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His father was already working as an architect. After school, Frisch studied German from 1931 to 1933. When his father died, he gave up his studies to travel abroad and work as a freelance journalist. In 1934, Frisch's first novel, "Jürg Reinhart", was published, which made his literary talent visible. In 1936 he enrolled in architecture at the Technical University of Zurich. In 1937 he published the novel "Answer from Silence". In 1939, Frisch took up military service in Ticino on an irregular basis until 1945. He graduated from university in 1941, whereupon he got a job in an architectural office in Zurich. On July 30, 1942, Frisch married Constanze Meyerburg. In the same year he opened his own architectural office, which he ran until 1955. At the same time, Frisch also continued his literary activity, which he combined with extensive trips abroad in the immediate post-war years.
In 1950, his "Diary 1946-1949" documented his impressions of war-torn Europe. Frisch also wrote successful plays, benefiting from his personal contact and fruitful exchange with Berthold Brecht. He was particularly successful in this area with "The Wall of China" (1946) and "Andorra" (1961). Frisch made his breakthrough in international literature in 1954 with his novel "Stiller", which deals with the problem of social identity pressures: the protagonist Stiller fails in his attempt to construct a new identity because of the persistence of familial and social behavioral structures. This first success was followed by "Don Juan: Or, The Love of Geometry" (1953) and "Biedermann and the Arsonists: A Didactic Play without a Doctrine, with an Aftermath" (1958). Frisch presented his second masterpiece in 1957 with "Homo Faber: A Report". The novel addresses the tragic implications that blind trust in technology and rationality can have on interpersonal relationships.
In 1958, Max Frisch was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize. After divorcing his first wife in 1959, Frisch lived in Rome from 1960 to 1965 with the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann. He then married Marianne Oellers in 1968, but this marriage also ended in divorce. Frisch presented another bestseller in 1965 with "My Name is Gantenbein". His second "Diary 1966-1971" followed in 1972. Contrary to initial critics' reactions, he published two more successful books, the novels "Montauk" (1975) and "Man Appears in the Holocene" (1979). In 1976 Frisch received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. From 1980 he lived with Alice Locke-Carey in New York. In 1982, the 71-year-old writer published his novel "Bluebeard." In the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the mobilization and the referendum on the abolition of the army in Switzerland, Frisch became involved in public in 1989 through a pamphlet and lectures.
In the same year, filming began on a film adaptation of "Homo Faber" directed by Volker Schlöndorff. The film was released in cinemas in 1991. In 1990 "Switzerland as a homeland? Experiments over 50 years" was published under the editorship of Walter Obschlager.
Max Frisch died of cancer on April 4, 1991 in Zurich.
