A short life of the author
Max Frisch (1911–1991) was born on 15 May 1911 in Zurich, Switzerland. He trained as an architect and practiced architecture while writing.
Life and Career
Stiller (I’m Not Stiller, 1954) — about a man arrested at the Swiss border who insists he is not the sculptor Anatol Stiller, despite all evidence to the contrary — is his most famous novel: a meditation on identity and the impossibility of escaping the self others have constructed for you.
Homo Faber (1957) — about a rationalist engineer whose life is overtaken by coincidence and fate — is his most widely read novel. His plays — Biedermann und die Brandstifter (The Fire Raisers, 1958) and Andorra (1961) — address Swiss complicity, conformism, and the mechanisms of prejudice.
Major Works and Themes
Frisch wrote about identity, self-deception, and the gap between who we believe ourselves to be and who we are. He was, alongside Friedrich Dürrenmatt, the most important Swiss writer of the twentieth century.
Key Works
- I’m Not Stiller (1954)
- Homo Faber (1957)
Collecting Frisch
German originals (Suhrkamp) are the primary collected form. English translations bring $10–$25. Frisch died in 1991.