[Two facts stand out about Duerrenmatt's work], even upon a casual examination of his plays. Almost all have been reworked at least once, and almost all bear unusual baroque title and subtitles in which, as may be expected, the term "comedy" predominates in one form or another. It is Written (1945–46) and The Blind Man (1948) have no subtitles. Romulus the Great, "an unhistorical comedy," exists in two versions (1949 and 1957). The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi, "a comedy," produced in New York early in 1958 as Fools are Passing Through in an adaptation by Maximilian Slater, has two versions (1952 and 1957). An Angel Comes to Babylon, "a fragmentary comedy in three acts," has three versions (1948, 1953, and 1957). The Visit of the Old Lady, "a tragicomedy in three acts," of 1956 was originally to have the subtitle "a bullish comedy." (p. 79)

In Duerrenmatt's love of the macabre, there is a definite kinship to Kafka and E...