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Title: The Physicists by Friedrich Durrenmatt, James Kirkup ISBN: 0-8021-5088-8 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: January, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Uniquely Playful, Entertaining, Suspenseful, and Thoughtful
Comment: Three physicists have been confined to a very expensive posh mental institution, Les Cerisiers. Herbert George Beutler says he is Isaac Newton, but he knows that he is really Einstein. He adopted the guise of Newton to avoid upsetting another patient, Ernst Heinrich Ernesti, who claims he is Einstein. The third, Johann Wilhelm Mobius is himself. As a long term patient, he enjoys frequent visions of King Solomon.
I had the great fortune of knowing little about the plot. I was continuously entertained by the playful unraveling of a murder mystery. I urge you to avoid learning more. The imagination of Durrenmatt is quite remarkable. He weaves an entertainingly unpredictable story.
This short play warrants reading more than once, even more than twice, as the Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt not only entertains us, but explores fundamental questions regarding the role of science in modern society. The Physicists was written in 1962 when the world faced the possibility of nuclear war at any moment. The Physicists has been produced at the London Royal Court Theatre, on Broadway, and by many university theatre departments. I intend to become acquainted with the plays of Friedrich Durrenmatt.
Rating: 4
Summary: Scientific Responsibility and the Inevitability of Ideas
Comment: I originally read this play some time ago while studying German in college and it is one of the few works from those years that has "stuck with me". In fact I still have the German language edition that I used at that time.
As other reviewers have said, one of the central themes of this work is the degree of responsibility that scientists have to humanity or something called "the public". Having worked for over twenty years now as a nuclear scientist, I can definitely say that at times the desire for knowledge can override the consideration of all the possible uses of a given technology. The question them becomes, can an idea be "unthought"? This secondary theme of the book is intertwined with the theory of the inevitability of ideas at a given time and place.
The translation by Kirkup is quite good as compared to the original German version that I have. Though the expository style (some very long dialogs) may be a bit daunting at times, stick with it. This play is a philosophical discussion, not a Hollywood action film.
Rating: 5
Summary: what you Americans call a pageturner
Comment: I want all of you to read this play. It is weird butfascinating, surprising and just brilliant. Get to know Germanliterature at one of its best!
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Title: The Visit: A Tragi-Comedy by Friedrich Durrenmatt, Patrick Bowles ISBN: 0802130666 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: September, 1983 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, Michael Frayn ISBN: 0385720793 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 08 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Galileo by Bertolt Brecht, Eric Bentley, Charles Laughton ISBN: 0802130593 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: October, 1991 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: The Pledge by Friedrich Durrenmatt, Joel Agee, Sean Penn ISBN: 0425178986 Publisher: Boulevard (Mass Market) Pub. Date: 07 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer; A Play Freely Adapted on the Basis of the Documents by Heinar Kipphardt. by Heinar Kipphardt, Ruth Speirs ISBN: 0809012154 Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub Pub. Date: June, 1968 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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