Share

42 used & new from $0.01

See All Buying Options

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

The Physicists Paperback – January 21, 1994

by Friedrich Durrenmatt (Author), James Kirkup (Translator)

20 customer reviews

See all 15 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

—

"Please retry"

$9.95

Paperback, January 21, 1994

—

Audible, Original recording

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Audio CD

"Please retry"

$29.95

—

Unknown Binding

"Please retry"

—

—

The Physicists is a provocative and darkly comic satire about life in modern times, by one of Europe’s foremost dramatists and author of the internationally celebrated The Visit.

The world’s greatest physicist, Johann Wilhelm Möbius, is in a madhouse, haunted by recurring visions of King Solomon. He is kept company by two other equally deluded scientists: one who thinks he is Einstein, another who believes he is Newton. It soon becomes evident, however, that these three are not as harmlessly lunatic as they appear. Are they, in fact, really mad? Or are they playing some murderous game, with the world as the stake? For Möbius has uncovered the mystery of the universe—and therefore the key to its destruction—and Einstein and Newton are vying for this secret that would enable them to rule the earth.

Added to this treacherous combination is the world-renowned psychiatrist in charge, the hunchbacked Mathilde von Zahnd, who has some diabolical plans on her own. . . . With wry, penetrating humor, The Physicists probes beneath the surface of modern existence and, like Marat/Sade, questions whether it is the mad who are the truly insane.

Available from these sellers.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Bertolt Brecht

6

Paperback
$11.05
Friedrich Durrenmatt

20

Paperback
$10.62
Bertolt Brecht

18

Paperback
$9.99
Friedrich Durrenmatt

25

Paperback
$13.89
Thomas Pynchon

297

Paperback
$10.67
Francois Voltaire

1

Paperback
$11.80

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Take an Extra 25% Off Any Book: Use promo code 25OFFBOOK at checkout to get an extra 25% off any book for a limited time. Excludes Kindle eBooks and Audible Audiobooks. Restrictions apply. Learn more | Shop now

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Grove Press; Reissue edition (January 21, 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802150888
ISBN-13: 978-0802150882
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #504,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #337 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > European > German
- #924 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Dramas & Plays > Regional & Cultural > European
- #2090 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars

5 star		50%
4 star		30%
3 star		15%
2 star		5%
1 star		0%

See all 20 customer reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Uniquely Playful, Entertaining, Suspenseful, and Thoughtful

By Michael Wischmeyer on October 14, 2003

Format: Paperback

Three physicists have been confined to a very expensive posh mental institution, Les Cerisiers. Herbert George Beutler says he is Isaac Newton, but he knows that he is really Einstein. He adopted the guise of Newton to avoid upsetting another patient, Ernst Heinrich Ernesti, who claims he is Einstein. The third, Johann Wilhelm Mobius is himself. As a long term patient, he enjoys frequent visions of King Solomon.
I had the great fortune of knowing little about the plot. I was continuously entertained by the playful unraveling of a murder mystery. I urge you to avoid learning more. The imagination of Durrenmatt is quite remarkable. He weaves an entertainingly unpredictable story.
This short play warrants reading more than once, even more than twice, as the Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt not only entertains us, but explores fundamental questions regarding the role of science in modern society. The Physicists was written in 1962 when the world faced the possibility of nuclear war at any moment. The Physicists has been produced at the London Royal Court Theatre, on Broadway, and by many university theatre departments. I intend to become acquainted with the plays of Friedrich Durrenmatt.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Scientific Responsibility and the Inevitability of Ideas

By Wiliam L. Mcdowell on December 17, 2001

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

I originally read this play some time ago while studying German in college and it is one of the few works from those years that has "stuck with me". In fact I still have the German language edition that I used at that time.
As other reviewers have said, one of the central themes of this work is the degree of responsibility that scientists have to humanity or something called "the public". Having worked for over twenty years now as a nuclear scientist, I can definitely say that at times the desire for knowledge can override the consideration of all the possible uses of a given technology. The question them becomes, can an idea be "unthought"? This secondary theme of the book is intertwined with the theory of the inevitability of ideas at a given time and place.
The translation by Kirkup is quite good as compared to the original German version that I have. Though the expository style (some very long dialogs) may be a bit daunting at times, stick with it. This play is a philosophical discussion, not a Hollywood action film.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Excellent commentary and thought-provoking!

By 00203663@bigred.unl.edu on March 5, 1998

Format: Paperback

Durrenmatt's play provides an excellent and thought-provoking critique on the role of modern science and technology in human affairs. Is science responsible to humanity? If we deem specific knowledge "harmful", how can we hope to prevent its discovery? If the knowledge does exist, how do we prevent its misuse? This is a play that is incredibly relevant in an age plagued with similar issues in genetic engineering and cloning. I'd highly recommend the German translation.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

Great book! Hard reading if you have not seen the play.

