Max Frisch, Montauk

Judith Ricker-Abderhalden (University of Arkansas)
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Montauk

(1975) is often regarded as a striking attempt by the twentieth-century Swiss dramatist and novelist Max Frisch to eschew fiction in favor of autobiography.  Following a series of readings he conducted in various U.S. cities in 1974, Frisch describes a weekend spent on the tip of Long Island with a young American woman assigned to him by his American publisher.  He terms the 200-plus page text an “Erzählung” (narrative), but supplies it with so many personal details that readers appear to be obliged to take it as an intimate glimpse into the author's loves past and present, and especially into the experience of aging.  In contrast to its predecessors

Mein Name sei Gantenbein

(1964) and

Biografie: Ein Spiel

(1967),

Montauk

trades what had become the characteristic impulse…

1718 words

Citation: Ricker-Abderhalden, Judith. "Montauk". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13986, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13986 Montauk 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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