Max Frisch (1911-91) was one of the giants of twentieth-century German literature, achieving fame as a novelist, playwright, diarist, and essayist. He lived primarily in Switzerland. He received many German and international literature prizes, including the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society. Simon Pare is a translator from French and German living near Zurich.

• 1946Zurich, Cafe de la TerrasseMarion and the marionettesCafe de la TerrassePostscript to Marion (Marion and the angel)Cafe de la TerrasseBasel, MarchMarion and the ghostMunich, AprilThou shall not make unto thee any graven imageBetween Nuremberg and WurzburgThe Andorran JewFrankfurt, MayOn being a writerHarlaching, MayOn being a writerTravelling, MayCafe de la TerrasseOn MarionPostscript to the journeyOn Marion (Marion at the exhibition)After a flightPolitenessCafe de la TerrasseOn theatre (the frame)Cafe de la TerrasseOn theatre (the forestage)In the newspaper (about the cashier)By the lakeCount OEderland (seven scenes)Genoa, OctoberPortofino Mare, OctoberCafe DelfinoOn the beachReading (unfinished work)Portofino MonteMilan, OctoberThe Chinese Wall (dress rehearsal)Calendar storyCafe OdeonPfannenstielDraft letter1947On marionettesDavosTravellingTo MajaPrague, MarchPragueHradcinPragueNuremberg, MarchAt homeCafe de la TerrassePfannenstiel (Albin Zollinger)Marion and the angelLetzigraben, AugustPortofino, SeptemberOn architectureFlorence, OctoberTravellingSiena, OctoberTravellingCafe Odeon (nihilism)LetzigrabenTravellingZurich, 9.11.1947On the trainFrankfurt, NovemberOn being a writerOn the trainBerlin, NovemberLetzigrabenPostscript (the Russian officer and the German woman)On lyric poetryLetzigrabenTravelling1948Vienna, JanuaryPrague, JanuaryReading (Carlo Levi)Cafe OdeonBurlesqueCafe OdeonPfannenstielCafe OdeonFrankfurt, AprilOn theatre (the theatrical)Berlin, AprilOn being a writerBerlin, MayLetzigrabenCafe OdeonTravellingParis, JulyAutobiographyParis, JulyLetzigrabenBrechtPrague, 23.8.1948On being a writerWroclaw, 24.8.-27.8.1948Warsaw, 28.8.-3.9.1948LetzigrabenPostscript to the journeyActorsFrankfurt, NovemberArabesqueHamburg, NovemberLetzigrabenCafe OdeonLetzigraben1949New Year's Day (kindness)Zurich, 8.1. 1949 (Premiere of When the War was Over)Letzigraben (with Brecht)ReviewsBasel, CarnivalStuttgart, 29.4.1949LetzigrabenStoryLetzigrabenCafe OdeonTravellingThe Harlequin, outline for a filmKampen, JulyReminiscenceWesterlandKampen, AugustHamburg, SeptemberTravellingJealousyCafe OdeonMore on jealousyArles, OctoberSketch (Schinz)At the officeCafe Odeon

“The first, spanning 1946 to ’49, emerged by necessity, when Frisch’s design practice didn’t permit him the leisure to write at length. But with a second volume (1966 to ’71) and a posthumous third (written in the early 1980s), the sketchbook became his trademark form, and one that now, in our vogue for the private and motley, gives the once world-famous, now rather neglected Frisch a new life. Thanks to the independent Indian publisher Seagull, whose bold cosmopolitanism never ceases to impress, all three are now in print once more, the first two recently retranslated by Simon Pare, and the last translated for the first time by Mike Mitchell in 2013. The translations are limpid and engaging. . . . What’s revealed in these sketchbooks is just that patient good sense, an unflappable, unapologetic humanity—though marked by an ambivalent quietism, an old-world politeness, a concreteness and skepticism that can only be described as Swiss.”

Max Frisch (1911-91) was one of the giants of twentieth-century German literature, achieving fame as a novelist, playwright, diarist, and essayist. He lived primarily in Switzerland. He received many German and international literature prizes, including the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society. Simon Pare is a translator from French and German living near Zurich.

• 1946Zurich, Cafe de la TerrasseMarion and the marionettesCafe de la TerrassePostscript to Marion (Marion and the angel)Cafe de la TerrasseBasel, MarchMarion and the ghostMunich, AprilThou shall not make unto thee any graven imageBetween Nuremberg and WurzburgThe Andorran JewFrankfurt, MayOn being a writerHarlaching, MayOn being a writerTravelling, MayCafe de la TerrasseOn MarionPostscript to the journeyOn Marion (Marion at the exhibition)After a flightPolitenessCafe de la TerrasseOn theatre (the frame)Cafe de la TerrasseOn theatre (the forestage)In the newspaper (about the cashier)By the lakeCount OEderland (seven scenes)Genoa, OctoberPortofino Mare, OctoberCafe DelfinoOn the beachReading (unfinished work)Portofino MonteMilan, OctoberThe Chinese Wall (dress rehearsal)Calendar storyCafe OdeonPfannenstielDraft letter1947On marionettesDavosTravellingTo MajaPrague, MarchPragueHradcinPragueNuremberg, MarchAt homeCafe de la TerrassePfannenstiel (Albin Zollinger)Marion and the angelLetzigraben, AugustPortofino, SeptemberOn architectureFlorence, OctoberTravellingSiena, OctoberTravellingCafe Odeon (nihilism)LetzigrabenTravellingZurich, 9.11.1947On the trainFrankfurt, NovemberOn being a writerOn the trainBerlin, NovemberLetzigrabenPostscript (the Russian officer and the German woman)On lyric poetryLetzigrabenTravelling1948Vienna, JanuaryPrague, JanuaryReading (Carlo Levi)Cafe OdeonBurlesqueCafe OdeonPfannenstielCafe OdeonFrankfurt, AprilOn theatre (the theatrical)Berlin, AprilOn being a writerBerlin, MayLetzigrabenCafe OdeonTravellingParis, JulyAutobiographyParis, JulyLetzigrabenBrechtPrague, 23.8.1948On being a writerWroclaw, 24.8.-27.8.1948Warsaw, 28.8.-3.9.1948LetzigrabenPostscript to the journeyActorsFrankfurt, NovemberArabesqueHamburg, NovemberLetzigrabenCafe OdeonLetzigraben1949New Year's Day (kindness)Zurich, 8.1. 1949 (Premiere of When the War was Over)Letzigraben (with Brecht)ReviewsBasel, CarnivalStuttgart, 29.4.1949LetzigrabenStoryLetzigrabenCafe OdeonTravellingThe Harlequin, outline for a filmKampen, JulyReminiscenceWesterlandKampen, AugustHamburg, SeptemberTravellingJealousyCafe OdeonMore on jealousyArles, OctoberSketch (Schinz)At the officeCafe Odeon