By A Customer on February 26, 1997

Format: Paperback

Without giving away too much:
Its's the story of a Physicist that is seeking refuge in a insane assylum to protect himself and the 'formula' he found. This formula may change the world as we know it. HE is trapped with two spies that try to get the formula. All of them pretend to be famous physicists. Then a nurse is murdered ...

A classical drama. Everything happens in one room in the insane asylum. It is easy to get confused by the different characters. Every 'Physicist' has three identities: 'real' (spy, physicist), 'pretended' (announced in public, famous physicist), 'pretended in privat' (other famous physicist, pretended in private conversations). It's nice to have seen the play first.

If you know german: read the original (Die Physiker).

Durrenmatt is not well known outside of Switzerland/Germany/Austria. A great author. If you are looking for something easier, try 'Der Richter und sein Henker' (The judge and his executioner?) or 'Der Verdacht' (The suspision?). Too bad that neither book is available here. Available here: 'The Assignement'. Easier to read than 'The Physicists' but not as good.

To get the ultimate: 'Achterloo'. One of the best plays I have ever seen but was allways afraid to read. Again: An insane asylum. But this time it is populated with different historical personalities (Cardinal Richelieu (sp?), General Jaruselzki, Napoleon ...). Great dialogs!

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Like a Mobius Strip, It Twists and Turns in on Itself Repeatedly

By David Keymer TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on October 31, 2008

Format: Paperback

The Physicists (1962) is difficult to categorize, a conglomeration of conflicting theater genres -mystery, melodrama, farce, morality play. There is an admitted affinity between the theater of Swiss playwright Durrenmatt and the theater of Brecht but Durrenmatt was very much his own man.

A common vein runs through much of Durrenmatt's work: to expose hypocrisy, the twistings and turnings that otherwise respectable people go through to justify self-interest in supposedly `moral' terms. This preoccupation is seen clearly in his best known play, The Visit (1956), which premiered in New York with America's foremost acting couple, Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontaine, playing the leads: an elderly woman returns to her hometown and offers fabulous wealth to the town's inhabitants on one condition: that they execute the lover who abandoned her years before, though he is guilty of no offense but having spurned her. It shows also in Durrenmatt's philosophical detective stories, The Judge and His Hangman (1952) and The Pledge (1958), in both of which detecting takes second place to musings on the human condition, and in particular our tendency to pursue self-aggrandizement to the detriment of moral obligation.

The Physicists is considered a modern classic in German-speaking countries. Three madmen, all physicists -Sir Isaac Newton, Alfred Einstein and a nonentity named Mobius--inhabit a special wing of a Swiss hospital for the insane. Its proprietor is a hunchbacked psychiatrist, the last of a long line of distinguished but utterly mad financiers and military men. The police have been called in for the second time in two months: one of the physicists (Einstein) has just murdered his nurse. The inspector arrives.Read more ›

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Report abuse

See all 20 customer reviews (newest first)

Write a customer review

Customer Images

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Great play!

Published 2 months ago by Cathy Picard

Tactics of Insanity

Four scientists, three murders, moral choices, a world shattering secret and a posh sanitarium. Two of the scientists believe they are Einstein and Newton respectively, though... Read more

Published 4 months ago by L. King

The madhouse or asylum is an easy allegory for the theater of the...

The madhouse or asylum is an easy allegory for the theater of the absurd. The insane are sane and the sane otherwise. Read more

Published 5 months ago by C. M. Stahl

Funny little play. A little ham-handed on the morals of "Dangers of Unchecked Science"

Published 12 months ago by S.Z.

Good book!

Published 15 months ago by Mariana

Can scientists only find freedom in an insane asylum?

The theme of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play 'The Physicists’ is still a very hot topic today. It is nothing less than the role of science and the responsibility of the scientist... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Luc REYNAERT

A great play, with some hard hitting thoughts in it. I recommend it to anyone interested in philosophy. Came in brand new condition. I am really pleased with it.

Published on October 24, 2013 by Jessica Testerman

Very entertaining play, and a useful English text for German students

We bought this book, to accompany the original 'die Physiker', which we're using as part of our German course. Read more

Published on June 25, 2013 by Doug Urquhart

Three men who believe themselves to be famous physicists meet in an asylum. A series of murders brings them to the attention of the local police. Read more

Published on June 22, 2013 by Doubter

Excellent Translation

Having originally read this play in German, I was excited to read an English translation, and James Kirkup does a good job of rendering the piece into English. Read more

Published on March 14, 2013 by James Armstrong

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Physicists Paperback

Friedrich Durrenmatt

20

$10.62
The Visit Paperback

Friedrich Durrenmatt

25

$13.89
Life of Galileo (Penguin Classics) Paperback

Bertolt Brecht

6

$11.05
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Mass Market Paperback

Robert M. Pirsig

1,328

$7.19

Conditions of Use
Privacy Notice
Interest-Based Ads
© 1996-2015, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates