Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Der Tunnel [The Tunnel]

Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.2: German-language Writing and Culture: Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, 800-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1952

Places

Switzerland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

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Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote “Der Tunnel” [“The Tunnel”] in 1951. The narrative was first published in the story collection

Die Stadt

[

The City

, 1952] and appeared in numerous later editions. It has been translated into several languages and still ranks among the author's best known and most widely read texts. Situated between Dürrenmatt's early plays and stories – all heavily laden with existentialist philosophy and the resonance of World War II and its horrors – and the author's emerging unique theory and practice of tragi-comedy, this fascinating pivotal text combines elements of both. With its suspension of empirical reality, the perfectly cogent development of a succession of bizarre events, touches of grotesque humor, and its obvious design as a parable, the narrative is…

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1731 words

Citation: Knapp, Gerhard P.. "Der Tunnel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 February 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15451, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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