Itemize Books During I'm Not Stiller
Original Title: | Stiller |
ISBN: | 1564784509 (ISBN13: 9781564784506) |
Edition Language: | English |
Characters: | Anatol Ludwig Stiller, James Larkin White, Julika Stiller-Tschudy, |
Setting: | Switzerland |
Max Frisch
Paperback | Pages: 377 pages Rating: 4.05 | 3791 Users | 175 Reviews
Explanation As Books I'm Not Stiller
Arrested and imprisoned in a small Swiss town, a prisoner begins this book with an exclamation: "I'm not Stiller!" He claims that his name is Jim White, that he has been jailed under false charges and under the wrong identity. To prove he is who he claims to be, he confesses to three unsolved murders and recalls in great detail an adventuresome life in America and Mexico among cowboys and peasants, in back alleys and docks. He is consumed by "the morbid impulse to convince," but no one believes him. This is a harrowing account part Kafka, part Camus of the power of self-deception and the freedom that ultimately lies in self-acceptance. Simultaneously haunting and humorous, I'm Not Stiller has come to be recognized as "one of the major post-war works of fiction" and a masterpiece of German literature.Particularize Regarding Books I'm Not Stiller
Title | : | I'm Not Stiller |
Author | : | Max Frisch |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 377 pages |
Published | : | November 1st 2006 by Dalkey Archive Press (first published 1954) |
Categories | : | Fiction. European Literature. German Literature. Classics |
Rating Regarding Books I'm Not Stiller
Ratings: 4.05 From 3791 Users | 175 ReviewsCriticism Regarding Books I'm Not Stiller
I'm Not Stiller ("Stiller" in the original German version) was definitely not an easy read, nor was it short. The really valuable part of the book is not recognised in black on white but has to be thought through by oneself: The beauty is not on the surface but between the lines. The main theme that I am choosing in this moment in time is shortly mentioned by Stiller's friend in the second part of the book: To learn, not how to become who you want to be, but how to become who you actually are.Eloquent, conceptual and full of keen observations: while less wild than some of the work in his dairies, this is probably the best book to start with if you want to read Frisch. I love it. Sometimes the pace is a bit slow, but that's usually compensated by the amazingly clever details Frisch manages to implement into his story.
"It is a sign of non-love, that is to say a sin, to form a finished image of one's neighbour or of any person, to say, 'You are thus and thus, and that's all there is to it'.""There are times, alone in my cell, when I have the feeling that I have only dreamed all this; that at any moment I could stand up, take my hands away from my face and look round in freedom, as though the prison were only within me."Simply a tremendous work and a convenient jumping-off point for basically anything of worth
This book fluctuates between boring and irritating. I make myself finish the vast majority of books that I start, but life is too short to spend any more of it on Herr Stiller and I finally gave up.
There's far more psychology in here than I have a mind to go into. Probably more than is necessary when Frisch, a deep thinking, pipe-smoking Swiss goes off piste and ploughs into the life stories of his female leads. The essence of the novel is a guy with an American passport gets arrested on entering Switzerland for being Anatole Stiller, a sculptor who disappeared seven years previously. He is identified as such by the brother and wife of the missing man, which makes it hard for him to deny,
I heard this reviewed on NPR as great classic literature. Really, it's a great classic bore. The premise of the novel is intriguing: Is the man in jail who he claims to be, or is he really the missing Stiller? Since I never made it to the end of the book, I don't know for sure, but I think Stiller was trying to reinvent himself to escape a life and personality he found intolerable. But, it was just too slow and full of relationship chatter with his supposed wife. Ugh.
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