Biografia
His father was already an architect. After finishing school, Frisch studied German from 1931 to 1933. When his father passed away, he abandoned his studies to travel abroad and work as a freelance journalist. In 1934, Frisch published his first novel, "Jürg Reinhart," which revealed his literary talent. In 1936, he enrolled in architecture at the Technical University of Zurich. The following year, he released the novel "Answer from Silence." From 1939 to 1945, Frisch intermittently served in the military in Ticino. He graduated in 1941 and then worked at an architectural firm in Zurich. On July 30, 1942, he married Constanze Meyerburg. That same year, he opened his own architectural office, which he managed until 1955. Simultaneously, Frisch continued his literary work, combining it with extensive travel abroad in the immediate post-war period.
In 1950, his "Diary 1946-1949" captured his impressions of war-torn Europe. Frisch also wrote successful plays, benefiting from his close contact and fruitful exchange with Berthold Brecht. He achieved particular success with "The Wall of China" (1946) and "Andorra" (1961). His international literary breakthrough came in 1954 with the novel "Stiller," which explores the pressures of social identity: the protagonist Stiller fails to forge a new identity due to persistent familial and societal behavioral patterns. This success was preceded by "Don Juan: Or, The Love of Geometry" (1953) and "Biedermann and the Arsonists: A Didactic Play without a Doctrine, with an Aftermath" (1958). In 1957, Frisch presented his second masterpiece, "Homo Faber: A Report," a novel examining the tragic consequences of blind faith in technology and rationality on human relationships.
In 1958, Max Frisch received the Georg Büchner Prize. After divorcing his first wife in 1959, he lived in Rome from 1960 to 1965 with Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann. He later married Marianne Oellers in 1968, though this marriage also ended in divorce. In 1965, Frisch published another bestseller, "My Name is Gantenbein." His second "Diary 1966-1971" appeared in 1972. Despite initial critical reactions, he released two more successful novels: "Montauk" (1975) and "Man Appears in the Holocene" (1979). In 1976, Frisch was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Beginning in 1980, he lived in New York with Alice Locke-Carey. In 1982, at the age of 71, he published the novel "Bluebeard." Leading up to the 50th anniversary of Switzerland's mobilization and the referendum on abolishing the army, Frisch became publicly active in 1989 through a pamphlet and lectures.
That same year, filming began on a movie adaptation of "Homo Faber," directed by Volker Schlöndorff, which premiered in cinemas in 1991. In 1990, "Switzerland as a homeland? Experiments over 50 years," edited by Walter Obschlager, was published.
Max Frisch died of cancer on April 4, 1991, in Zurich.
