Kenneth J. Northcott, in "Dürrenmatt’s Drama" (2006)
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What can be said as a generalization about Dürrenmatt's dramatic oeuvre is that, from a dramaturgical point of view, it defies any sort of facile pigeonholing. He himself firmly denies that he belongs to any particular school of dramatic composition: there are elements of the absurd, classical tragedy, and even realism in his works. He says in 1954 that he is not "an existentialist, a nihilist, expressionist or ironist," and had he been writing later on he might well have added "absurdist" to the list. For him the stage is not a place for the working out of theories but a place for experiment, for developing the poetry and essence of the theater.

— Kenneth J. Northcott

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "What can be said as a generalization about Dürrenmatt's dramatic oeuvre is that, from a dramaturgical point of view, it defies any sort of facile pigeonholing. He himself firmly denies that he belongs to any particular school of dramatic composition: there are elements of the absurd, classical tragedy, and even realism in his works. He says in 1954 that he is not "an existentialist, a nihilist, expressionist or ironist," and had he been writing later on he might well have added "absurdist" to the list. For him the stage is not a place for the working out of theories but a place for experiment, for developing the poetry and essence of the theater." in the context of "Kenneth J. Northcott, in "Dürrenmatt’s Drama" (2006)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Friedrich Dürrenmatt" (Quotes about Dürrenmatt) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Friedrich Dürrenmatt

About Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist.