Max Frisch, Mein Name sei Gantenbein [A Wilderness of Mirrors]

Judith Ricker-Abderhalden (University of Arkansas)
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In the vast corpus of Max Frisch, the most celebrated Swiss writer of the twentieth century,

Mein Name sei Gantenbein

[

A Wilderness of Mirrors

, 1964] is one of only two texts subtitled “Roman” or “novel” by the author.

Gantenbein

continues to explore the uneasy fascination with problems of personal identity characteristic of much of this corpus in general, and radically extends the device of the unreliable narrator introduced in the earlier novel

Stiller

[

I’m not Stiller

, 1954]. Together with its counterpart for the stage,

Biografie: Ein Spiel

[

Biography: A Game

, 1967],

Gantenbein

marks the outer limit of Frisch’s formal experimentation with conventional genres. The novel’s reception by critics and the general public remains accordingly mixed, but the audacity of its…

1367 words

Citation: Ricker-Abderhalden, Judith. "Mein Name sei Gantenbein". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 January 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13983, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13983 Mein Name sei Gantenbein 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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