Michael Frayn, Copenhagen

Karen Blansfield (Independent Scholar - North America)

Ed. by Aleks Sierz, Independent Scholar - Europe
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1998

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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On an autumn night in 1941, two of the world’s pre-eminent scientists held a secret meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark: Werner Heisenberg, the German creator of the Uncertainty Principle, and his mentor, Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who conceived the Principle of Complementarity. That these two Nobel laureates spent an evening together at Bohr’s home is the core fact underlying Michael Frayn’s award-winning play

Copenhagen

. That they went for a walk so as to escape the hidden surveillance in the Bohr home is also quite likely. Speculation about what happened during this fateful wartime meeting—which ruptured a long and deep friendship—comprises the two-act drama, whose three characters are speaking from the afterlife. The result is a unique blend of science and humanism that is…

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5781 words

Citation: Blansfield, Karen. "Copenhagen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 March 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12538, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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