“The first, spanning 1946 to ’49, emerged by necessity, when Frisch’s design practice didn’t permit him the leisure to write at length. But with a second volume (1966 to ’71) and a posthumous third (written in the early 1980s), the sketchbook became his trademark form, and one that now, in our vogue for the private and motley, gives the once world-famous, now rather neglected Frisch a new life. Thanks to the independent Indian publisher Seagull, whose bold cosmopolitanism never ceases to impress, all three are now in print once more, the first two recently retranslated by Simon Pare, and the last translated for the first time by Mike Mitchell in 2013. The translations are limpid and engaging. . . . What’s revealed in these sketchbooks is just that patient good sense, an unflappable, unapologetic humanity—though marked by an ambivalent quietism, an old-world politeness, a concreteness and skepticism that can only be described as Swiss.”

Max Frisch (1911-91) was one of the giants of twentieth-century German literature, achieving fame as a novelist, playwright, diarist, and essayist. He lived primarily in Switzerland. He received many German and international literature prizes, including the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society. Simon Pare is a translator from French and German living near Zurich.

• 1946Zurich, Cafe de la TerrasseMarion and the marionettesCafe de la TerrassePostscript to Marion (Marion and the angel)Cafe de la TerrasseBasel, MarchMarion and the ghostMunich, AprilThou shall not make unto thee any graven imageBetween Nuremberg and WurzburgThe Andorran JewFrankfurt, MayOn being a writerHarlaching, MayOn being a writerTravelling, MayCafe de la TerrasseOn MarionPostscript to the journeyOn Marion (Marion at the exhibition)After a flightPolitenessCafe de la TerrasseOn theatre (the frame)Cafe de la TerrasseOn theatre (the forestage)In the newspaper (about the cashier)By the lakeCount OEderland (seven scenes)Genoa, OctoberPortofino Mare, OctoberCafe DelfinoOn the beachReading (unfinished work)Portofino MonteMilan, OctoberThe Chinese Wall (dress rehearsal)Calendar storyCafe OdeonPfannenstielDraft letter1947On marionettesDavosTravellingTo MajaPrague, MarchPragueHradcinPragueNuremberg, MarchAt homeCafe de la TerrassePfannenstiel (Albin Zollinger)Marion and the angelLetzigraben, AugustPortofino, SeptemberOn architectureFlorence, OctoberTravellingSiena, OctoberTravellingCafe Odeon (nihilism)LetzigrabenTravellingZurich, 9.11.1947On the trainFrankfurt, NovemberOn being a writerOn the trainBerlin, NovemberLetzigrabenPostscript (the Russian officer and the German woman)On lyric poetryLetzigrabenTravelling1948Vienna, JanuaryPrague, JanuaryReading (Carlo Levi)Cafe OdeonBurlesqueCafe OdeonPfannenstielCafe OdeonFrankfurt, AprilOn theatre (the theatrical)Berlin, AprilOn being a writerBerlin, MayLetzigrabenCafe OdeonTravellingParis, JulyAutobiographyParis, JulyLetzigrabenBrechtPrague, 23.8.1948On being a writerWroclaw, 24.8.-27.8.1948Warsaw, 28.8.-3.9.1948LetzigrabenPostscript to the journeyActorsFrankfurt, NovemberArabesqueHamburg, NovemberLetzigrabenCafe OdeonLetzigraben1949New Year's Day (kindness)Zurich, 8.1. 1949 (Premiere of When the War was Over)Letzigraben (with Brecht)ReviewsBasel, CarnivalStuttgart, 29.4.1949LetzigrabenStoryLetzigrabenCafe OdeonTravellingThe Harlequin, outline for a filmKampen, JulyReminiscenceWesterlandKampen, AugustHamburg, SeptemberTravellingJealousyCafe OdeonMore on jealousyArles, OctoberSketch (Schinz)At the officeCafe Odeon

“The first, spanning 1946 to ’49, emerged by necessity, when Frisch’s design practice didn’t permit him the leisure to write at length. But with a second volume (1966 to ’71) and a posthumous third (written in the early 1980s), the sketchbook became his trademark form, and one that now, in our vogue for the private and motley, gives the once world-famous, now rather neglected Frisch a new life. Thanks to the independent Indian publisher Seagull, whose bold cosmopolitanism never ceases to impress, all three are now in print once more, the first two recently retranslated by Simon Pare, and the last translated for the first time by Mike Mitchell in 2013. The translations are limpid and engaging. . . . What’s revealed in these sketchbooks is just that patient good sense, an unflappable, unapologetic humanity—though marked by an ambivalent quietism, an old-world politeness, a concreteness and skepticism that can only be described as Swiss.”