradox Theatre is to intensify the tragedy, in which case it is certainly not correct to speak of direct opposition.