Customer Reviews

The Firebugs: A Morality Without a Moral

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I really liked this book. It is a dark drama, one that is frightening to hear. I acted in this play and I decided to pick up the book since I liked it so much. It's about a man named Biederman. Despite the warnings of "firebugs," or what we would call more-commonly arsonists, he invited a man into his house. A large, burly man that he couldn't say no to. He gave him home in the attic of his own house. His wife objected, of course, because she didn't want anyone who may be a pyromaniac living in her home. In the morning she promised herself she would get rid of the man in a perfectly polite manner. Instead, the man gave her the sad story of his youth and Frau Biederman allowed him into her house because she felt sorry for the man. So, the man invited a friend of his, without consulting Herr Biederman, by the name of Eisenring. Together they collected sawdust and oil barrels in the attic, and even promised Herr Biederman that they were the firebugs of the city and that they were going to burn the house down. But because it is his house, Gottlieb Biederman does not dismiss the two from his house. This is the story of a man who refuses to believe, and then blames all his mistakes on fate. I really enjoyed this creepy book. I think people who respect a drama such as his will, too.

I received this as a present, waited a few months, and then read it in the course of a single day. This short play is about a middle-class businessman whose biggest anxiety revolves around the Firebugs, men in the city who are responsible for a recent rash of arsons. They enter homes as guests and, after staying the night or dining, take advantage of their hosts' hospitality and trust and burn down their homes. The protagonist, at the height of such crimes, allows a couple of young men to spend the night at his house and refuses to believe (because of pride or trust or some other variable) that the sawdust, matches, and gasoline that they bring into his attic could have anything to do with malicious intents. Frisch prevents the reader from really feeling sorry for the protagonist, who is humorously pathetic. The most interesting part, to me, is that what seems at first glance to be a caricature of human nature is, in fact, so close to reality.

Max Frish wrote this book after WW-II, about how his countrymen ignored Hitler until it was too late. It is presented in the metaphor of an arsonist in the neighborhood who comes to live in a house of a certain Mr. Biedermann, who is so concerned about "not appearing unlikeable", he refuses to believe the new tenant of being the arsonist, in spite of him reeking of gasoline, and storing gasoline in the attic of the house where he stays, and the arsonist's provocative words and behavior. The arsonist continues asking everyone were he can get gasoline, fuses, matches, etc., saying "you don't really believe I would do such a thing, do you?" while homes go up in flames -- but Biedermann is in denial, and so in the end, his home is filled with barrels of gasoline, and the arsonist asks him for matches... which are freely given. Valid today also, regarding Islam in the West. Europe is in full-tilt denial about the dangers of Islam, and every tiny security measure is treated as an "offense" and so nobody wants to appear "impolite". Handing over the ports to Dubai, and now the latest news, giving a Chinese company owned by high-up CP officials the job of nuclear security examination of cargoe. Goodness, we don't wish to upset anyone by suggesting, they might do something bad! Too many Biedermann's in high-up government postions, and in the mass-media, apologetically ignoring even the guys who reek of gasoline...