The Pledge

The Pledge - Paperback

$52.20
$52.20
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The Pledge
  • The Pledge
The Pledge - Paperback

The Pledge - Paperback

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
$52.20
$52.20

Book Overview

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (Author), Joel Agee (Translator)

Set in a small town in Switzerland, The Pledge centers around the murder of a young girl and the detective who promises the victim's mother he will find the perpetrator. After deciding the wrong man has been arrested for the crime, the detective lays a trap for the real killer--with all the patience of a master fisherman. But cruel turns of plot conspire to make him pay dearly for his pledge. Here Friedrich Dürrenmatt conveys his brilliant ear for dialogue and a devastating sense of timing and suspense. Joel Agee's skilled translation effectively captures the various voices in the original, as well as its chilling conclusion.

One of Dürrenmatt's most diabolically imagined and constructed novels, The Pledge was adapted for the screen in 2000 in a film directed by Sean Penn and starring Jack Nicholson.

Author Biography

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990) was a prolific Swiss dramatist, novelist, and essayist. His Selected Writings, in three volumes, is also published by the University of Chicago Press. Joel Agee has translated numerous German authors into English. Sven Birkerts is the author of six books, including The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age and My Sky Blue Trades: Growing Up Counter in a Contrary Time. He is editor of the journal AGNI and teaches writing at Harvard University.

Number of Pages: 176
Dimensions: 0.53 x 8 x 5.3 IN
Publication Date: October 01, 2006
ISBN9780226174372
Author Friedrich Dürrenmatt
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
GenreLiterature
FormatPaperback
PublishedOctober 2006
LanguageENG- English
Pages176
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Fiction Literary Mystery & Detective

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About Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Friedrich Dürrenmatt was born in 1921 in the village of Konolfingen, near Berne, Switzerland, and was the son of a Protestant minister. During World War II he studied philosophy and literature at the Universities of Berne and Zurich. He wrote prolifically and traveled widely in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, taking particular interest in human rights and the preservation of Israel. Joel Agee has translated numerous German authors into English, including Heinrich von Kleist, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Elias Canetti. He is the author of two memoirs: Twelve Years: An American Boyhood in East Germany and In the House of My Fear. Theodore Ziolkowski (1932-2020) was the Class of 1900 Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at Princeton University. He is the author of many books, including The Mirror of Justice: Literary Reflections of Legal Crises.

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