The Physicists
by Friedrich Durrenmatt
List Price:
Our Price: $7.93
You Save: $6.07 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.38 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Friedrich DurrenmattTranslator: James Kirkup
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-01-21
ISBN: 0802150888
Number of pages: 96
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of The Physicists
Book Review: A paradoxical play about physicists
Summary: 5 Stars
Friedrich Duerrenmatt appended "21 Points to THE PHYSICISTS," and in Point 14 he insisted that, "A drama about physicists must be paradoxical." His next point stated that, "It cannot have as its goal the content of physics but its effect." Duerrenmatt's 1962 play (which was translated into English from the original German in 1963 and then appeared on Broadway) succeeds most memorably by adhering to these two points (and his other nineteen which are printed in this edition as well).
THE PHYSICISTS features three characters who make claims to being the famed physicists Newton, Einstein and Moebius. These three toddle into the action as unpredictably as individual gas molecules move in a heated, sealed container as the play utilizes bizarre happenings in an old section of a sanitarium to examine the potential destructive power of physics (and by extension, all branches of science) and the moral and ethical dilemmas arising from that. Plot twists and turns abound as the main characters -- and some minor ones -- change like chameleons and the contexual frame of reference is turned repeatedly on its head.
THE PHYSICISTS will soon reach the half-century mark, but its themes continue to be relevant as twenty-first century scientists and the public at large confront an ever widening arena of scientific "advances" that could conceivably unleash immense, even catastrophic, repercussions. As Duerrenmatt says in Point 19, "Within the paradoxical appears reality." Within the play, one can see truths for our times.
Anyone who has seen or read the more recent plays COPENHAGEN or PROOF will probably find THE PHYSICISTS a great read.
Theater Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Theater Books
Looking Out: Perspectives on Dance and Criticism in a Multicultural WorldMacmillan Pub Co; Published: 1995-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $110.69
Directors on Directing: A Source Book of the Modern Theatreby Toby Cole, Helen Krich Chinoy
Allyn & Bacon; Published: 1963-01-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $92.40
Price in other shops:
Voice and the Actorby Cicely Berry
Wiley; Published: 1991-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
A Trip to the Light Fantastic: Travels With a Mexican Circusby Katie Hickman
Harpercollins; Published: 1995-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.00
Who On Earth Is Tom Baker? An Autobiographyby Tom Baker
Harper Collins, 1997; Published: 1997; Hardcover; Book
Who on Earth Is Tom Baker?by Tom Baker
Harpercollins Audio; Published: 1997-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $133.82
Streisand: A Biographyby Anne Edwards
Little Brown & Co (T); Published: 1997-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
The Orton Diariesby Joe Orton
Da Capo Press; Published: 1996-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.48
Price in other shops:
Understanding Movies (12th Edition)by Louis Giannetti
Allyn & Bacon; Published: 2010-01-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $74.98
Price in other shops:
The Theater Experience Tenth Editionby Edwin Wilson
McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; Published: 2005-12-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $50.00
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Artificial Silk Girlby Irmgard Keun
Other Press; Published: 2011-06-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.58
Price in other shops:
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brï¿1/ 2s Cubas (Library of Latin America)by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-12-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.60
Price in other shops:
Madame Bovaryby Gustave Flaubert
Viking Adult; Published: 2010-09-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.44
Price in other shops:
Phedre: Dual Language Edition (Penguin Classics) (French Edition)by Jean Racine
Penguin Classics; Published: 1992-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno (Penguin Classics)by Dante Alighieri
Penguin Classics; Published: 2002-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.44
Price in other shops:
The Sandman and other tales of Hoffmannby Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann
CreateSpace; Published: 2010-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Mist: A Tragicomic Novelby Miguel de Unamuno
University of Illinois Press; Published: 2000-03-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.45
Price in other shops:
The Trial: A New Translation Based on the Restored Textby Franz Kafka
Schocken; Published: 1999-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.74
Price in other shops:
A Love Made Out of Nothing & Zohara's Journey: Two Novels (Verba Mundi)by Barbara Honigmann
David R Godine; Published: 2003-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
The Visitby Friedrich Durrenmatt
Grove Press; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.19
Price in other shops: